Tales Of Protection by Erik Fosnes Hansen

Tales Of Protection by Norwegian writer Erik Fosnes Hansen is a book, I'll have to admit, that I don't quite get. Parts of it, indeed most of it, contains some of the most sublime writing I have read in years. Descriptions, characters, relationships, and micro-plots within the main structure are beautiful without doubt. It is the main structure that baffles me, in fact baffles and intrigues in equal measure.

Tales Of Protection begins with one of the main characters, Bolt, in his coffin. We then go back over the last months of his life and how he has come to live with his distant niece in a great house with one manservant, an ape and a lot of bees. Once we'd got past the slightly obscure first ten pages or so, I was hooked.

Bolt is a recluse living at Ekelund, an old family estate, and as well as his manservant Andersen, the hives of bees, and the "talking" ape, he has piles and piles and piles of research documents. These take the form of record books of observations and interviews, often gained at trouble and expense using hired detectives, as well as detailed observations of the lives of bees. After his death the wider significance of these documents becomes evident. Bolt has dedicated years to his research on the law of seriality, the strange conjunction of random events, the apparent coincidence, or the opposite of causality.

I have no conclusions to draw at the moment, other than that the material suggests there is, in addition to causality, an a-causal principle at work in the universe which strives towards unity, edification. My observations of nature suggest this too. I spent a long time studying forms of crystals and deviations within given patterns. Later I worked with leaves and moss, mold fungus and slime fungus. Where does the amoeba colony get its collective will? If unknown forces affect people, they must affect other forms of life. To test this theory I started observing events in the lives of more highly developed animal species, but captivity made realistic observations impossible. So I began studying the life of bees instead. In a beehive one has a whole world available for observation.

So just as we're immersed in Blot and Lea's lives and the nature of Bolt's research we switch, literally mid-sentence to another place, another time, another set of characters. At first the switch is abrupt and disconcerting as the narrative drive makes you want to stay with the first set of characters. However life on the island, in the lighthouse with Josefa, is if anything even more engaging than the tale of Bolt and Lea. But then we're off again, again  mid-sentence and we're in sumptuous Venice in the Renaissance watching a miracle happen (maybe, maybe not) and then off again to discover the world of the painter and the model that are at the root of the picture that caused the maybe-miracle. This part I found utterly fascinating. The historical details of the artists studio, the paint, the processes, the lives of apprentices are engrossing.

Each section is delightful but there is little in the way of overt connection between the parts. There are themes that move between them and there is much on art and the power of art. We're obviously being treated to a bit of the 'a-causal principle at work in the universe which strives towards unity'. And strive it does. I am not convinced by the philosophy here though the process of being failed to be convinced is nonetheless fascinating. I am convinced by Hansen's art however and I love this book both for its successes and its failures.

So, should you read it? Frankly this book is not for everyone. If writers beggaring about with narrative and not pulling together an obvious over-arching plot irritates you then this book is not for you. If you are bored by philosophy then it probably isn't for you either. If you're interested in art and love historical fiction and are prepared to roll with the rest of the books peculiarities then, yes, please read it. I could talk about this book for hours but that risk spoilers, but that suggests that it would be excellent fodder for a bookclub.

Being baffled by this book, I would really, really love to know what others think. Is Tales Of Protection just deliciously dreamy prose or a puzzle with less than precision cut pieces? Or do you have the key?

 

Comments

[Rob]

I've never read this book by Erik Fosnes Hansen, Catherine - or indeed anything by this Norwegian author - but boy does he sound a lot like Knut Hamsun :)
Warmest regards
Rob

[Jackie (Farm Lane Books)]

Interesting :-) I bought this after reading the same article you did, but haven't read it yet. I'm not sure I'll like it, but your review has intrigued me more. I'll try to fit it in before the end of the year and let you know.

[Crafty Green poet]

I love this book, its wonderfully written and magical, but no I don't understand it and I certainly don't hold the key...

[Juxtabook]

Belated thanks to all three of you for your comments.

Rob - Knut has been firmly on my 'drop hints for Christmas' list since your started your reviews!

Jackie _ I'd love to know what you think. I hope you read it soon!

Crafy Green Poet - welcome to Juxtabook! Magical is just the word.