THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM

Author: Jan Guillou
Year: 1998
Publisher: Piratförlaget
Language: Swedish

Jan Guillou stands as one of Sweden’s most prominent authors of action literature, whilst also being a renowned, and oftentimes controversial, columnist with radically left-leaning political views. His most celebrated work, which catapulted him to literary prominence in Sweden during the 1970s, is perhaps the autobiographical novel "The Evil" which lays bare his supposedly harrowing experiences as a youth of modest origins amidst the privileged confines of a prestigious private school. Guillou's stature as a writer of action was ultimately solidified with the overwhelming success of his Coq Rouge-series in the 1980s and 1990s, wherein he recounts the daring exploits of a Swedish nobleman and military intelligence officer.

Guillou has since then proven himself to be a prolific writer, delighting in the exploration various eras and frequently displaying a bias to book series about his favourite protagonists. Among thsese is the medieval knight Arn Magnusson of Arnäs hailing from West Gothland in what would later become part of the unified kingdom of the Swedes and the Geats, today simply known as Sweden. The first volume of a series of three concerning Arn is entitled “Vägen till Jerusalem” (“The Road to Jerusalem”).

Arn, the second son of the head of one of the most illustrious families in West Gothland, is offered to a local monastery as a child, a token of gratitude by his parents to God for sparing his life in what ought to have been a fatal accident. Growing up among the Benedictine monks, Arn is immersed in their teachings. Beyond the expected studies of the Bible, philosophy, Latin, and geometry, he also gains knowledge in biology, medicine, engineering, and architecture. Most significantly, one monk, once a Knight Templar, instructs him in the arts of horsemanship, swordsmanship, and archery. To the astonishment of the Benedictines, and unbeknownst to himself, Arn matures into a formidable fighter, a knight without equal in the Nordics. His destiny is irrevocably set when, upon reaching adulthood, he is sent forth from the monastery's walls to seek God’s purpose in the wider world.

It is always a delight to read well-researched historical fiction, and "Vägen till Jerusalem" is indubitably founded upon solid historical study. The political struggle for power and the initial steps towards the unification of the Western and Eastern Geats and the Swedes are portrayed with great accuracy. Fictitious characters are interwoven seamlessly with authentic historical figures, although Guillou permits himself some artistic license on occasion. The storyline proves compelling, and the language is both brisk and straightforward. Mr. Guillou skilfully employs his journalistic prowess to captivate the reader and sustain their interest throughout.

Having said that, the downside of Guillou’s narration technique is a certain lack of depth in the storytelling. The characters’ actions appear to bear more significance to the story, and indeed the author, than to the characters themselves. Whenever an action or a word risks being ambiguous, Guillou is quickly there with his pen to ensure that the reader comprehends the underlying intention. Furthermore, every character is either impeccably virtuous or completely reprehensible. They are either angelic or satanic. There is no middle ground. All of this, in total, renders Guillou’s world-building somewhat flat and, to speak candidly, reveals many of the unmistakable signs of a juvenile writing style.

“Vägen till Jerusalem” is certainly not a great work of art and due to the aforementioned shortcomings, to a degree misses the mark as entertainment, too. While I appreciate the historical setting and Guillou’s choice to situate the narrative in an era of Swedish history that is largely ignored by the Swedish educational system and thus widely underexplored by most Swedes, I do hope that he will allow both the story and the characters to gain complexity in the subsequent volumes of this trilogy.   

 

THESE HAPPY YEARS

Author: Agnes von Krusenstjerna
Year: 2010 (1937)
Publisher: Albert Bonniers förlag
Language: Swedish

In the third instalment of Agnes von Krusenstjerna’s tetralogy, the main protagonist, Viveka, enters her teenage years and has her first brush with desire for the opposite gender. She had, of course, experienced puppy love in the preceding books, most notably with her aloof cousin Donald, but as she begins to mature, her capacity to love and feel desire also develops. This will have significant ramification for Viveka’s further choices. 

In “Dessa lyckliga år” (“These Happy Years”), Viveka’s father retires from his esteemed career as an army colonel necessitating the family’s departure from the spacious provincial residence in favour of a modest flat in central Stockholm. Sofia, Viveka’s mother, who is never too shy to allow her own desires eclipse any concern for her daughter’s needs, assigns a scruffy corner in one of the few and narrow rooms to Viveka, allowing her to fashion a much-desired enfilade, a pitiable attempt to maintain a semblance of upper-class elegance when entertaining friends and acquaintances. The retired colonel eventually secures a position as an auditor with a prominent industrial firm owned by one of his distant acquaintances. The additional income derived from this position is scarcely sufficient to keep the family afloat in the lowest levels of the urban aristocracy.

The Lagercrona-family’s continuous struggle, and failure, to preserve an appearance of affluence is further exacerbated during Viveka’s early teenage years.  She is not only relentlessly scrutinised by members of considerably richer branches of the family, but she is also thrust into the unfamiliar world of city life with its obscure rules and expectations. This new environment presents a host of challenges, compelling Viveka to navigate the intricate social minefield of urban society while under the critical gaze of her more prosperous kin.

As Viveka grows older and takes her first steps in what is supposed to be the social life of a young girl from the nobility, the adverse effects of her upbringing under an egotistic and emotionally volatile mother start to become increasingly apparent. Viveka, beset by profound insecurity and low self-esteem, finds every social encounter to be an emotional rollercoaster. She falls in love with alarming ease yet considers herself too inconsequential to even deserve to be spoken to. She is frightened and horrified by each new situation or each new acquaintance. She is plagued by doubt about her clothes, her looks, her voice, her opinions, her name, and indeed her very existence. Every action becomes a daunting ordeal, every encounter a battlefield, every acquaintance a threat, every word a barbed arrow to her heart. In her distress, Viveka tries to hide, she weeps, and she is sick to her stomach throughout most of this novel.

The exaggerated emotional reactions would border on the tiresome, were it not for the realisation that the narrator is an emotionally deeply disturbed individual. Short of the self-destructive behaviour, Viveka exhibits signs of what modern psychiatry might consider Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), including erratic emotional responses to seemingly insignificant stimuli, crippling anxiety, and extreme self-doubt. The notable absence of self-destructive behaviour and self-harm can potentially be attributed to her quasi-paralytic inability to act at all, a constant state of pacification and fear that would align with the diagnosis. Indeed, a chaotic or traumatic childhood is cited in the medical literature as the primary cause of this disorder.  

Krusenstjerna’s portrayal of the floundering social class and the detrimental individual effect it had on its members is a triumph of literary accomplishment and an important historical document. Her decision to observe this decline through the eyes of a child who matures with time is particularly compelling. By following Viveka across the first three parts of this tetralogy, we have so far got to see the inevitable expiration of the aristocracy through the eyes of a child, an adolescent, and a young adult respectively, all of which are perspectives that contribute uniquely to the depth and nuance of the total picture.

It was hinted in the prologue to the first book “Fattigadel” (see my review of March 2024) that Viveka’s life would not end happily. By the time the events in “Dessa lyckliga år” unfold, it becomes evident that the essential tools for navigating any stratum of society, be it the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, or the proletariat, have been systematically denied to her throughout her upbringing. Her mother, with her own capricious motives, but also her brothers and her extended family played a pivotal role in this depravation. Viveka von Lagercrona is a personal tragedy waiting to happen. I am intrigued by how Krusenstjerna will weave these threads together in the fourth and final book. Stay tuned.