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The History of Bestiality Trilogy #3
The Silence
As with the first two books of this trilogy, The Silence also rejects the traditional modes of fiction to posit instead an essay-like novel of ideas, philosophy, and argumentation. Here the inquiring narrator explores not just European history, as he did in the first two novels, but the crimes committed by Europeans against the rest of humanity in the name of expansion and conquest. Set in northern Africa, the narrator is looking at Europe from the outside. With his friend Ali, an African revolutionary intellectual, he discusses in epic fashion the history of colonialism. He engages in imaginary conversations with Columbus, Robespierre, God, and Satan. He becomes totally immersed in what he perceives as the world's wickedness. Despite its presentation of horrors and man's inhumanity to man, and its grim portrayal of the narrator's long plunge into the tunnel of depression, The Silence does not depress. It praises man's immeasurable capacity for good. ""A riveting work of experimental fiction."" Library Journal
201 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Jens Bjørneboe
64 books195 followersJens Ingvald Bjørneboe was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society and Western civilization on the whole. He led a turbulent life and his uncompromising humanity would cost him both an obscenity conviction as well as long periods of heavy drinking and bouts of depression, which in the end led to his suicide.
Jens Bjørneboe's first published work was Poems (Dikt) in 1951. He is widely considered to be one of Norway's most important post-war authors. Bjørneboe identified himself, among other self-definitions, as an anarcho-nihilist.
During the Norwegian language struggle, Bjørneboe was a notable proponent of the Riksmål language, together with his equally famous cousin André Bjerke.
Jens Bjørneboe was born in 1920, in Kristiansand to Ingvald and Anna Marie Bjørneboe. He grew up in a wealthy family, his father a shipping magnate and a consul for Belgium. The Bjørneboe family originally immigrated from Germany in the 17th century and later adopted their Norwegian name. Coming from a long line of marine officers, Bjørneboe also went to sea as a young man.
Bjørneboe had a troubled childhood with sickness and depressions. He was bedbound for several years following severe pneumonia. At thirteen he attempted suicide by hanging himself. He began drinking when he was twelve, and he would often consume large amounts of wine when his parents were away. It is also rumored that he drank his father's aftershave on several occasions.
In 1943 Bjørneboe fled to Sweden to avoid forced labor under the Nazi occupation. During this exile, he met the German Jewish painter Lisel Funk, who later became his first wife. Lisel Funk introduced him to many aspects of German culture, especially German literature and the arts.
Bjørneboe's early work was poetry, and his first book was Poems (Dikt, 1951), consisting mainly of deeply religious poetry.
Bjørneboe wrote a number of socially critical novels. Among those were Ere the Cock Crows (Før Hanen Galer, 1952), Jonas (1955) and The Evil Shepherd (Den Onde Hyrde, 1960). Ere the Cock Crows is a critique of what Bjørneboe saw as the harsh treatment, after the Second World War, of people suspected of having associated in any way with the Nazis (among them the Norwegian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Knut Hamsun). Jonas deals with injustices and shortcomings of the school system and The Evil Shepherd with the Norwegian prison system.
His most significant work is generally considered to be the trilogy The History of Bestiality, consisting of the novels Moment of Freedom (Frihetens Øyeblikk, 1966), Powderhouse (Kruttårnet, 1969) and The Silence (Stillheten, 1973).
Bjørneboe also wrote a number of plays, among them The Bird Lovers (Fugleelskerne, 1966), Semmelweis (1968) and Amputation (Amputasjon, 1970), a collaboration with Eugenio Barba and the Danish theatre ensemble Odin Teatret.
In 1967, he was convicted for publishing a novel deemed pornographic, Without a Stitch (Uten en tråd, 1966), which was confiscated and banned in Norway. The trial, however, made the book a huge success in foreign editions, and Bjørneboe's financial problems were (for a period) solved.
His last major work was the novel The Sharks (Haiene, 1974).
After having struggled with depression and alcoholism for a long time, he committed suicide by hanging on May 9, 1976.[2]
In his obituary in Aftenposten, Bjørneboe's life and legacy were described as follows:
"For 25 years Jens Bjørneboe was a center of unrest in Norwegian cultural life: Passionately concerned with contemporary problems in nearly all their aspects, controversial and with the courage to be so, with a conscious will to carry things to extremes. He was not to be pigeonholed. "
Jens Bjørneboe's first published work was Poems (Dikt) in 1951. He is widely considered to be one of Norway's most important post-war authors. Bjørneboe identified himself, among other self-definitions, as an anarcho-nihilist.
During the Norwegian language struggle, Bjørneboe was a notable proponent of the Riksmål language, together with his equally famous cousin André Bjerke.
Jens Bjørneboe was born in 1920, in Kristiansand to Ingvald and Anna Marie Bjørneboe. He grew up in a wealthy family, his father a shipping magnate and a consul for Belgium. The Bjørneboe family originally immigrated from Germany in the 17th century and later adopted their Norwegian name. Coming from a long line of marine officers, Bjørneboe also went to sea as a young man.
Bjørneboe had a troubled childhood with sickness and depressions. He was bedbound for several years following severe pneumonia. At thirteen he attempted suicide by hanging himself. He began drinking when he was twelve, and he would often consume large amounts of wine when his parents were away. It is also rumored that he drank his father's aftershave on several occasions.
In 1943 Bjørneboe fled to Sweden to avoid forced labor under the Nazi occupation. During this exile, he met the German Jewish painter Lisel Funk, who later became his first wife. Lisel Funk introduced him to many aspects of German culture, especially German literature and the arts.
