The Carriage Stone

Norwegian novelist Holmebakk (1922-1981) writes with sparkling clarity about evil and innocence, fleeting life and the overwhelming presence of death in this moving, extraordinary novel, first published in Oslo in 1975. A chance encounter between Olav Klungland, novelist, political writer, atheist and Communist Party activist, and Eilif Grotteland, a former Lutheran pastor who gave up the ministry due to loss of faith, leads each man to reassess his beliefs and his fear of death. Most of the narrative consists of Eilif's fevered recollections of a series of traumas. As a boy, he watches his father attempt suicide and then slowly go mad. Lars, Eilif's cruel, hate-filled brother, sadistically beats him; and Lars's jealousy grows after Eilif steals his girlfriend, Elna, marries her and has a daughter, Lillian. Later, Lars becomes a Nazi and tortures fellow Norwegians. Sentenced to die as a traitor, Lars receives Eilif in prison the night before his execution and tells him that Lillian is really his daughter. The seeds of doubt planted in Eilif's mind poison his marriage, his faith and his relationship with Lillian, who becomes a junkie. Elna's struggle with terminal cancer paradoxically revives Eilif's faith. Holmebakke creates scenes of intense dramatic power, and his characters are so fully rendered that they easily transcend the apparently strict boundries of the novel's governing formula. With a gracefully sure hand, Holmebakk wrings from the particularities of his setting and characters bold phrasings of the most universal questions about meaning and mortality. (Apr.)