| |
WhyKinks presents the book:
 |
 New
Years Eve 1999:
Alf I. Veber sits by his own in a
snow-cave in the Jotunheimen
mountains, making up status of his
life. He has sold his dot-com
company, but just in time to get
rich. He has written a couple of
books, though slaughtered by critics.
He had married the upper-class
Charlotte, correct in everyday life,
brutal in bed. And he has divorced
her.
He
is a man on his way down, who
decides to break up, burn bridges
and find the woman he thinks he
loves. In London.
But
there life takes an unexpected
direction. Denied by the woman, he
falls further down. He throws his
pc's and mobile phone in the Thames,
gives away most of his money.
Ends up as a homeless in the big
city, where he changes identity with
another homeless - and finally
entering Europe by train as an
englishman. |
Jan
Kjaerstad thanks for the reciving of
The Nordic Council's literatureprize
(2001-04-02)
|
We follow Alf in an interchanging
story between now and then (hm),
between the streets of London
and his childhood in Oslo.
"The
King of Europe is about a man who is
far from beeing a king, and a Europe
that not necessarily is what the
reader first gets in mind. Alf I
Veber is looking for a place where
the heart and the brain is close,
and for a possibility to be a winner
even if you look like a looser….In
London he meets a strange woman, and
suddenly he can use all the popular
music that is hidden inside him…",
writes the paper VG about this book.And
most of this music is, of course,
The Kinks:
"..Ray
Davies' group hit him strait, took
over already after the first single.
A music for outsider kings. In Alf's
ears the last albums, Face to face,
Something Else and The Kinks Are the
Village Green Preservation Society,
where revelations of the same
inscrutible nature as the Holy
Trinity."
( The King of Europe, p.52). |
| Jan
Kjærstad painted by Tom
Gundersen - born 1951 in Skien,
Norway |
"Helt
konge i London" article in
Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten 
link |
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