Bjørneboe's early work was poetry, and his first book was Poems (Dikt, 1951), consisting mainly of deeply religious poetry.
Bjørneboe wrote a number of socially critical novels. Among those were Ere the Cock Crows (Før Hanen Galer, 1952), Jonas (1955) and The Evil Shepherd (Den Onde Hyrde, 1960). Ere the Cock Crows is a critique of what Bjørneboe saw as the harsh treatment, after the Second World War, of people suspected of having associated in any way with the Nazis (among them the Norwegian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Knut Hamsun). Jonas deals with injustices and shortcomings of the school system and The Evil Shepherd with the Norwegian prison system.
His most significant work is generally considered to be the trilogy The History of Bestiality, consisting of the novels Moment of Freedom (Frihetens Øyeblikk, 1966), Powderhouse (Kruttårnet, 1969) and The Silence (Stillheten, 1973).
Bjørneboe also wrote a number of plays, among them The Bird Lovers (Fugleelskerne, 1966), Semmelweis (1968) and Amputation (Amputasjon, 1970), a collaboration with Eugenio Barba and the Danish theatre ensemble Odin Teatret.
In 1967, he was convicted for publishing a novel deemed pornographic, Without a Stitch (Uten en tråd, 1966), which was confiscated and banned in Norway. The trial, however, made the book a huge success in foreign editions, and Bjørneboe's financial problems were (for a period) solved.
His last major work was the novel The Sharks (Haiene, 1974).
After having struggled with depression and alcoholism for a long time, he committed suicide by hanging on May 9, 1976.[2]
In his obituary in Aftenposten, Bjørneboe's life and legacy were described as follows:
"For 25 years Jens Bjørneboe was a center of unrest in Norwegian cultural life: Passionately concerned with contemporary problems in nearly all their aspects, controversial and with the courage to be so, with a conscious will to carry things to extremes. He was not to be pigeonholed. "
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 30, 2023
Revolutions, wars, colonization present boundless possibilities for atrocity…
Revolutions come and they bring along violence, death, madness…
We prefer ideals to life… We prefer promises to reality…
The history of great geographical discoveries is a history of blood and deception…
The history of bringing civilization to savages is a history of enslaving and extermination… The dead are silent…
Man is omnivorous so he lives by preying.
It’s not a question of whether we like them or want them. It’s not at all a question of what we think of revolutions. They won’t ask us what we think of them before they come.
Revolutions come and they bring along violence, death, madness…
What we all have in common, though, is that we go crazy gradually, little by little, after life sets its madness on us. So it must be assumed that it’s life itself which is pathogenic, it’s life which leaves ever greater psychic damage behind it.
We prefer ideals to life… We prefer promises to reality…
…Europe has chosen the false prophets every time she had a chance.
For this reason Europe today has a long and painful history of illness, a history of preferring lies to truth, gold to human kindness, power to understanding. We’ve preferred the disease to the medicine.
The history of great geographical discoveries is a history of blood and deception…
The murderers, muggers, and thieves appoint themselves “the motherland” and it’s a strange motherliness they show to their black, brown, yellow, and red children. Never has the world seen such mother love. Never has it seen more bloodthirsty mothers.
The history of bringing civilization to savages is a history of enslaving and extermination… The dead are silent…
Was it the meeting with the world, which I may have perceived with bloodier nerves than most people? Is it sickness, or is it health?
I have decided that it is health.
It is I who am well, the others are sick.
Man is omnivorous so he lives by preying.
December 8, 2014
The clearest of the three volumes in "The History of Bestiality," the language and structure of this one seem more aerodynamic. As in Powderhouse, things take off when, instead of an essay on the history of excecutions and executioners, the narrator Jean relays the history of the eradication of the Aztecs and Incas by Cortez and Pizarro. Not the best book to read leading up to Christmas, since it rips the church at every turn for its genocidal predelications. Often jibed with current events (the report on CIA torture, random killings just north of Philadelphia, and of course the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases). Makes great points about how the Holocaust was simply good old-fashioned white colonial oppression turned on itself, on Europe, instead of Africa and South America, and efficiently executed in a handful of years instead of decades/centuries. Also interesting about how China and Japan and, to a degree, India resisted European colonial oppression. A brilliant, cracked essay, featuring Colombus and Robespierre as characters, not to mention a quick dialogue with a shabbily dressed God, who turns out to actually be Satan. Some great pages about a drunk, Vietnam deserter, American oilman trying to undermine capitalism by helping developing countries advance their oil-related activities. This one's set in an imaginary North African country instead of an alpine region of Norway (Moment of Freedom) or in France. Toward the end it morphs into something more like straight-up autobiography before transforming into a suicide note set to a biblical cadence, suggesting that the narrator is a savior sort, which reminded me somewhat of the end of Knausgaard's A Time for Everything, although the narrator of that one was more of a cutter/self-mutilator than alcoholic. Overall, the trilogy is such an individuated work, really sort of unlike anything I can think of -- an unhinged essay on the history of human violence (I hope Vollmann got the idea for Rising Up and Rising Down from Jean's protocols), expressed at times through mouthpiece characters who all speak alike, mixed with occasional autobiographical elements. Unlike Bernhard or most other great haters, there's a generous helping throughout these books of love for life on earth, a real sense of an extreme experience of the duality of existence (light and darkness in perpetual round). Not about the middle ground -- and therefore either the sort of book you'll love or hate. I can't imagine a wishy-washy opinion of these books. Definitely recommended. The translator lives in Philadelphia -- now that I've finished the trilogy I think I might try to contact her. Thanks, also, to everyone on here who recommended these books -- wouldn't have heard about Bjorneboe without you!
