Natalja's Stories

Known primarily for her poetry, Inger Christensen (1935-2009) remains one of Denmark's most distinguished and original authors. Part of a seven-writer project modeled after Boccaccio's Decameron, Natalja's Stories takes an unusual approach to the theme of migration by focusing on the shifting ground of meaning. It is a tale told to the narrator by her grandmother--about her mother, "abducted" by a Russian from Copenhagen, taken to Russia, from which she must flee after the Revolution; she dies and her ashes are carried back to Denmark. But the story is told and retold in marvelous ways, some of which depart and digress playfully, often hilariously, involving murders and absurd characters, with wonderful repeating motifs and passages. In a review in the Danish press, critic Marie Louise Kj²lbye suggests how this novel is relevant today: "Instead of a conventional story of suffering, loss and disaster, the book is a tantalizing, playful account of a character seizing the moment, leaving the past behind, and becoming someone else --a deconstruction of the usual take on the migrant's fate as a tragic narrative.

Format: Paperback
Published: USA, 2025
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
Pages: 96
Language: English
ISBN: 9780811239462