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Nekronauten
Nekronauten er en stilbevisst grøsser, en beksvart historie fra et gotisk og gåtefullt univers preget av brå død og ukjent liv. En dunkel høstkveld blir den unge legen Janss oppsøkt av grosserer Grocks datter, Celeste. Hun forteller at grossereren har oppført seg så besynderlig de siste dagene. Øynene hans har mistet alt liv, og han oppfører seg ondt. Dagen etter blir han funnet myrdet. Liket er i en tilstand av langt fremskreden forråtnelse, til tross for at han bare har vært død et døgn. Grossererens død er det første av flere overnaturlige og groteske dødsfall.
- GenresHorror
260 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
29 people want to read
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October 27, 2022
Gothic, fantasy, dystopia, mannerpunk, and sleuth crime have been combined; the result is a Holmesian search for a visceral murderer in a grotesque mirror universe, as a foreground to a much deeper study into the darker sides of humanity.
There, perhaps, currently exist no genre named anti-contemporary literature, but it is a very useful descriptive for this novel: While Nekronauten (translation: The Necronaut) was published no earlier than 2009, its true contemporaries were by that time already over a century old.
The most obvious of these are the great Gothic (or Gothic inspired) novels of the late 19th century. It shelves itself close to Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus in its psychology, and Stoker’s Dracula in its grotesque scenography. Inside The Necronaut is found grand mansions that aesthetically idealise awe and domination above beauty, where resides the bêtes noire of humanity – with grins of self-conceit and self-deceit comparable to the protagonists of Beckford’s An Arabian Tale/Vathek and Lewis’ The Monk – and The Necronaut can in many ways be seen as a study of these beings. They are in part products of their own day and age, which is an alternate universe version of Victorian era Great Britain, or Granbretan as it is called herein – more specifically in the town Camelodunum (known as Colchester in our universe) – a part of a Roman colonialist empire which is built on subjugation and elitism, and only sustainable through the utmost cruelty. This is a place where creative torture methods is considered as ingenuity, perhaps even an art if applied that way; here racism is an ideal, misogyny the norm, and what the rich can afflict upon the poor is limited by imagination rather than the threat of the law.
This is given all the more emphasis by the protagonist, Martinus Janss, who, in this regard, is just as much a part of the demographic as the others, even if he is considered to be an exceptionally kind man by their standards. He is a doctor, and apparently one of the few among them who are willing to help the poor now and then. Also, he is apart from the norm of his peers in that his feelings of benevolence towards others is genuine. He is even squeamish as far as carnage is concerned, whereas most of his peers are merely fascinated by it. Yet, this novel has much in common with Ibsen’s Et dukkehjem/A Doll’s House (another of the true contemporaries) and Janss is no different a husband than Torvald Helmer was. Neither can he help but take a genuine interest in craniometry as a way to tell who is of a better mind than others, and the plight of the poor, even if he hears it, is still of less importance than that of his peers. It is truly a gruesome dystopia where this is the most kind-hearted of its heroes.
What is important above all else is appearances, to the point which it is valid to call this a mannerpunk novel.¹ It is a genre that is heavily influenced by Austin’s books, and Pride and Prejudice must surely count as yet another of the true contemporaries. Etiquette and manners has displaced kindness and morality, because a society that is this bloodthirsty requires above all rules of proper conduct, in order for there to be a separation between those who are justifiable victims and those who belong to the victimising upper class. Specifically, it is there to keep the controlling part of society stable, which in turn keeps the entire social construct from falling apart – something close to the saying of ‘honour amongst predators.’
A murder investigation in a society like this is a cumbersome process, but Janss is nevertheless compelled to do so when a close friend of his, Grocer Grock, is brutally murdered. If the circumstances around the murder had been translucent then he might have found it reasonable to let the police handle it, but Grocer Grock’s case was beyond curious. Specifically, while his state of decay would indicate that he had been dead for a week, if not more, this is contradicted by Janss own experience of having met with him, very much alive, only the night before.
But, while this might be beyond the police, ever how shrewd the inspector assigned to it might be, Janss knows someone who could be up to the task. It is a man named Alexander Jonas, and as he enters the story one instantly recognizes a final contemporary in need of being mentioned: the crime stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Jonas’ figure is Holmesian in both essence and execution, but also more inhuman than his archetype, just like the society of The Necronaut is more inhuman than that of Britain in the late nineteenth century. His field is psychology – which could be seen as a more appropriate choice of profession than if he had been a detective, considering that this is after all a mannerpunk novel – and it is the psychological implications of the perpetrator that fascinates him, so much so that he is willing to forego the experiments he was running in his own mental asylum to chase them. Where he is akin to Sherlock Holmes in that it is the chase that excites him, they are dissimilar in that while Holmes would try to prevent a murder it seems that Jonas considers another body to be just another bit of insight into the killers mind and therefore a desirable outcome.
It should be readily apparent that this is not a Nordic noir novel even if the author is Scandinavian. No Nordic noir novel, despite having such an umbral label, do not come anywhere close to being as grim as The Necronaut. Its combination of elements leaves it as unique among Gothic novels, as well as detective novels, dystopias, punk-lit, and feminist literature. It is entirely an experience of its own, a singular adventure in a singular world, though it should come with the warning that it requires of the reader that they do not have a weak stomach. It is also ambitious in a way few novels dare to be; if done justice, The Necronaut is a book that demands analysis and discussion on a scale normally reserved for classics. That it was declared a young adult novel has clearly done some damage here since many take that label to mean it is not a work worthy of an adult or academic audience, whereas in truth this is a book that yields more to the reader the greater their literary background is.
Unfortunately, most people will never see a physical copy of this book and much less have the possibility of reading it. It was never given a second printing and used copies are very difficult to come by. (Copies hit the second hand market approximately once every other year.) It is available as an e-book and from the libraries of most Norwegian cities, but that is more or less it. Needless to say, this book has never been translated even if it very much deserves to be.
1. Many have labelled The Necronaut as ‘steampunk,’ but since the main technology of the universe is clockwork it would, in that sense, be more accurate to place it in the smaller subgenre known as clockwork punk. However, it could be argued that the main mechanic of the story is not its technology as much as its social functions, and it is to highlight this that I label it as mannerpunk. It should also be mentioned that in the taxonomy of genres the suffix ‘-punk’ is used to insinuate that the protagonists make their existences on the shady side of society. This is only relevant to this novel insofar that the high society that Janss is part of is a corrupt one, legally as well as morally; Janss himself at least tries to be honest and upstanding, and when he at times fails it is due to a lack of moral understanding, which in turn derives from the general lack of it in the world around him, but he is also willing to assist his friend Jonas in a shady venture or two so he is not entirely an upstanding person either. All in all it is the opinion of this reviewer that the label fits.
There, perhaps, currently exist no genre named anti-contemporary literature, but it is a very useful descriptive for this novel: While Nekronauten (translation: The Necronaut) was published no earlier than 2009, its true contemporaries were by that time already over a century old.
The most obvious of these are the great Gothic (or Gothic inspired) novels of the late 19th century. It shelves itself close to Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus in its psychology, and Stoker’s Dracula in its grotesque scenography. Inside The Necronaut is found grand mansions that aesthetically idealise awe and domination above beauty, where resides the bêtes noire of humanity – with grins of self-conceit and self-deceit comparable to the protagonists of Beckford’s An Arabian Tale/Vathek and Lewis’ The Monk – and The Necronaut can in many ways be seen as a study of these beings. They are in part products of their own day and age, which is an alternate universe version of Victorian era Great Britain, or Granbretan as it is called herein – more specifically in the town Camelodunum (known as Colchester in our universe) – a part of a Roman colonialist empire which is built on subjugation and elitism, and only sustainable through the utmost cruelty. This is a place where creative torture methods is considered as ingenuity, perhaps even an art if applied that way; here racism is an ideal, misogyny the norm, and what the rich can afflict upon the poor is limited by imagination rather than the threat of the law.
This is given all the more emphasis by the protagonist, Martinus Janss, who, in this regard, is just as much a part of the demographic as the others, even if he is considered to be an exceptionally kind man by their standards. He is a doctor, and apparently one of the few among them who are willing to help the poor now and then. Also, he is apart from the norm of his peers in that his feelings of benevolence towards others is genuine. He is even squeamish as far as carnage is concerned, whereas most of his peers are merely fascinated by it. Yet, this novel has much in common with Ibsen’s Et dukkehjem/A Doll’s House (another of the true contemporaries) and Janss is no different a husband than Torvald Helmer was. Neither can he help but take a genuine interest in craniometry as a way to tell who is of a better mind than others, and the plight of the poor, even if he hears it, is still of less importance than that of his peers. It is truly a gruesome dystopia where this is the most kind-hearted of its heroes.