July 9, 2013
The last book in Bjørneboe's The History of Bestiality and it is as disillusioning and sad as the other two.
Bjørneboe relentlessly examines Western imperialism, slavery and general warmongering and he doesn't give you any breaks: this is how it was, this is what humans are like, this is what we do to each other.
I've always thought that the central issue that Bjørneboe was dealing with wasn't just to look at the cruelty we inflict upon one another, but also to try to understand why we do these things. I think that he wrote -- not just these books but in general -- because he was obsessed with how stupid, nonsensical and useless everything is in the long run. How senseless all this violence and cruelty is! When I think of Bjørneboe there are always a few lines that stand out, but the central ones are these:
I wish only to underscore that we live here, on a relatively infinitely thin crust of green and moist soil, filled with peach, nettles, animals and people -- we live on this thin crust -- with liquid, boiling minerals just underneath us with the dead, the ice cold, lifeless, and in all ways pointless and idiotic universe above us. The fire below us, and death's cold above us.
And on this beautiful, fertile, moist, green crust, which is given us to live on, we have slaughtered, massacred, and tortured each other for as long as history can tell.
Why in God's name do we hate each other so terribly?
Bjørneboe relentlessly examines Western imperialism, slavery and general warmongering and he doesn't give you any breaks: this is how it was, this is what humans are like, this is what we do to each other.
I've always thought that the central issue that Bjørneboe was dealing with wasn't just to look at the cruelty we inflict upon one another, but also to try to understand why we do these things. I think that he wrote -- not just these books but in general -- because he was obsessed with how stupid, nonsensical and useless everything is in the long run. How senseless all this violence and cruelty is! When I think of Bjørneboe there are always a few lines that stand out, but the central ones are these:
I wish only to underscore that we live here, on a relatively infinitely thin crust of green and moist soil, filled with peach, nettles, animals and people -- we live on this thin crust -- with liquid, boiling minerals just underneath us with the dead, the ice cold, lifeless, and in all ways pointless and idiotic universe above us. The fire below us, and death's cold above us.
And on this beautiful, fertile, moist, green crust, which is given us to live on, we have slaughtered, massacred, and tortured each other for as long as history can tell.
Why in God's name do we hate each other so terribly?
January 3, 2014
http://msarki.tumblr.com/post/8288414...
The silence referred to, it is important to note, is the calm before the storm. For example, the eery quiet just before a hurricane. And this silence exists it seems for the somber hope present in the moments before a revolution.
Because there is no story to begin with, and the text at first appears boringly political in its talk of revolution, and the words go on and on in such a way that offers doubt for any hope of entertainment, still a reader such as myself buckles down and presses on. And before the reader knows it he, or she, is sucked in again to the marrow and excessively violent world of Jens Bjørneboe. It is nothing short of a miracle to me how his books fascinate, and The Silence is no exception.
Historical figures make their many appearances throughout the novel and their stories are told through the voice of a steady narrator at times unhinged by his life experience and given to bouts of heavy drinking and his own self-inflicted physical abuse. But the narrator manages still to prevail and the reader is rewarded with rich historical accounts of characters such as Columbus, Pizarro, and Cortez, ending with one of the best known and influential figures of the French Revolution Maximilien de Robespierre, the Incorruptible. The accounts of genocide are numerous and graphic in the Bjørneboe telling.
Esther Greenleaf Murer is the brilliant translator of this work and she offers an introduction to The Silence that is sufficient and superior to anything I might write about this book. Bjørneboe’s very last chapter is one of the best endings to a book I have ever read. I could not recommend this book more to all of humanity, both good and evil, the righteous and unrighteous among us, and the penetrating gaze made available for all of us to peer unflinchingly into the abyss where suffering has no end and pain has no meaning.
The silence referred to, it is important to note, is the calm before the storm. For example, the eery quiet just before a hurricane. And this silence exists it seems for the somber hope present in the moments before a revolution.
Because there is no story to begin with, and the text at first appears boringly political in its talk of revolution, and the words go on and on in such a way that offers doubt for any hope of entertainment, still a reader such as myself buckles down and presses on. And before the reader knows it he, or she, is sucked in again to the marrow and excessively violent world of Jens Bjørneboe. It is nothing short of a miracle to me how his books fascinate, and The Silence is no exception.
Historical figures make their many appearances throughout the novel and their stories are told through the voice of a steady narrator at times unhinged by his life experience and given to bouts of heavy drinking and his own self-inflicted physical abuse. But the narrator manages still to prevail and the reader is rewarded with rich historical accounts of characters such as Columbus, Pizarro, and Cortez, ending with one of the best known and influential figures of the French Revolution Maximilien de Robespierre, the Incorruptible. The accounts of genocide are numerous and graphic in the Bjørneboe telling.
Esther Greenleaf Murer is the brilliant translator of this work and she offers an introduction to The Silence that is sufficient and superior to anything I might write about this book. Bjørneboe’s very last chapter is one of the best endings to a book I have ever read. I could not recommend this book more to all of humanity, both good and evil, the righteous and unrighteous among us, and the penetrating gaze made available for all of us to peer unflinchingly into the abyss where suffering has no end and pain has no meaning.
