Loss, grief and legacies: Per Petterson moves forward
In his eighth novel, “Men in My Situation,” Norway’s Per Petterson returns to familiar territory with an untethered middle-aged protagonist who has endured incalculable loss — deaths in his immediate family, the end of his marriage, his near-estrangement from his three young daughters.
This is Arvid Jansen, a wellknown author and Petterson’s recurring character. It has been a year since his wife left, and two since a ferry tragedy killed his parents and brothers. In many ways he is rudderless, restless and colorless. All of this is reflected in the interior and exterior landscapes of the narrative and in the prose itself, which is largely long run-on sentences that begin in one place and end in another. Readers of Petterson’s books — his best-known novel being the bestseller “Out Stealing Horses” (2005) — will be acquainted with these themes of unspeakable grief and isolation, as much of his fiction circles the tragedy that defined his life: In 1990, his parents, a brother and a nephew died when a ferry caught fire, killing 159.
Here Petterson deepens his examination of grief by animating how a parent’s loss, depression and trauma can pass to the next generation. Tension, sadness and tenderness arise quietly — and sometimes, not — in Arvid’s interactions with his daughters. “I felt the warmth spread through my body,” he reflects while sipping whiskey, “and remained sitting on the threshold for I don’t remember how long, with my eyes closed and the back of my head leaning against the door frame, listening to the girls breathing inside the dark room, each in her own rhythm, each in her own silent light.”
The author could have manipulated the reader’s sympathies for Arvid (he gets into a car accident with his children and has several encounters with female strangers) but leaves her to her own decisions, shifting her alliances from scene to scene.
Arvid’s isolation and silence of endless grief are not passive states; they shape his children and whom they become. These moments present a tenderness and another shade of loss. Ultimately, Petterson provides an honest portrait of how one family unravels — and hopefully is put back together, if in a different form.