A Fugitive Crosses his Tracks

Espen Arnakke #2

by Aksel Sandemose

Part of a long series of novels about the author's alter ego, Espen Arnakke, a sailor from Jante, Denmark, begun in 1931 and continuing to 1938. He explores his irrational act of murdering a friend who seduced his girlfriend. This part is set in the small narrow-minded Danish village he calls 'Yoknapatawpha' where Espen explores his childhood to find out who he is.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Scandinavian Literature, Novels, Denmark, Danish

414 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

About the author

Aksel Sandemose var en dansk-norsk forfatter som skrev et personlig preget norsk som ligger nærmest det som kalles bokmål. Han skrev altså ikke riksmål, som er det norske skriftspråk som ligger nærmest offisiell dansk, selv om han var født og oppvokst i Danmark. Han er mest kjent for romanen En flyktning krysser sitt spor, som introduserer begrepet Janteloven.

Aksel Sandemoses fødenavn var Axel Nielsen, men i 1921 endret han navn til Aksel Sandemose. Et navn med tilknytning til hans norske mors slekt. Oppveksten i byen Nykøbing på øya Mors i Limfjorden i Nord-Jylland ga stoff til en stor del av hans forfatterskap. Også hans tid som sjømann i unge år er biografisk stoff i hans bøker. Sandemoses mor som var fra Skedsmo utenfor Oslo, har gitt forfatteren noe han selv har beskrevet som "fedrelandsdrift" mot hennes hjemland, og etter forslag fra Sigurd Hoel bosatte han seg i Norge i 1930. Han ble norsk statsborger, og etablerte seg straks som norsk forfatter gjennom å oversette deler av sitt danske forfatterskap til norsk, f.eks. "En sjømann går i land" 1931. Hans norskdom i denne første tiden kommer blant annet til uttrykk i det Vinje-inspirerte enmannstidsskriftet "Fesjå" fra 1935. En forløper for det langt mer omfattende enmannstidsskriftet "Årstidene – Brev fra Kjørkelvik" som kom i mange nummer fra midten av femtiårene og inn i neste tiår. Til å begynne med bosatte han seg med sin første familie på halvøya Nesoddlandet i fjorden rett sør for Oslo. Da han var tilknyttet et miljø som arbeidet aktivt mot den tyske okkupasjonsmakten valgte han i 1941 å flykte til Sverige. Tiden i Sverige var en vanskelig men fruktbar tid for forfatteren. Hans andre hovedverk, "Det svundne er en drøm" ble skrevet her, og utgitt i Sverige med tittelen "Det gångna är en dröm" 1944. En tittel som ikke er en oversettelse av den norske tittelen da den er en strofe hentet fra den svenske poeten Dan Andersons verk. Etter krigen flyttet han sammen med sin nye hustru Eva Borgen tilbake til Norge. Sandemose hadde lenge drømt om å flytte utenfor hovedstaden, og tenkte først på Trysil, men paret kom over et nedlagt småbruk i Søndeled i Aust Agder sør i landet, som de bestemte seg for å kjøpe. Noe de kunne da Eva på dette tidspunktet disponerte over en arv som muliggjorde kjøpet. Han fikk "ti lykkelige år" her, til ulykkene innhentet dem. Først mistet Sandemose sin hustru, deretter den ene tvillingsønnen. Han har beskrevet hendelsene i "Murene rundt Jeriko", en bok som han kaller en minnebok om disse som sto ham nær. Han flyttet så tilbake til Oslo. Her giftet han seg en tredje gang. Han døde under et opphold i København i 1965.

Aksel Sandemoses tredje hovedverk "Varulven" 1958, var på slutten av femtitallet en av de fremste kandidatene til Nobelprisen i litteratur. Hovedverkene "En flyktning krysser sitt spor", "Det svundne er en drøm" og "Varulven" plasserer forfatterskapet i verdenslitteraturen.

Reviews

[Stephen Trotter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read

I have to admit that I've spent years avoiding Norwegian/Scandinavian literature (Sandemose was Danish/Norwegian, so we'll leave it to the pedants to argue whether the book is Norwegian or Danish). Mostly because I attended Norwegian primary and secondary school, and never liked anything we were told to read. I'm pretty certain if I'd been told to read this book at the time, I probably would have let my bias get the best of me and not liked it. Fortunately, I have matured a bit since then and I read A Fugitive Crosses his Tracks as preparation for an article on Janteloven. It dawned on me, while reading the book, that most people who quote Janteloven have rarely read the book. Their renditions of Janteloven is too simplistic!

