Splendor
On a warm summer evening, author Stefan Lindberg meets Mathias “Splendor” Johansson in a bar in Stockholm. Splendor has a past in a mysterious cult – The Paradise – with megalomaniacal ambitions: the members have been using a mind-expanding drug that melts souls, time, and memories together. Now he wants Stefan to write about their experiences. But it soon becomes clear that Splendor also has knowledge about a repressed event in Stefan’s past.
When Splendor later disappears, a chase begins that takes Stefan through his own past and finally leads him to The Paradise.
Splendor breaks the boundaries of autofiction and puts the reader in a state of absolute and hallucinatory presence. Both a thrilling mystery tale and a love story, the novel points onto a new direction in Stefan Lindberg’s authorship.
Nominated for the August Prize and Swedish Radio’s Literature Prize 2020.
info
Year of publication
2020
Original title
Splendor
Page count
270
Original publisher
Albert Bonniers Förlag
Original language of publication
Swedish
Reviews
Dagens Nyheter
"It is a Lars Jakobsson and Paul Auster cosmos that Stefan Lindberg moves in to, but in an entirely own and blessed vehicle."
Göteborgs Posten Newspaper
"At a time when the literary world is torn more than ever between autobiographical narrative fiction and worldview novels, Lindberg shows that a great writer manages to do both."
Aftonbladet Newspaper
"I first read it skeptically, then increasingly enamored, giggling and amused by all the absurd entanglements, of the mix of high and low, of the humor and the forgiving human-loving pathetic."
Svenska Dagbladet Newspaper
"Extra everything ... compelling, entertaining, and touching."
Sveriges Radio
"It is immediately fun to read. What does Splendor want? What will he do with Stefan Lindberg? He writes sharply and confidently, adept at handling that kaleidoscope. The design and execution are impressive."
Gefle Dagblad Newspaper
"(….) One of the most exciting voices in Swedish literature."
Sydsvenskan Newspaper
"Lindberg's new novel is terribly entertaining. And by that, I mean entertaining in a meaningful way."
Awards & Nominations
Nominations
August Prize
2020
Swedish Radio Novel Prize
2020
Interested in literary or film rights?
Get in touch with your ideas and our literary agents will get back to you in a heartbeat.