December 10, 2014
[from Powderhouse; Book 2 in the History of Bestiality]
This is an anti-novel, so the narrative must be anti-fictional.
From a town in Northern Africa the narrator, Jean, – slightly insane, but rather reliable – takes us on yet another journey of human bestialities. Watch the Indians being slaughtered by Cortez in Mexico, and the Incas butchered by Pizarro in Peru. Learn about the suffering brought on to peoples outside Europe by the Christian missionaries. Meet historical figures like Columbus and Maximilien [Robespierre] and mystical entities like God and the Devil, who prays he may return to hell after what he's seen on Earth. And don't miss the torturing techniques – the American way – in Vietnam. And finally learn more about Jean/Jens. It's hard to say which came first. His undying, albeit unrequited, love for the human race, or his addiction to alcohol and pills and his ever present clinical depression. These two things seem to be the driving force behind his writing. And these are most likely also the reason for his untimely death.
I wish I could say that Silence were the strongest part of the trilogy. But, alas, I can't. The naked content is just great (as usual), but the German edition I read contains a lot of typos and all sorts of other mistakes, like wrong pronouns and articles, missing words, etc.. I know this sounds harsh, but some mistakes look so weird to me, I wonder if the translator even knew German 100%. And where was the copyeditor, I ask? Whenever I encountered such a mistake it threw me right off track, and I had to re-read the sentence, or pausing the book to get my nerves back. I'm very sensitive in this regard. In the end, it was not such a nice reading experience, and it makes me sort of sad actually. Such a sloppy job is a slap in the face of the author and his wonderful prose. I hope Jens (I decided to be on a first name basis with this fantastic author) – wherever he's dwelling now – don't mind my rating. The book deserves more, but I can honestly give it only three stars. Sorry.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
This is an anti-novel, so the narrative must be anti-fictional.
From a town in Northern Africa the narrator, Jean, – slightly insane, but rather reliable – takes us on yet another journey of human bestialities. Watch the Indians being slaughtered by Cortez in Mexico, and the Incas butchered by Pizarro in Peru. Learn about the suffering brought on to peoples outside Europe by the Christian missionaries. Meet historical figures like Columbus and Maximilien [Robespierre] and mystical entities like God and the Devil, who prays he may return to hell after what he's seen on Earth. And don't miss the torturing techniques – the American way – in Vietnam. And finally learn more about Jean/Jens. It's hard to say which came first. His undying, albeit unrequited, love for the human race, or his addiction to alcohol and pills and his ever present clinical depression. These two things seem to be the driving force behind his writing. And these are most likely also the reason for his untimely death.
I wish I could say that Silence were the strongest part of the trilogy. But, alas, I can't. The naked content is just great (as usual), but the German edition I read contains a lot of typos and all sorts of other mistakes, like wrong pronouns and articles, missing words, etc.. I know this sounds harsh, but some mistakes look so weird to me, I wonder if the translator even knew German 100%. And where was the copyeditor, I ask? Whenever I encountered such a mistake it threw me right off track, and I had to re-read the sentence, or pausing the book to get my nerves back. I'm very sensitive in this regard. In the end, it was not such a nice reading experience, and it makes me sort of sad actually. Such a sloppy job is a slap in the face of the author and his wonderful prose. I hope Jens (I decided to be on a first name basis with this fantastic author) – wherever he's dwelling now – don't mind my rating. The book deserves more, but I can honestly give it only three stars. Sorry.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
August 12, 2026
Ufiltrert og filosoferende om den bekmørke og fæle verden og problem-planeten(!) jorden fra en protokollfører
Obsobs! Ingen gledens bok!!
Er dette en spoiler? I så fall ikke les videre
_________________
Likte spesielt godt de merkverdige og morsomme (dog fæle) samtaler med både Columbus, Djevelen og Robespierre (eller Maximilien som protokollføreren kaller han, tok meg laang tid å koble dette)
Obsobs! Ingen gledens bok!!
Er dette en spoiler? I så fall ikke les videre
_________________
Likte spesielt godt de merkverdige og morsomme (dog fæle) samtaler med både Columbus, Djevelen og Robespierre (eller Maximilien som protokollføreren kaller han, tok meg laang tid å koble dette)
August 20, 2021
Det har vært vanskelig å sette ord på hva gjennomlesningen av Bestialitetens historie har gjort med meg. Jeg definitivt en annen person nå, enn før gjennomlesningen. Følelsen er vanskelig å sette ord på. I et forsøk på å tyde Beskjeden Protokollfører Bjørneboe har nedtegnet til oss har jeg de siste dagene diskutert med folk jeg kjenner som også har lest bøkene, slik at bestialitetens historie kan få et endepunkt og bli til en altfor dyrt betalte lærepenge. Dessverre har bøkene den samme virkning på meg i dag som jeg regner med de hadde på folk på 60- og 70-tallet. De oppleves som skremmende varselsskudd på en mulig tragisk fremtid.
