Simon Stranger

Mnem

Mnem

A novel, a city, a world. A grand and ambitious work about a dream that becomes a nightmare.​​

It has been said that there are no limits to where a novel can go, and Mnem has accepted the challenge of this statement. ​“​Let​’​s go bananas,​” the author wrote to his editor when he got started. The result is a novel that is unlike anything else in contemporary Norwegian literature.​​

The city called Nem, which is the subject of this novel, seems at first glance to be a completely ordinary, moderately large city somewhere in Northern Europe. But the city has its own unique history. It was founded as a utopia, a place where societal problems would be resolved, and where people could live in peace and harmony. And that was exactly what happened during its first years ​— until everything fell apart.​​

The novel Mnem is constructed the way a city is laid out. Each chapter is a street, and each street has its own story. Here we meet the man who is slowly losing his memory, the family that sells everything they own for a single tulip bulb, and the composer who writes a symphony to silence.​​

Praise for Strangers first novel The Fabric of Events That We Call the World:​​

​“​A dazzling debut​” (Berlingske Tidende)

​“​An original first novel that weaves its way widely through time and space​” (Dagbladet)

​“​One of the year​’​s best books in Norway​” (Morgenbladet)

Tiden 2007

Since his literary debut in 2003, Simon Stranger has written several novels and children`s books. For the picture book Gjengangeren he was awarded the literary award Riksmålsprisen for the best children´s book in 2006.

PREVIOUS TITLES:

Den veven av hendelsen som vi kaller verden (The Fabric of Events That We Call the World) novel 2003
Krusedullen (Squiggles) children’s picture book 2005
Gjengangeren (The Ghost) , children’s picture book 2006