What is important above all else is appearances, to the point which it is valid to call this a mannerpunk novel.¹ It is a genre that is heavily influenced by Austin’s books, and Pride and Prejudice must surely count as yet another of the true contemporaries. Etiquette and manners has displaced kindness and morality, because a society that is this bloodthirsty requires above all rules of proper conduct, in order for there to be a separation between those who are justifiable victims and those who belong to the victimising upper class. Specifically, it is there to keep the controlling part of society stable, which in turn keeps the entire social construct from falling apart – something close to the saying of ‘honour amongst predators.’
A murder investigation in a society like this is a cumbersome process, but Janss is nevertheless compelled to do so when a close friend of his, Grocer Grock, is brutally murdered. If the circumstances around the murder had been translucent then he might have found it reasonable to let the police handle it, but Grocer Grock’s case was beyond curious. Specifically, while his state of decay would indicate that he had been dead for a week, if not more, this is contradicted by Janss own experience of having met with him, very much alive, only the night before.
But, while this might be beyond the police, ever how shrewd the inspector assigned to it might be, Janss knows someone who could be up to the task. It is a man named Alexander Jonas, and as he enters the story one instantly recognizes a final contemporary in need of being mentioned: the crime stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Jonas’ figure is Holmesian in both essence and execution, but also more inhuman than his archetype, just like the society of The Necronaut is more inhuman than that of Britain in the late nineteenth century. His field is psychology – which could be seen as a more appropriate choice of profession than if he had been a detective, considering that this is after all a mannerpunk novel – and it is the psychological implications of the perpetrator that fascinates him, so much so that he is willing to forego the experiments he was running in his own mental asylum to chase them. Where he is akin to Sherlock Holmes in that it is the chase that excites him, they are dissimilar in that while Holmes would try to prevent a murder it seems that Jonas considers another body to be just another bit of insight into the killers mind and therefore a desirable outcome.
It should be readily apparent that this is not a Nordic noir novel even if the author is Scandinavian. No Nordic noir novel, despite having such an umbral label, do not come anywhere close to being as grim as The Necronaut. Its combination of elements leaves it as unique among Gothic novels, as well as detective novels, dystopias, punk-lit, and feminist literature. It is entirely an experience of its own, a singular adventure in a singular world, though it should come with the warning that it requires of the reader that they do not have a weak stomach. It is also ambitious in a way few novels dare to be; if done justice, The Necronaut is a book that demands analysis and discussion on a scale normally reserved for classics. That it was declared a young adult novel has clearly done some damage here since many take that label to mean it is not a work worthy of an adult or academic audience, whereas in truth this is a book that yields more to the reader the greater their literary background is.
Unfortunately, most people will never see a physical copy of this book and much less have the possibility of reading it. It was never given a second printing and used copies are very difficult to come by. (Copies hit the second hand market approximately once every other year.) It is available as an e-book and from the libraries of most Norwegian cities, but that is more or less it. Needless to say, this book has never been translated even if it very much deserves to be.
1. Many have labelled The Necronaut as ‘steampunk,’ but since the main technology of the universe is clockwork it would, in that sense, be more accurate to place it in the smaller subgenre known as clockwork punk. However, it could be argued that the main mechanic of the story is not its technology as much as its social functions, and it is to highlight this that I label it as mannerpunk. It should also be mentioned that in the taxonomy of genres the suffix ‘-punk’ is used to insinuate that the protagonists make their existences on the shady side of society. This is only relevant to this novel insofar that the high society that Janss is part of is a corrupt one, legally as well as morally; Janss himself at least tries to be honest and upstanding, and when he at times fails it is due to a lack of moral understanding, which in turn derives from the general lack of it in the world around him, but he is also willing to assist his friend Jonas in a shady venture or two so he is not entirely an upstanding person either. All in all it is the opinion of this reviewer that the label fits.
