Published in 1977, ‘Dalen Portland‘ is a novel by Norwegian author Kjartan Fløgstad that won the ‘Nordic Council Literature Prize‘ in 1978. Fløgstad was born in Sauda (south-western Norway) and studied at Bergen university: he worked as an industrial worker and sailor, before his debut (1968) with the poems collection ‘Valfart’. Attracted to Latin-American poetry and influenced by its magic realism, Kjartan Fløgstad writes in Norwegian Nynorsk and has since published work in a host of genres. ‘Dalen Portland’ describes what happens in the industrial town of Sauda on the brink of World War II as the world cries out for steel for the needs of the arms industry: in the novel, the author describes the slavery of machines and the cultural poverty of the industrial society. According to the Adjudicating Committee, Fløgstad uses an innovative language to depict people who are affected by the contradictions between an indigenous farming environment and a modern industrial society. The novel is characterised by both realistic narrative art and romantic fantasy.
