Hash - Hardcover

Lindgren, Torgny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0715632647 ISBN 13: 9780715632642

Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 2004

Synopsis

The main ingredient in the recipes for Swedish hash, a dish known among the peasants of remote northern villages for its delectability and restorative powers, differ widely. The meats, offal, and grain that go into its preparation - an elaborate process of boiling, pickling, steaming, and stewing - can range from the heinous to the dangerous, and the results can be alternately emetic and sublime. The search for the most delicious dish of hash - the ultimate hash - forms the backbone of the blackly comic, marvellously innovative new novel from one of Sweden's most esteemed and best-selling authors. In a small town where an epidemic of tuberculosis rages, two very different men arrive to a scene of suffering accepted by the inhabitants not with stoicism or as a test of fate, but almost with glee. Robert Maser is a travelling garment salesman whose accent and demeanour betray the fact that he is actually the fugitive Martin Borman, the Nazi leader rumoured to have slipped past Red Army lines during the fall of Berlin. He engages the local schoolteacher, Lars, on the bizarre quest to find world's best hash, and together they wander the Swedish countryside, inviting themselves into peasant homes to sample the variety of humble family recipes. As their search becomes more impassioned, it becomes clear that their goal is much more than a culinary marvel, and that what they've really been seeking is the force of life that must present itself even in dark times.

About this title

Review

' a book full of dark humour as well as pleasing comic inversions' -- New Statesman

'Lindgren is renowned as one of Swedish Literature's most accomplished stylists, and Geddes' translation does him justice' -- The Guardian

'extraordinary and enthralling dark comedy...completely absorbing'
'Quirky, thought-provoking and ingeniously organized' -- Times Literary Supplement

'readers of Lindgren's powerful and indivdual novels will find this rich in interest...moving as well as an intellectually challenging experience' -- The Independent

About the Author

Torgny Lindgren is widely hailed as one of the most prominent literary figures on the world scene today. He has been awarded the August Prize, the Swedish National Book Award, and the Nordic Prize, and his novels have been published in more than twenty-five languages.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0715632647
• ISBN 13: 9780715632642
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240