Life and Death

By : Synne Rifbjerg

Ingen genvej til Paradis (No Short Cut to Paradise) is the title of Hanne Marie Svendsen's new novel and thereby sets the tone. After reaching the end of the road in this (female) generational novel, which takes its start at the beginning of our soon-to-be-finished century and ends in the present day, neither the reader nor the book's characters have reached Paradise, which apparently does not exist in this or the next life.
. . .
The family history stops in the mid-1940s and is placed in relief by the contemporary story. Hence, this is not an account of the feminist struggle in novel form. Of course, the modern-day female character is "liberated" in one sense – she goes off to her job alone, but it is precisely this that makes her doubt whether she has done enough for her dying mother.
"What is described is a mother-daughter relationship, but there may be aspects of it that could be applied to other close relationships in which people are dependent upon one another but still cannot really seem to help each other."

- Nevertheless, it seems to me that this is a rather specific mother-daughter dependency that is not quite healthy?
"Karen Blixen wrote home to her brother about her experiences in Africa, about how terrible things were. But not to her mother, for her mother was to be spared. This still goes on – you want to spare one another, and it leads to a lot of misunderstandings. You have to trust that other people are strong enough to bear things."

- It does not appear to be easy for women to find a balance between mothering and smothering?
"Hopefully, it can be found by maintaining a sense of humour about life. No Short Cut to Paradise is a dark book, but there is also a sort of humour to it."

- There is a rather heavy price to be paid by the women in your book for being themselves?
"The book deals so much with death that everything else is coloured by it, but I definitely think a woman's lot is bearable!
Our relationship with language is also part of the story. We believe in language; we believe we understand one another, when we address each other in the same language, but that is not always the case. The way we interpret existence is mirrored in our language, and other people can comprehend it in a completely different way."


This interview first appeared in Weekendavisen, 22 Oktober 1999

Translated by Russel Dees