Det blir fyrt av tre varselsskudd: Frihetens øyeblikk, Kruttårnet og Stillheten. I alle bøkene følger man en navnløs protokollfører, med vag tilknytning til både hverandre og bjørneboe selv. I Frihetens øyeblikk følger man en rettstjener i Alpene som, på delirisk vis, forteller om sin fortid som omstreifer og sitt daglige virke. Språket er eksentrisk og utilgjengelig. Onde mennesker - om jeg tillater meg en så naiv betegnelse - blir blant annet beskrevet som små bjørner, ulver eller lemurer (tatt fra "Lemuria", sodoma og gomorra-versjonen av Atlatis i teosofien). Jeg får følelsen av at fortelleren er en mann som har sett Sanheten/Ondskapen og har mistet språket på veien. Han har blitt gal. Han har blitt koblet av samfunnet og blitt et individ, utilgjengelig, og gjennom boken prøver han å bringe denne kunnskapen videre til oss. Tittelen refererer til tyrefekting, øyeblikket hvor tyrefekteren slutter med å danse og begynner drapet på oksen.
I kruttårnet følger en pasient innlagt på det franske galehuset "kruttårnet", her skildres det daglige livet på institusjonen, historien til hver av de innlagte (som alle har en tilknytning til ulike undertrykkende regimer) som også holder ulike foredrag om blant annet hekseforfølgelse og et forsvar for bøddelen. Følelsen jeg satt med etter denne boken var at det er mye lettere å kalle idiologier gale enn individer. Pasientene i Kruttårnet er syke i kraft av ideologiene som omgir dem. Tittelen kan leses på mange måter. Ett kruttårn lagrer noe farlig, samler det på ett sted med løfte om å holde omgivelsene trygge. Men, krutt er lettantennelig og kan også eksplodere. Her leser jeg tittelen på to måten. Den første er at vi har lagret bort det Farlige, ute av synet, men det kan når som helst eksplodere og få katastrofale konsekvenser. En mer optimistisk lesning (kanskje) er at vi låser inne alt og alle som kan føre til forandring, men å samle dette på ett sted gir også grobunn for radikal endring - revolusjon. Boken avsluttes med sympati mot anarkismens ideer.
Stillheten følger en forteller som oppholder seg et sted i Afrika. Han vandrer rundt og møter historiske spøkelser og gudeskikkelser, mimrer fra sitt tidligere liv samtidig som han ramser opp imperialismens groteskheter. Tittelen på denne boken gir meg flere tanker og asossiasjoner. Stillheten kan referere til vår tendens til å glemme, eller nekte å se, alle overgrep, massemord og tortur gjort av blant annet europeerne opp igjennom historien. Dette påpekes på nesten komisk vis av en av bokens karakterer, Ali, i en samtale de har om Hitler:
"Dere snakker så meget om deres egen Hitler, men for oss er det intet spesielt med Adolf Hitler. Det eneste er at Hitler forsøkte å gjøre det samme innenfor Europa, som de hvite inntil i dag gjør utenfor Europa."
Den andre stillheten jeg tenker på er ofrenes stillhet - Dødens stillhet - og hvordan ofre blir nektet sin histore. Det er seierherrene som skriver historien, og bøkene er en histore om Volden ikke om Mennesket. Det er dette som er bestialitetens historie.
Trilogien legger fram mange tema: Absurdisme, frihetsbegrepet, sosialisme, kulturrelativisme, pressefrihet, kunst og litteraturens rolle, og ikke minst det ondes problem. Hvorfor velger vi mennesker, med vår frie vilje, igjen og igjen, Ondskapen?
Men Hva er et fritt menneske? Hva er Godhet? Bøkene skildrer, blant alt det groteske, små vakre øyeblikk, av noe godt, de diskuterer også mulige veier får å oppnå en bedre verden - blant annet gjennom pressefrihet. Men, dette er kun tilnærmelser og ingen klare svar.
Det som derimot er helt klart i bøkene, og noe som burde være mye tydeligere for absolutt alle mennesker, er hva som er ondt! Starten på reisen mot det Frie og Gode kan derfor heller være å indentifisere det onde, vende det ryggen en gang for alle og legge det bak oss. Det som imidlertid skremmer meg er hvor aktuell trilogien er i dag, 40 år senere. Hvor mange varselsskudd må til? Samtidig vil man alltid, etter hvert nye varselsskudd, bli mer og mer sikker på at skytteren egentlig ikke tørr å skyte deg.
Det blir fyrt av tre varselsskudd: Frihetens øyeblikk, Kruttårnet og Stillheten. I alle bøkene følger man en navnløs protokollfører, med vag tilknytning til både hverandre og bjørneboe selv. I Frihetens øyeblikk følger man en rettstjener i Alpene som, på delirisk vis, forteller om sin fortid som omstreifer og sitt daglige virke. Språket er eksentrisk og utilgjengelig. Onde mennesker - om jeg tillater meg en så naiv betegnelse - blir blant annet beskrevet som små bjørner, ulver eller lemurer (tatt fra "Lemuria", sodoma og gomorra-versjonen av Atlatis i teosofien). Jeg får følelsen av at fortelleren er en mann som har sett Sanheten/Ondskapen og har mistet språket på veien. Han har blitt gal. Han har blitt koblet av samfunnet og blitt et individ, utilgjengelig, og gjennom boken prøver han å bringe denne kunnskapen videre til oss. Tittelen refererer til tyrefekting, øyeblikket hvor tyrefekteren slutter med å danse og begynner drapet på oksen.
I kruttårnet følger en pasient innlagt på det franske galehuset "kruttårnet", her skildres det daglige livet på institusjonen, historien til hver av de innlagte (som alle har en tilknytning til ulike undertrykkende regimer) som også holder ulike foredrag om blant annet hekseforfølgelse og et forsvar for bøddelen. Følelsen jeg satt med etter denne boken var at det er mye lettere å kalle idiologier gale enn individer. Pasientene i Kruttårnet er syke i kraft av ideologiene som omgir dem. Tittelen kan leses på mange måter. Ett kruttårn lagrer noe farlig, samler det på ett sted med løfte om å holde omgivelsene trygge. Men, krutt er lettantennelig og kan også eksplodere. Her leser jeg tittelen på to måten. Den første er at vi har lagret bort det Farlige, ute av synet, men det kan når som helst eksplodere og få katastrofale konsekvenser. En mer optimistisk lesning (kanskje) er at vi låser inne alt og alle som kan føre til forandring, men å samle dette på ett sted gir også grobunn for radikal endring - revolusjon. Boken avsluttes med sympati mot anarkismens ideer.
Stillheten følger en forteller som oppholder seg et sted i Afrika. Han vandrer rundt og møter historiske spøkelser og gudeskikkelser, mimrer fra sitt tidligere liv samtidig som han ramser opp imperialismens groteskheter. Tittelen på denne boken gir meg flere tanker og asossiasjoner. Stillheten kan referere til vår tendens til å glemme, eller nekte å se, alle overgrep, massemord og tortur gjort av blant annet europeerne opp igjennom historien. Dette påpekes på nesten komisk vis av en av bokens karakterer, Ali, i en samtale de har om Hitler:
"Dere snakker så meget om deres egen Hitler, men for oss er det intet spesielt med Adolf Hitler. Det eneste er at Hitler forsøkte å gjøre det samme innenfor Europa, som de hvite inntil i dag gjør utenfor Europa."
Den andre stillheten jeg tenker på er ofrenes stillhet - Dødens stillhet - og hvordan ofre blir nektet sin histore. Det er seierherrene som skriver historien, og bøkene er en histore om Volden ikke om Mennesket. Det er dette som er bestialitetens historie.
Trilogien legger fram mange tema: Absurdisme, frihetsbegrepet, sosialisme, kulturrelativisme, pressefrihet, kunst og litteraturens rolle, og ikke minst det ondes problem. Hvorfor velger vi mennesker, med vår frie vilje, igjen og igjen, Ondskapen?
Men Hva er et fritt menneske? Hva er Godhet? Bøkene skildrer, blant alt det groteske, små vakre øyeblikk, av noe godt, de diskuterer også mulige veier får å oppnå en bedre verden - blant annet gjennom pressefrihet. Men, dette er kun tilnærmelser og ingen klare svar.
Det som derimot er helt klart i bøkene, og noe som burde være mye tydeligere for absolutt alle mennesker, er hva som er ondt! Starten på reisen mot det Frie og Gode kan derfor heller være å indentifisere det onde, vende det ryggen en gang for alle og legge det bak oss. Det som imidlertid skremmer meg er hvor aktuell trilogien er i dag, 40 år senere. Hvor mange varselsskudd må til? Samtidig vil man alltid, etter hvert nye varselsskudd, bli mer og mer sikker på at skytteren egentlig ikke tørr å skyte deg.
December 17, 2021
It's been seven years since reading the first 2 volumes of the "History of Bestiality."
I am finally closing the circle with The Silence, and find myself astounded by the ferociousness of its vision -- demented and yet structurally compelling -- collage-like -- a shadowbox of history, violence, and the imagination -- marched out alongside an unmistakable spiritual dimension that I can't recall the other books possessing.
Roughly a contemporary of the American Frederick Exley, Bjørneboe's invention pretty strikingly shares a resemblance with the former's A Fan's Notes. I mean fundamentally that the two works scratch out uncommonly accurate pictures of what it means to be, not an artist per se, but an alcoholic -- a drunk: that is, what it means to be, probably by predisposition, so intensely sensitive to the mental exhilaration of sobriety as to go to any lengths to not be that.
These books are the byproducts of men who had bigger fish to fry. Megalomaniacal by nature, their object in life was nothing less than global revolution. And their mode was nothing less than a bondage to the notion that the world, and not their way of thinking about the world, was what needed changing.
The Silence is undoubtedly a great work of literature -- as dogged, haunted, and hunted as its maker.
I am finally closing the circle with The Silence, and find myself astounded by the ferociousness of its vision -- demented and yet structurally compelling -- collage-like -- a shadowbox of history, violence, and the imagination -- marched out alongside an unmistakable spiritual dimension that I can't recall the other books possessing.
Roughly a contemporary of the American Frederick Exley, Bjørneboe's invention pretty strikingly shares a resemblance with the former's A Fan's Notes. I mean fundamentally that the two works scratch out uncommonly accurate pictures of what it means to be, not an artist per se, but an alcoholic -- a drunk: that is, what it means to be, probably by predisposition, so intensely sensitive to the mental exhilaration of sobriety as to go to any lengths to not be that.
These books are the byproducts of men who had bigger fish to fry. Megalomaniacal by nature, their object in life was nothing less than global revolution. And their mode was nothing less than a bondage to the notion that the world, and not their way of thinking about the world, was what needed changing.
The Silence is undoubtedly a great work of literature -- as dogged, haunted, and hunted as its maker.
November 27, 2007
part 3 of the history of beastiality trilogy by jens bjørneboe. if you can find them, you may all as well pick up all three, for if you only get the first, after loving it so much, it shan't be so easy to find the latter two.
March 13, 2025
HOUSEKEEPING 2025:
Third and final part of the trilogy. I mean, you gotta collect 'em all, right? A fantastic book due a reread (the whole trilogy, that is).