April 28, 2020
I noko som minner om eit England på 1800-talet finner vi eit etterforskarpar med klar påverknad frå Sherlock Holmes og doktor Watson. Det er ein storby, det er grått, kaldt og mørkt, elektrisitet er enda ikkje eit vanleg fenomen. Ein kan kjenne lukta av smog.
Doktor Janss blir ein kveld oppsøkt av Celeste, dotter av grosserar Grock. Han blir med ho tilbake til heimen hennar for å undersøkje grosseraren, som ifølge dottera har tedd seg svært merkeleg den siste tida. Mannen han finner ser riktignok ut som den samme som før, men hans vesen er ugjenkjenneleg. Neste dag blir Dr. Janss tilkalt igjen, grosserar Grock er funnen død, og tilstanden til liket tilseier at han har vore død i rundt to veker... og det kjem fleire lik...
Dette er gotisk steampunk grøss, tenk Frankensteins monster møter Sherlock Holmes i ein herleg overbevisande histore med glimrande plot. Det går ikkje spesielt fort, men følger mer fart og framdrift som i klassisk krim, meir tankearbeid enn action med andre ord, men spanande!
Dette er debutboka til litteraturvitar Lajla Rolstad, som skreiv hovudoppgåve om Bram Stokers "Dracula" og det er overtydande handverk. Krim, spaning, grøss, men også atmosfære og kjærleik, samt ein haug av referansar til klassikarar i sjangeren, for dei som måtte sette pris på slikt. God bok!
Doktor Janss blir ein kveld oppsøkt av Celeste, dotter av grosserar Grock. Han blir med ho tilbake til heimen hennar for å undersøkje grosseraren, som ifølge dottera har tedd seg svært merkeleg den siste tida. Mannen han finner ser riktignok ut som den samme som før, men hans vesen er ugjenkjenneleg. Neste dag blir Dr. Janss tilkalt igjen, grosserar Grock er funnen død, og tilstanden til liket tilseier at han har vore død i rundt to veker... og det kjem fleire lik...
Dette er gotisk steampunk grøss, tenk Frankensteins monster møter Sherlock Holmes i ein herleg overbevisande histore med glimrande plot. Det går ikkje spesielt fort, men følger mer fart og framdrift som i klassisk krim, meir tankearbeid enn action med andre ord, men spanande!
Dette er debutboka til litteraturvitar Lajla Rolstad, som skreiv hovudoppgåve om Bram Stokers "Dracula" og det er overtydande handverk. Krim, spaning, grøss, men også atmosfære og kjærleik, samt ein haug av referansar til klassikarar i sjangeren, for dei som måtte sette pris på slikt. God bok!
October 27, 2025
En elegant romandebut fra en forfatter jeg inntil nylig aldri hadde hørt om før. En slags gotisk grøsser der inspirasjonen fra Edgar Allan Poe og Arthur Conan Doyle svever over fortellingen. Vi befinner oss i England i en ikke nærmere angitt tid, men hvor jeg får en fornemmelse av siste halvdel av 1800-tallet. Kanskje er det en lek med tidsepoker som ligger til grunn for at byene Colchester og London blir utstyrt med de gamle romerske navnene Camulodunum og Londinium.
I "Nekronauten" skjer det uforklarlige, groteske drap som blir etterforsket av dr Janns og hans nære venn Jonas. Ganske lenge er det snarere mystikk enn rendyrket grøss som preger romanen. Etter hvert som løsningen på mysteriet gradvis blir avdekket, skrus intensiteten en god del opp. Jeg synes ikke boka holder seg like godt hele vegen, men gir uansett pluss i margen for en kreativ og velskrevet historie.
I "Nekronauten" skjer det uforklarlige, groteske drap som blir etterforsket av dr Janns og hans nære venn Jonas. Ganske lenge er det snarere mystikk enn rendyrket grøss som preger romanen. Etter hvert som løsningen på mysteriet gradvis blir avdekket, skrus intensiteten en god del opp. Jeg synes ikke boka holder seg like godt hele vegen, men gir uansett pluss i margen for en kreativ og velskrevet historie.
March 9, 2018
3.5
Har aldri lest en grøsser før, så det var interessant. Historien var spennende, men det gamle språket trakk ned.
Har aldri lest en grøsser før, så det var interessant. Historien var spennende, men det gamle språket trakk ned.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews