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Witness to the Future
English, Danish (translation)
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
29 people want to read
About the author
Klaus Rifbjerg
211 books37 followersKlaus Rifbjerg was a Danish writer. He has written more than 120 novels, books and essays. His breakthrough was in 1958 with the novel Den kroniske Uskyld. Since then he has published more than 100 novels as well as poetry and short story collections, plays, TV and radio plays, film scripts, children's books, and diaries. Rifbjerg was also known as a journalist and critic.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 5, 2023
Alt for meget Freud, hulebillede og sex
March 4, 2014
Why does every Danish book have to be a metaphor for sex?
June 2, 2024
Et spændende bud på en samfundskritik af 1980’erne, som sagtens også kan ses relevant i dag. For som bogen viser, er vi alle på sin vis Palle alene i verden 🚶♂️
May 4, 2007
So here's the premise: Two young boys playing in the forests outside of Copenhagen in occupied WWII Denmark discover a cave underground. Inside the cave is a tunnel that leads them from 1941 to 1988. They crawl out of a hole in the ground near a freeway and immediately have run-ins with with angry farmers, child-hating biker gangs, teen heroin addicts, and rabid dogs, as well as engaging in car theft, police chases, and the massive explosion of a helicopter.
Totally the '80s of your childhood, right?
A heavy weight of Danish literature, Klaus Rifbjerg published 80 (some places say 120) odd novels, short stories, essays, etc. and--as the one time publisher of Denmark's largest publishing house and co-creator of its premire literary magazine--comes up pretty frequently as one of the country's Golden Boys. My guess is that his reputation was not made by this novel, a Cold War era tale that presupposes--perhaps understandably--an impending nuclear war begining with the systematic bombing of major metropolises in 1988.
While we can appreciate that the social realities of the time may have been bleak, however, a book that tries to make the 1940s come across as idyllic and innocent seems a bit foolish, whatever the context. Yes, I understand the downhill trend that's being underscored--the idea that what we once considered to be the ultimate evil (i.e. Nazis), may not actually be the worst that humanity is capable of. But nuclear war, social decay, pollution, emotional callousness, and an overwhelming sense of existential futility don't really need any further dramatization. (When a 13 year old kid roughly tells his Visitors from the Past that 'You can't have a home and be on the needle,' and later drags himself to the home of a bohemian artist three times his age who kindly ties him off and shoots him up...it's officially too much.)
A deeply nostalgic, deeply disenchanted novel, Witness to the Future capitalizes on humanity's progressive descent into the abyss, without ever managing to make one's sense of loss and regret (the ubiquitous urge to drege up 'the Good Old Days,' even if the Good Old Days were during WWII) truly resonate with the reader.
Totally the '80s of your childhood, right?
A heavy weight of Danish literature, Klaus Rifbjerg published 80 (some places say 120) odd novels, short stories, essays, etc. and--as the one time publisher of Denmark's largest publishing house and co-creator of its premire literary magazine--comes up pretty frequently as one of the country's Golden Boys. My guess is that his reputation was not made by this novel, a Cold War era tale that presupposes--perhaps understandably--an impending nuclear war begining with the systematic bombing of major metropolises in 1988.
While we can appreciate that the social realities of the time may have been bleak, however, a book that tries to make the 1940s come across as idyllic and innocent seems a bit foolish, whatever the context. Yes, I understand the downhill trend that's being underscored--the idea that what we once considered to be the ultimate evil (i.e. Nazis), may not actually be the worst that humanity is capable of. But nuclear war, social decay, pollution, emotional callousness, and an overwhelming sense of existential futility don't really need any further dramatization. (When a 13 year old kid roughly tells his Visitors from the Past that 'You can't have a home and be on the needle,' and later drags himself to the home of a bohemian artist three times his age who kindly ties him off and shoots him up...it's officially too much.)
A deeply nostalgic, deeply disenchanted novel, Witness to the Future capitalizes on humanity's progressive descent into the abyss, without ever managing to make one's sense of loss and regret (the ubiquitous urge to drege up 'the Good Old Days,' even if the Good Old Days were during WWII) truly resonate with the reader.
December 7, 2015
Rifbjergs forsøg på at skrive en ungdomsroman, hvor to drenge på forunderlig vis finder en underjordisk vej mellem 1940 og 1981, er et hæderligt forsøg. Ganske actionprægede sekvenser, som ikke lige er standard-Rifbjerg, vekselvirker med mere traditionelle overvejelser om barndom/ungdom versus det voksne liv. Bogen bærer præg af koldkrigen, som stadig var aktuel i 1981, men bogens temaer kan fortsat finde klangbund i dagens politiske landskab.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews