A
SUMMARY IN ENGLISH
It is a rare pleasure to read
the work of a poet who can use language and metaphor
as well as Peter Lucas Erixon.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzJeanette
Lee Atkinson, World Literature Today
Peter Lucas Erixon was born in April 1962 in Strömsund,
Jämtland, in northern Sweden. Childhood and adolescence
in Raftälven. After the age of sixteen he has had
a mobile life with residences in several places, which
has been fruitful for his authorship.
xxxAt the age of fifteen
and after beginning in picturemaking he turned to writing.
He made his debut with a collection of poems in 1983.xIn
his twenties, he wanted to combine literary work with
film making which led in 1985 to the making of a short
film, Tidsgård, shown at Uppsala 4th International
Film Festival.xIn 1988
he published a new collection of poems and also a collection
of prose, marking his transition from poetry to narrative
prose. The year after came yet another collection of
poems; mostly narrative poems with political and philosophical
content. Since then he has concentrated on prose.
xxxIn 1991 Erixon published
his first novel, Hemlandet, a kind of "historical
science fiction" as it was subsequently called.
In 1994 came the somewhat burlesque Väktaren vid
tröskeln, and then three years later Farligt område
which is an existential thriller about a man who is
forced to start his life afresh;"wellwritten",
"dramatical" and "a pageturner"
were some of the comments in media. In 1998 Pequod Press
published a selection of writings which mirror Erixon's
social and artistic engagement since 1978.
xxxPeter Lucas Erixon has
for a long time been involved in issues of human rights
and nonviolence. During three years in the early 80's
he was a Swedish supporter of the human rights organization
Humanitas International (1979-1992) founded by singer
Joan Baez.
xxx
With the innovative novel Röster och brus (Voices
and Static, 2000) Peter Lucas Erixon showed new breadth
in his writing in a surprising way. Here you can follow
a group of people in the outskirts of the underworld
of New York City, and in a flood of voices pick up the
harrowing fragments of the stories which are told.
xxxRöster och brus
is an unconventional novel. With experimental endeavour
it challenges the established rules of form by building
on - an often rough - dialogue. In regard to contents,
it also defies these rules through the staging of the
story. Erixon manages to capture issues of moral significance
and an ethical debate is here met by artistic restraint.
The novel moves into contemporary life in an earnest
but also humourous and ironic discourse concerning good
and evil. In bold provocation the book reaches into
our individual and collective responsibilities.xIn
an interview Erixon called the book the punk novel that
he himself would have liked to read. Röster och
brus is in itself an anti-novel which, with varying
and countless connections and cultural references, derives
strength from the iconography of rock music as well
as from the mystical experience of humility as a way
of living. From within the coldly clamouring city, the
story - through a few hardened individuals - brings
forth contemporary issues not presently on the agenda
in a world focused on money and personal success.
xxxWhen published, the
book got a mixed reception; there were a few hard ironic
condemnations as well as many enthusiastic responses.
The latter were receptive to the skillful construction
of the novel and the challenging voice expressed in
the text. Readers have described the novel as enjoyable
because of the rich, deep and puzzling story it reveals
despite its seeming simplicity.
xxxErixons novel Stoft
och vind (2007; Dust and Breeze), which also take place
in New York City, was welcomed by much wellknown and
respected Swedish critics as maybe Erixons best literary
work so far. Stoft and vind was nominated as best novel
of the year by Stockholm Reads. Last Remnants of the
Wild: Meditations and Exercises (2008) became his first
work translated to another language and was also the
first work of his in nineteen years that again borderd
the poetic genre.
xxxErixon's latest novel,
Silversnöret (Silver Cord) - based on a true crime
and released on October 17, 2011 - immediately became
a success among readers and certain critics. After a
month the novel came out in its second edition.
[Publishers
texts, 2001-2011.]
Read
a piece from Last
Remnants of The Wild and watch a video trailer.
For foreign rights, write peterlucaserixon.inc
[a] gmail.com
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