Third and final part of the trilogy. I mean, you gotta collect 'em all, right? A fantastic book due a reread (the whole trilogy, that is).
August 15, 2022
død, smerte, lidelse og hvorvidt det kan rettferdiggjøres
April 24, 2025
Den siste boken i trioligien om Bestialitetens historie. Gjennom tre intense bind har Bjørneboe, i sitt hovedverk, utforsket hvilke lidelser mennesker er i stand til å påføre hverandre. Jeg sitter igjen med en forståelse for at han beveget seg stadig dypere ut i alkoholisme og endte med at han tok sitt eget liv.
Tre bind med grusomheter - jeg har aldri tidligere hørt en lydbok som jeg ikke klarte å løpe til. Men innimellom alt ligger en dyp kjærlighet for det vakre; i naturen, i god ost, vin og kunst og samspillet mellom mennesker.
Der han i de to tidligere bindene stort sett har gått gjennom grusomheter mot enkeltmennesker, går han i Stillheten gjennom den vestlige verdens grusomheter mot hele folkegrupper; fra Cortez i Mexico til britene i Afrika. Som han sier, var det mest spesille med jødeforfølgelsene under 2. verdenskrig først og fremst effektiviteten og at det ble utrettet mot europeere, i Europa. Utover dette var det bare nok et kapittel i den lange og konsistente historien om europeeres grusomhet.
Spørsmålet Bjørneboe stiller seg og oss er om den vestlige verden en gang vil måtte stå til ansvar for sine handlinger. Denne boken er skrevet " i den store stillheten, før orkanen".
Jeg hørte Stillheten, i likhet med Frihetens øyeblikk og Kruttårnet, som lydbok på Bookbeat. Glimrende lest av Nils Ole Oftebro.
Tre bind med grusomheter - jeg har aldri tidligere hørt en lydbok som jeg ikke klarte å løpe til. Men innimellom alt ligger en dyp kjærlighet for det vakre; i naturen, i god ost, vin og kunst og samspillet mellom mennesker.
Der han i de to tidligere bindene stort sett har gått gjennom grusomheter mot enkeltmennesker, går han i Stillheten gjennom den vestlige verdens grusomheter mot hele folkegrupper; fra Cortez i Mexico til britene i Afrika. Som han sier, var det mest spesille med jødeforfølgelsene under 2. verdenskrig først og fremst effektiviteten og at det ble utrettet mot europeere, i Europa. Utover dette var det bare nok et kapittel i den lange og konsistente historien om europeeres grusomhet.
Spørsmålet Bjørneboe stiller seg og oss er om den vestlige verden en gang vil måtte stå til ansvar for sine handlinger. Denne boken er skrevet " i den store stillheten, før orkanen".
Jeg hørte Stillheten, i likhet med Frihetens øyeblikk og Kruttårnet, som lydbok på Bookbeat. Glimrende lest av Nils Ole Oftebro.
July 2, 2025
Et saftig stykke litteratur om lidelse som selv ble et lidelsesprosjekt for den depressive alkoholikeren Bjørneboe i noen av hans siste år på kloden.
Spriten, sorgen og mangelen på håp skinner gjennom.
Jeg tror ikke på Bjørneboes konklusjon, men mannen kunne skrive!
Spriten, sorgen og mangelen på håp skinner gjennom.
Jeg tror ikke på Bjørneboes konklusjon, men mannen kunne skrive!
August 9, 2022
I starten var det litt vel tørt og mye drøvtygging, men vinen kom på bordet etterhvert og frisket opp måltidet betraktelig – til og med den store Colombus ble fristet til bords for å nyte uroen noen øyeblikk. Dessuten byr denne boken på noen av de mest fremfragende passasjene fra hele trilogien.
July 21, 2019
Sannheten er fremme. Sannheten fortsetter.
April 2, 2018
I staden for føredraga i Kruttårnet bruker Bjørneboe her i stor grad ironiske dialogar for å fortelja om verdas grufullheiter. Det funkar bra.
Alt i alt klarar han godt å blande forteljingar frå røynda med ein skjønnlitterær stil der han kan vera subjektiv om han vil. Hendingane han skildrar er tekne frå røynda, og har pirra historieinteressa mi, som har vore litt laber. Den historie-, samfunns- eller litteraturinteresserte bør absolutt ha lese Bestialitetens historie.
Alt i alt klarar han godt å blande forteljingar frå røynda med ein skjønnlitterær stil der han kan vera subjektiv om han vil. Hendingane han skildrar er tekne frå røynda, og har pirra historieinteressa mi, som har vore litt laber. Den historie-, samfunns- eller litteraturinteresserte bør absolutt ha lese Bestialitetens historie.
March 1, 2019
I rarely write description, recommendations or reviews, but this book is honestly the best book I've ever read. No matter how big of a cliché it is, it really changed my views, opinions, ways of thinking and life itself.
November 24, 2018
A very useful book if you think humans are nice
April 9, 2022
Darker, deeper into the madness. A well written, thought provoking book about the evil of man, and human societies. I am very happy to be done with this trilogy of brutalities…
September 7, 2023
Bolja od prethodnih.
February 15, 2024
Mer grusomhet og en del empati med lidende mennesker
September 24, 2025
Beste i trilogien (3>1>>2). Når det gjelder hele verket, finnes det noen utrolig vakre passasjer mellom all ondskapen, alkoholismen og protokollførerens tierliste av torturmetoder.
October 29, 2026
The Silence isn't a book you just read and forget; Jens Bjørneboe hands you a critical framework for analyzing power that stays with you long after the last page.
February 22, 2023
O europskim porobljavanjima i uništavanjima drugih naroda, naravno, sve uz blagoslov Crkve. Nije potrebno živjeti u prošlosti, ali ne treba niti zaboraviti način na koji je Europa postala bogata jer je zaključila da svo zlato svijeta pripada upravo njoj. Ambicija, želja, slava i zlato.
Izvrsna.
Izvrsna.
January 22, 2022
"The court sat, the charges were read, the witnesses heard, the evidence presented; humanity was found guilty."
Part Three of the trilogy focuses on colonialism and the global exportation of evil. The narrator is now in an unknown north African country and spends his days throwing bread at hungry children and refusing the advances of child prostitutes. His alcoholism has intensified, and he has occasional discussions with Columbus, with God, with Robespierre. He is accumulating all the evidence required to confirm that humanity is a slew of excrement. And yet, there is a lingering sense of hope, one to be found in the spiritual element. Bjørneboe clearly feels that, whether capitalist or communist, the move away from a spiritual understanding of ourselves is a terrible mistake. Before we can know where we're going, we must know who we are. And that is only achieved through spiritual salvation. His attacks on colonialism are unoriginal and somewhat simplified (as much of the world now approves of) but he's using this merely as a platform from which to reach his ultimate conclusion so it's forgivable.
Like the other two books, especially Powderhouse, there are sprawling narratives about history which are presented as stories. The chapters about Cortes and Pizarro for example are coloured with a sweeping canvas which must be taken as part of the whole story of human history. These stories are sporadically told between conversations with his friend Ali, the hungry children begging for food, the American oil man who wants to atone for his countries sickness. And they slot neatly into the narrative as reminders of our crimes but also as occasional reminders of our capacity for beauty too. The story about Satan living as a human only to conclude that the earth is too awful and that he'd rather go back to hell being one I particularly enjoyed.
These three books were bleak, dark, significant works, and unrelenting in their pessimistic view of the human species. Yet a glimmer of hope remains as Bjørneboe concludes that despite the guilty verdict there is one voice we have yet to hear from: that of the defense.
Part Three of the trilogy focuses on colonialism and the global exportation of evil. The narrator is now in an unknown north African country and spends his days throwing bread at hungry children and refusing the advances of child prostitutes. His alcoholism has intensified, and he has occasional discussions with Columbus, with God, with Robespierre. He is accumulating all the evidence required to confirm that humanity is a slew of excrement. And yet, there is a lingering sense of hope, one to be found in the spiritual element. Bjørneboe clearly feels that, whether capitalist or communist, the move away from a spiritual understanding of ourselves is a terrible mistake. Before we can know where we're going, we must know who we are. And that is only achieved through spiritual salvation. His attacks on colonialism are unoriginal and somewhat simplified (as much of the world now approves of) but he's using this merely as a platform from which to reach his ultimate conclusion so it's forgivable.
Like the other two books, especially Powderhouse, there are sprawling narratives about history which are presented as stories. The chapters about Cortes and Pizarro for example are coloured with a sweeping canvas which must be taken as part of the whole story of human history. These stories are sporadically told between conversations with his friend Ali, the hungry children begging for food, the American oil man who wants to atone for his countries sickness. And they slot neatly into the narrative as reminders of our crimes but also as occasional reminders of our capacity for beauty too. The story about Satan living as a human only to conclude that the earth is too awful and that he'd rather go back to hell being one I particularly enjoyed.
These three books were bleak, dark, significant works, and unrelenting in their pessimistic view of the human species. Yet a glimmer of hope remains as Bjørneboe concludes that despite the guilty verdict there is one voice we have yet to hear from: that of the defense.
January 2, 2016
ქვეყნიერების სამხეცეში ორი ძალაა: სასამართლო და ეკლესია, მოსამართლე და მღვდელი, იურუსტი ლენინი და თეოლოგი სტალინი. ეს ორი მეცნიერება განუყოფელია.
"ჰო. ყველაფერი უწინდებურად გრძელდება. დაასასრული არ არსებობს. არ შეეფერება სიმართლეს, თითქოს ნუგეში იმაშია, რომ ეს ყველაფერი სამუდამოდ არ გაგრძელდება. ყველაფერი სამუდამოდ გრძელდება. არასოდეს არაფერი მთავრდება."
ვრცლად, ტრილოგიის მიმოხილვა: bit.ly/1VTesWj
"ჰო. ყველაფერი უწინდებურად გრძელდება. დაასასრული არ არსებობს. არ შეეფერება სიმართლეს, თითქოს ნუგეში იმაშია, რომ ეს ყველაფერი სამუდამოდ არ გაგრძელდება. ყველაფერი სამუდამოდ გრძელდება. არასოდეს არაფერი მთავრდება."
ვრცლად, ტრილოგიის მიმოხილვა: bit.ly/1VTesWj
November 29, 2008
Third Novel in the trilogy of bestiality, this time about colonisation. Serves as a conclusion, and makes a logical (in my understanding) link to his last Novel Sharks.
Read
July 8, 2011Fantastisk bok! Anbefaler hele bestialitetens historie uten noen tvil. Selv om alle bøkene er veldig dystre
April 11, 2015
A rough start ending in a beautiful sigh.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews