The Half Brother

by Lars Saabye Christenson

2004 ~ 1st Edition 1st Printing Uncorrected PROOF

Arcade, 2004. VG+. Mild edge wear and surface flaws, bright and tight, no interior writing. Collectible copy.

Saabye Christensen studied literature, Norwegian, art history and the history of ideas at university. He made his début in 1976 with a collection of poems entitled Historien om Gly, which won Tarjei Vesaas’ debutantpris for that year’s best Norwegian literary début, but he had published a poem collection, titled Grønt lys (Green light), when he was 19 years old, and had also published many poems in an underground literary publication called Dikt og Datt.

He has written numerous poems and plays, and several film scripts, but is best known as a novelist. His first novel was published the year after Historien om Gly and titled Amatøren (The Amateur). Among his most noted works are the novels Beatles (1984) (for which he won the Cappelen Prize) and Halvbroren (The Half Brother, 2001) (for which he won the Brage Prize, two other Norwegian literary awards, and The Nordic Council’s Literature Prize, and which was shortlisted for the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award). Other notable books by Saabye Christensen are Herman, Gutten Som Ville Være En Av Gutta, Maskeblomstfamilien and Modellen.

Since 1993 he has issued 4 recordings of his poetry as a member of the band Norsk Utflukt: Med lyset på (1993), Diger og gul (1997), Det blå arret (2002) and Tida som går (2004).

On 24 October 2006 he was made a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. In April 2008 he was made a Chevalier dans L’ordre des Arts et Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature) by the French Government.

He is a member of the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature.