Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 26
FROM WOODCHOPPING TO FICTION
These are surprisingly humble acknowledgements
from an author with over 1 million books sold in
19 languages. Mytting's first book " Hestekrefter "
(Gyldendal, 2006) sold out of its first printing
in its first three weeks. He followed it with
" Vårofferet " (Gyldendal) in 2010. Then he
wrote Hel ved (Kagge Forlag AS, 2011) as a bit
of a breather between fiction projects, and one
in which Mytting could indulge in and expound
on the Norwegian-and his personal-obsession
with firewood, axes, woodpiles, woodstoves, and
the flavors of hand-me-down self-sufficiency in the
Nordic north. Mytting is still baffled to this day of
the book's worldwide success. Known in English
as " Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and
Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way " (Abrams,
2015), " Solid Wood " has been translated into
21 languages, selling over a half million copies
to date.
Mytting followed " Norwegian Wood " with a
historical thriller, " Svøm med dem som drukner "
(Gyldendal, 2014). The wide-ranging twists and
turns span a century, and where the central plot of
uncovering family secrets takes the main character
from his Norwegian farmstead to the Shetland
Islands back to World War I France. Already
published in English translation in the UK, " The
Sixteen Trees of the Somme " is slated for its
North American launch in April 2022.
For the past seven years, Mytting has been
engrossed in crafting the sprawling epic which
will ambitiously reveal itself over three volumes.
The initial inspiration was a photo of the farm on
which his grandfather was born. " It looked like
a place from medieval times. Just a small old log
home with a stone roof. " There were no " proper
roads, " Mytting adds, not to mention electricity
and plumbing.
" It could have been from the year 1650! "
says Mytting. He realized this pivotal time,
his grandparents' era of the late 19th century,
was a very rich environment where his main
characters, over three generations and three
books, would have to contend with a brutal and
precarious existence layered with a superstitionladen
mindset as their worlds collide with
modernization of the early 20th century.
" However, the thing that really changed the
direction of what I wanted to write was when I
reread the old oral narrative about the sister bells.
It's a story that has been told in my hometown for
at least 300 years, " says Mytting. He remembers
hearing it even as a child, but only when he
reread the legend, did he connect it to the story he
wanted to write.
Mytting says there are many legends of various
church bells all over Norway and Sweden. He
estimates that there are between 80 to 100 church
bell stories out there, but he had the fortune of
READING ROUNDUP
Check out these books by Lars Mytting currently available in North America.
" Norwegian Wood: Chopping,
Stacking, and Drying Wood the
Scandinavian Way " (Abrams, 201 5)
is a surprisingly poetical, personal
and practical approach to the national
Norwegian obsession of selecting, felling,
chopping, stacking, drying and burning
wood. Having two novels under his belt
at the time of writing this nonfiction
detour, it's easy to see why this became a
worldwide phenomenon in 21 languages.
Translated by Robert Ferguson.
26 VI KI NG NOVEMBER 2021
sonsofnorway.com
PHOTO BY ROB ERT WI LSON / G ETTY I MAG ES
http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - November 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - November 2021
Contents
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 1
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 2
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - Contents
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 4
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 5
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 6
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 7
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 8
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 9
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 10
Viking Magazine - November 2021 - 11
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