According To The Law
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Nicholas S., a biochemist in Quebec, is close to bringing the human race to solving the great enigma of man’s upright posture. As his story opens, he is on the way to collect the corpse of a young woman who has died from hypothermia and bequeathed her body to scientific research.
What Tanja L. wants to discover is the nature of pain. She is conscious of inflicting pain on others – men crumple and drop dead in the street on sight of her; and she can come to terms with her power only by discovering exactly what pain is made of. There is no doubt that pain exists but who knows what it is? Her quest leads her first to Barcelona…What these four short tales have in common is that they are about people obsessively dedicated to their own particular search, people on the verge of a great discovery about the nature of being. And the basis of their searches is a total rejection of all preconceptions, which enables them to see the ordinary and everyday from a totally novel angle. In According to the Law Solvej Balle reveals an unsettling vision and a startlingly original talent.
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Barbara
J. Haveland
Barbara J. Haveland is a Scottish literary translator, based in Copenhagen. She translates fiction, poetry and drama from Danish and Norwegian to English. She has translated works by many leading Danish and Norwegian writers, both classic and contemporary, including Henrik Ibsen, Peter Høeg, Linn Ullmann and Carl Frode Tiller. Her English-language translation of On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.
Barbara J. Haveland is a Scottish literary translator, based in Copenhagen. She translates fiction, poetry and drama from Danish and Norwegian to English. She has translated works by many leading Danish and Norwegian writers, both classic and contemporary, including Henrik Ibsen, Peter Høeg, Linn Ullmann and Carl Frode Tiller. Her English-language translation of On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.