Published in 2008, ‘I Curse the River of Time’ (Norwegian: Jeg forbanner tidens elv) is a novel by the Norwegian writer Per Petterson that received the ‘Nordic Council Literature Prize‘ in 2009. Petterson is one of Norway’s most recognised and popular writers: born in Oslo in a working-class family, he has been strongly involved in the left-wing movement. In 1977, Per Petterson was already nominated for the ‘Nordic Council Literature Prize’ for his novel ‘To Sibiria’. In 2003, he received international attention with ‘Out Stealing Horses’, which received a host of prizes in several countries. Despite its title, ‘I Curse the River of Time’ is a beautiful and quietly flowing novel set in 1989 against the backdrop of a communist Europe. The story revolves around Arvid Jansen, the protagonist, and his relationship with his mother, who has recently been diagnosed with cancer. In his 20s, Arvid is a communist that quits his studies to be proletarianised: this decision hurts his mother deeply and is a great disappointment to her. Twenty years later he is divorced at the same time as his mother is diagnosed with cancer: she leaves Norway for northern Denmark where she was born, and Arvid decides to look her up. There, he gets the feeling of having failed everything: his professional life, his marriage and his political commitment. The entire novel, in which Arvid is the narrator, builds on these flashbacks, dominated by the relationship with his mother. He describes the difficulties of their relationship, his youthful dreams, the return to childhood and its painful stories. According to the Adjudicating Committee, the protagonist in the novel describes his experiences and his fragmented memoirs with several crises of life in his own family. In a poetic and quiet language, Petterson brings across how difficult it is to tell each other the most important things…
