Kjartan Fløgstad

Kjartan Fløgstad (born 7 June 1944) is a Norwegian author. Fløgstad was born in the industrial city of Sauda in Ryfylke, Rogaland. He studied literature and linguistics at the University of Bergen. Subsequently, he worked for a period as an industrial worker and as a sailor before he debuted as a poet with his collection of poems titled Valfart (Pilgrimage) in 1968. He received the Nordic Council's Literature Prize for his 1977 novel Dalen Portland (Dollar Road). Other major works include Fyr og flamme (Fire and Flame), Kron og mynt, Grand Manila and Grense Jakobselv.

Literary work

Fløgstad initial prose work, Den hemmelege jubel (The Secret Exultation), was published in 1970. In 1972 he published the short story collection Fangliner (Ropes), where he encourages seaman and shift workers in heavy industry to make themselves heard in their own language, and the author's Marxist viewpoint became apparent. In the 1970s he also wrote two crime novels using the two pseudonyms K. Villun and K. Villum. His major breakthrough came in 1977 with the novel Dalen Portland (Dollar Road); which was awarded the Nordic Council's Literature Prize. Following this, Fyr og flamme (Fire and Flame) in 1980 and Det 7. klima (The Seventh Climate) in 1986 were his next most recognized works. In the major novels he demonstrates a command of realistic precision combined with an understanding of sociology. Fløgstad's work depicts the economic and social transitions as Norway moves from an agricultural culture to an industrial society, and then to a post-industrial society.

Fløgstad's style of writing, as demonstrated in both fiction and non-fiction, is very characteristic; many puns, allusions to other texts and to films and a mix of sociolects. He is one of the best-known authors associated with magic realism in Norway, and his overall realistic plots often feature many fantastic twists.