I read the book looking to understand Janteloven, and I'm glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative technique employed by Sandemose, and the text struck a chord for me. Revisiting the protagonist's checkered past in a messy, storytelling way offers you a sense of closeness to the narrator. At times it felt as though I was the other half of a conversation wherein Arnakke (the "protagonist") attempts to deliver an autobiography. The entire book reads like a confession; admissions of lust, shame, desire, theft, murder, regret, love, and hate appear throughout the novel.

Yet, all in all, the interesting aspect is not that Arnakke's story is unique. In fact, Sandemose, through Arnakke, specifically tells us: this is not a unique story, if you think it is: you're daft. This book was published in the 1930s (I don't know how long Sandemose had been working on it), and the atmosphere of the time shines through. Life was not easy in a small industrial village, and it had significant repercussions on well-being, physical and mental. Arnakke's story is but one of many, which renders his telling all the more powerful (in my opinion).

This book might not be everyone's cup of tea. I read it with a specific goal in mind, and it helped me appreciate a lot of the elements in the book. It won't tell you why Scandinavians are the way they are (the book is 80 years old, only traces of it applies) and it won't tell you explicitly why Janteloven is the way it is. I am very glad I read the book, and I would highly recommend people to read it. A minor caveat is that I don't know whether the English translation is any good: I speak English and Norwegian fluently, and I struggled with the ambiguity of the language when translating sections for my article. This ambiguity might be lost in translation (a crying shame! As the ambiguous language makes it all the more enjoyable!)

[David]

This book is the origin of Jante's Law.
The rules are as follows:
You're not to think you are anything special.
You're not to think you are as good as us.
You're not to think you are smarter than us.
You're not to convince yourself that you are better than us.
You're not to think you know more than us.
You're not to think you are more important than us.
You're not to think you are good at anything.
You're not to laugh at us.
You're not to think anyone cares about you.
You're not to think you can teach us anything.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have gotten a bit hooked on hygge and the read Michael Booth's
'The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
' and its reference to Aksel Sandemose's "A Fugitive Crosses the Tracks". I tracked it down through interlibrary loan from Monmouth College. I was the third reader since July 2009. It was more than a bit of plow through read, and I can certainly verify that the oppressive authoritarian culture highlighted made reading it so challenging. What most struck me was that the heavy hand of adult society and religion so unkindly depicted made one question the celebration of the calm community of hygge. Of course 1936 to 2018 are quite distance, true, but it seems like Jante Law may still hover in Scandinavia.

[Paweł · Rating 5 out of 5]

Espen Arnakke opowiada o genezie morderstwa, którego dokonał, a także o ucieczce z dzieciństwa. Powieść zaskakująca symboliką, w nieoczywisty sposób ukazująca dzieciństwo jako okres formacyjny, ale też miejsce w czasoprzestrzeni bohatera. Kraina Baśni nie jest tu tożsama z Rajem, a Stodoła Adamsena okazuje się być zarówno cudownym wspomnieniem, jak i koszmarem, który należy spalić. Jante siedzi w głowie każdego z nas, choć u każdego jest zupełnie innym miejscem. Uciekamy z niego tak, czy owak, lecz powroty są na ogół szczęśliwsze niż ten Arnakkego.
Strasznie wciągająca powieść i mam poczucie, że świetnie zniosła upływ czasu.

[Dima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jante's law has got a life on its own and became much more famous than the book it comes from. A reader often knows the law way before the cover page is turned over. So there is a danger that when you finally get to this novel there are already Jante-related images in your head that are not going to be confirmed by the text. It happened to me. I had some questions about the law that I hoped would be answered by the book. They were not. Maybe this personal disappointment is the only reason why I haven't rated this book higher. If during the reading I could stop hoping that on the next page I would get answers, I would have enjoyed this precise psychological analysis of the small closed societies much more.

[Erlend Aasland · Rating 3 out of 5]

På den eine sida vil eg gi denne boka fem stjerner. Beskrivelsen av det vonde og groteske i mennesket er utruleg bra, og minnar meg til tider om Steinbeck (dog ikkje like bra). Men boka vart for langdryg. Etter fyrste tredjedel vart det mykje drøvtygging, og eg tok meg sjølv i å berre ønskja at boka snart var ferdig.

[Przestrzenie Tekstu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cała powieść jest powolnym, niemal ślimaczym tłumaczeniem się z przeszłości. Każdy rozdział to jedno wspomnienie. Literacki majstersztyk, który... może wynudzić czytelnika na śmierć. Solidna proza, stanowiąca coś więcej niż sztywną relację. Jest wylewnie, ale z zachowaniem granic. Niewygodnie, może nawet nieprzyjemnie. Jednak jakimś cudem chce się brnąć do końca.

[Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book in which Sandemose created the Law of Jante: the pattern of group behaviour towards individuals within Scandinavian communities that negatively portrays and criticises individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate. Depressing, but true.

[Olga · Rating 3 out of 5]

możliwe, że to bardzo dobra książka, ale tak mnie zmęczyła zawiłością warsztatu, że nie jestem w stanie dać jej wyższej oceny.

[aluška · Rating 5 out of 5]

K čemu jsou knihy, když se nedokážu zbavit hlavy? Ze zoufalství jsem snědl celý tmavý chléb.

relatable

[fernweh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ciekawe, momentami zachwycające, ale w ogólnym rozrachunku przytłaczające. Mam wrażenie że powinnam do niej wrócić za kilka lat.

[Geir Tønnessen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Et utdatert barndomsskildring om en morders selvbekjennelse. Forteller og hovedperson Espen Arnakke vokser opp i byen Jante, der folk holder hverandre nede i misunnelse . Han flykter, han prøver å rømme. Men Jantes undertrykkende psyke er fastlåst i hans sjel. Han får den ikke bort, Jante sitter fast i kroppen og han vender tilbake. Tilbake til den levemåten han håndterer best.

[Håvard Bamle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ganske langtekkelig og kjedelig lesning, men veldig gode innsikter som er så fantastisk overførbare til både annen litteratur og til virkeligheten. Ikke en bok til å kose seg med, men en bok det er nyttig å kjenne til i sin helhet.

[Lorenzo Berardi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fascinated by the concept of "Jante" while living in Norway, I tried to read this book in original language two years ago. That was probably a mission too hard to accomplish for me.

[Jacob Granqvist · Rating 2 out of 5]

En mycket annorlunda bok. Det enda som fick mig att fortsätta läsa var det faktum att den innehöll ett fåtal riktigt välskrivna delar. I stort var den dock för lång och för invecklad.

[Axel · Rating 4 out of 5]

“En flygtning krydser sit spor” er et semibiografisk memoirer af Aksel Sandemose udgivet i mellemkrigstiden. Både bogen og forfatteren er særligt kendt for formuleringen af Janteloven. Det var fascinerende at læse om Janteloven og de mange andre psykologiske anskuelser som forfatteren havde om småbyer m.m. Bogen er bygget op af en masse korte kapitler med en, i min mening, mere eller mindre stærk pointe i slutningen af hvert kapitel. Dette kan dog skyldes, at jeg har misset ihverfald nuancer i pointerne. Jeg synes at opbygningen med de korte kapitler læser godt. Hvis det stod til mig ville romanen være ca. 200 sider kortere, men det kan igen være fordi jeg ikke har fået alt med. Derfor bliver det 4-stjerner for nu, og jeg vil glæde mig til at genlæse værket senere i livet.

[Rajiv Chopra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis

Axel Sandemose’s book “A Fugitive Covers His Tracks” begs us to ask one question of ourselves: are we fugitives, and how do we cover our tracks?

Axel Sandemose lived between 1899 and 1965. Few people read his books these days, or so I am told. We live in busy times and often rush between deadlines and places. We have little time for introspective, psychological work these days.

Axel himself lived a life that seemed to mirror the life of his protagonist, Espen Arnakke.

Espen killed a man, John Wakefield, seventeen years before the tale was told. John Wakefield had seduced the girl he loved, and he wanted revenge.

