LASSO ROUND THE MOON BY AGNAR MYKLE , THEN A NORDIC INFLUENCE IN LITERATURE WITH KNUT HAMSEN'S HUNGER

 I was still in high school and in the habit of frequenting second hand bookstores (why did they all disappear?) when I came across a novel by Agnar Mykle's Lasso round the Moon.

For some reason, I was very attracted to the hero of the novel (that particular relationship between writers and readers, i do not think it is gender specific, as I was very attracted to the book The Prime of Life by Simone de Beauvoir) and for many years, remembered some of the sensations he had described in the book.

I do not know why, one does not remember every book read while growing up or later, but I always remembered Lasso round the Moon..

I wanted to be Lars, i imagined myself to be blonde haired and with blue eyes and romancing through the fjords of Norway and among the islands of Stockholm.

As if a dream came true, many years later, I would be taking the afternoon train from Lund, Sweden to Oslo, Norway and be introduced to the paintings of Munch, the sculptures of Wegeland and writings of Ibsen and Hamsun.

Was it the end of the 19th Century Oslo? I remember seeing a mural of all the artists of that era, at a cafe? at a railway station? 

That nordic period while short lived gave my life an ethos and empathy for human suffering, for these norwegian writers were writing about the core of human suffering. Knut Hamsun's Hunger was later made into a movie with Max von Sydow ? 

Also the Nordic period cleansed my mind of any of the conservative thoughts put in my head by my upbringing, and instead planted a sense of justice which has only grown.

Thank you Norway and the psychologist

Thank you Denmark and the Melchiors

Thank you Sweden and the Fischbeins

Thank you Finland and the Sami from Karigasniemi 

today is 1.1.2021

A Cuban Coffee, A Malabar paratta with its origins in Morocco, and Lasso around the moon!

The tranquility of today, but the connected to the world:

Thanks Havana, Cuba

Thanks, Sao Bernado de campo, Brasil 

Thanks, Miami, Florida 

Like Frida Kahlo painted: why do I need FEET when I have wings to fly?

I began to read Lasso round the moon

it is incredible, a sensation decades old rose in my chest..i was once again that innocent school boy (more innocent than others!!)

It was at that time, I was very keen on reading Alberto Moravia, the italian jewish writer.

While looking for the mural with the faces of norwegian artists and writers, was it my imagination or did it really exist? I came across works of an artist who paints murals in Barnes and Nobles shops.

This image totally transformed my mind and took me yet in another direction 

I was sitting at the Kuala Lumpur Railway station reading a book of poems by Pablo Neruda 

Los versos del Capitan 

dedicated to Matilda Urrutia 

later there was a movie called IL POSTINO about this time of poetry, love poetry dedicated his Matilda Urrutia.

there is a connection to being junior doctors at the university hospital in Melbourne..

so connected we are all, in our memories and those memories are the fire that propels us into the future

especially this year 2021

May you find your Oslo, Isla Capri, your Matilda, your mural and learn to become Lars..