The murder itself forms a small part of the narrative. The ghost of John Wakefield lives with Espen and seems to live within him. This is almost like the ghost of Michael Furey who lives in Gretta in James Joyce’s story, ‘The Dead’.

However, there are differences. Espen speaks at lengths of his life in Jante, the fictional town where he lives. He speaks of ‘The Ten Laws of Jante’, which oppress people. They oppress children in particular.

Many Danish people around the time Axel wrote this book, identified with these laws. These laws are more universal than we realize. I live in India and I see shades of these laws in today’s India.

They never caught Espen for his crime. He escaped with his wife and children to start a new life elsewhere. However, the ghost of his past does not leave him. Neither does the ghost of Michael Wakefield.

Does he ever become a whole man?

My Review

Axel Sandemose, according to some sources, was not a pleasant man. Did he project some of this onto Espen? He seems to have projected some of his own life’s incidents and psychoses onto Espen, but I cannot gauge how much.

The book itself makes for some depressing reading. Ordinarily, I may have given up halfway, especially when reading about the way people bullied and mocked during his life. However, there are some searing observations of human nature.

Once I killed a man. His name was John Wakefield and I murdered him one night seventeen years ago in
Misery Harbor. Many there were who became murderers in those days. The World War was raging, but that
was legalized murder and meritorious slaughter. It was probably all one to the victims whether their murder had
been legalized or not, but not so to the murderers.
Then, there is this

How shall a child see ahead to the fact that life’s goal is the making of money? His ambition is to sneak in a few
of the pleasures he finds his fellows enjoying.

And this

In the newspaper there on the table you will find an article headed: “How Long May We Claim Our Children?”
As a matter of fact, we may not claim our children at all; we do not own them and we never have. And the
child, in his own way, realizes this. His heart is a volcano of revolt long, long before his elders even surmise it.

I will accept that when Axel wrote these words; he had his own experiences in mind. Yet, when I read them, I see humanity reflected in them. For instance, we all believe that we ‘own’ our children. Do we? Do we mould them in our light, or do we allow them to become the adults they seek to be?

The book seeks to explore how our childhood experiences—pleasant or repressive—impact our lives powerfully

When we commit crimes—or even if we don’t—we are often fugitives from our past. I will wager that all children and adolescents have harboured violent thoughts in their lives. They have all struggled violently with the chains of expectations, just to break free. Some do.

Some don’t and spend the rest of their lives on the run, whereas the ghosts of the past haunt them in ways they don’t understand.

This is a deep, haunting and disturbing book.

[Karsten Wijgaart-Van Dijk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tung og tidvis bra

[Senga · Rating 4 out of 5]

To jedna z najbardziej dołujących książek jakie czytałam. Odziera ze złudzeń mit szczęśliwego dzieciństwa i przedstawia jako okres nieustannego terroru, któremu poddawana jest istota zanim nawet zdąży się ukształtować. Wygodnie byłoby myśleć, że to książka o jakiejś małej duńskiej wiosce, do tego napisana ponad 80 lat temu, więc z nami nie ma nic wspólnego. Nic bardziej mylnego. Jante jest wszędzie i trwa.

[Jakub Horbów · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie spodziewałem się tak aktualnej i oryginalnej prozy. Ciekawe, jak dzisiejsze są przemyślenia na temat wpływu społeczeństwa na dziecko i jak bardzo trudny, i skomplikowany jest to okres w życiu. Wszystko to pisane w latach trzydziestych ubiegłego wieku przez norweskiego wagabundę. Bardzo dobry początek czytelniczego roku.

E: Widziałem w recenzjach zarzuty, że książka jest trudna i ciężko jest mi się z tym zgodzić, bo ten pozorny chaos w narracji świetnie oddaje to z czym zmaga się narrator będący głównym bohaterem, a niedomówienia, nieścisłości i pourywane wątki dają możliwość dopowiadania historii przy okazji przyspieszając narrację. Oczywiście lektura wywołuje w czytelniku dyskomfort, czasem wręcz złość, ale to wynika bezpośrednio z koncepcji autora. Mnie Sandemosego czytało się bardzo dobrze.

[Sandrine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an interesting and gripping (semi-autobiographical) story that first explained the concept of jantelagen. However, I found it became too long- winded and confused. The charm of following someone's memories starts to become tiring and chaotic after about 350 pages. One of the major strengths of the book is also one of its weaknesses. Maybe the concept of jantelagen has also become too big with the years in Scandinavia because I somehow expected more detail on it and more explanations. Instead there was much more on Espen, his growing up as well as his violent and difficult journey. An interesting read nonetheless.

[Agnieszka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get lost somewhere in this book. I do believe it is a great piece of literature, but probably I was not able to follow all of the metaphors. The Jante laws: definitely scary and depressing, real-life Scandinavia is much more open and they are aiming to make great things stying humble about it at the same time. So no, we do not know something about you, you are welcome to excel. Overall tough piece, not for the faint of heart.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gir den 4 minus. Det er en meget god bok, men den svikter i midtpartiet, synes jeg. Janteloven skulle være kjent for de fleste. Nevnes bør også frykten hersketaktikken "jeg vet noe om deg!" skapte i det lille samfunnet Sandemose beskriver.

[Karolina Hagegård · Rating 5 out of 5]

Två tredjedelar in i boken var jag fortfarande förvirrad, och fattade inte alls vad boken gick ut på...

Sen blev den jättebra!

Den har förändrat mitt liv.

[Books & Aerial · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strumień świadomości, psychoanalityczne wpływy próbujące opisać dzieciństwo, dojrzewanie i młodość w małej, niełatwej do życia wiosce.
Chwilami ciekawa, ale za dużo tego ładunku dla mnie ciągle z jednej perspektywy, pramtycznie bez dialogów i bez linearnego sposobu opowiadania przy nieraz rozdziałach krótkich na 3 zdania... poprostu, po 280 stronie stało się nurzące zwłaszcza, że od pierwszego rozdziału wiemy o zabójstwie, cała książka to wiwisekcja przeżyć dorastania naszego bohatera.
Początkowo pobrzmiewało mi "Zbrodnią i karą", ale zabrakło krzepkości i dramatyczności prozy Dostojewskiego.
Nie sposób (dla mnie przynajmniej) spamiętać tysiące detali opisywanych tu, nawet te do któryxh często powracał zaczęły mieszać mi się z innymi i całość obrazu tym bardziej robiła się mało klarowna. Do 250 strony było ok, i tu możnabyło uciąć ten monolog.

[Donald Bratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

En mycket märklig bok! Sandemose inleder på första sidan att han skall mörda en person. Sedan följer en fantastiskt detaljerad och insiksfull beskrivning av Sandemoses (eller huvudpersonens) barndom och den berömda Jante-lagen. Först på sidan 300 återkommer Sandemose till mordet, som egentligen inte beskrivs. Och man får följa berättaren i vuxen ålder till bokens slut. Onekligen en väldigt bra läsupplevelse, även om den inte riktigt är en "bladvändare". Roligt att känna Jante-lagens bakgrund!

[Kresten Gaub · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mine øjne et fantastisk mesterværk, der slet ikke bliver yder retfærdighed ved den stærke fokus på janteloven.

Hvis jeg skal hæfte et ord på den må det være “moderne”. Jeg blev meget begejstret for og fascineret af bogens - i mine øjne - stærke systemiske/socialkonstruktionististiske/narrative vinkler. Med en del begavede psykodynamisk inspirerede pointer.

[Agnieszka Potoczny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do książki zachęciła mnie lektura Knausgarda, zapowiadało się ciekawie. Jednak od połowy czekałam, aż książka się skończy, czekałam aż autor opowie to, co ciągle obiecuje opowiedzieć. Dawno tak się nie umęczyłam czekaniem na zwrot akcji, który nie następuje. Sandemose ciekawie i wnikliwie analizuje życie, jednocześnie kiepsko opowiada historie. Od mniej więcej 350 str. z nudów zaczęłam czytać książkę od końca, nie miało to wypływu na odbiór książki. Opowiadania można czytać w dowolnej kolejności, na wyrywki i najlepiej jedno dziennie. Może wtedy więcej zostałoby w głowie.

[Adrianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I sailed out to the sea and felt free - that's why I might have been a little impertinent"

[Michalina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars