Erlend Loe (1969–) has appeared on stage and made short films and music videos. He has been a newspaper critic, has worked in a psychiatric hospital and as a temp schoolteacher. His literary début came in 1993 with the novel Tatt av kvinnen (Gone with the Woman), which was characterised by the critics as «extremely funny and artful». The novel was adapted to film in the autumn of 2006.
Loe's second novel, Naiv. Super. (Naïve.Super.), 1996, was his great break-through. Both readers - especially the young - and the critics were very enthusiastic about the novel. This is an unpretentious story about very complicated things. According to one reviewer: «A little stroke of naive genius.» And another: «Erlend Loe will rouse at least as much interest in philosophical matters among his readers as Jostein Gaarder.»
In 1999 Loe wrote L (L). This is a funny novel about an idea that is doomed to fail and a generation that has moved a long way from the myths and men that preceded it. It is also a novel about today's young men, about playing and rivalry and friendship.
The novel from 2001, Fakta om Finland (Facts about Finland), is characterised by Loe's particular type of humour, all the while providing for an undercurrent of yearning and loneliness in the protagonist. He fears water and flux, he fears change. He is a rather original character, easily entranced by his own musings over brochure making, where Sibelius, foods in aspic, Marimekko, not to mention water are key components.
Loe did not disappoint his constantly growing audience when the novel Doppler (Doppler) was published in 2004. The press wrote:
?«Compelling, disquieting and perceptive prose; this novel is the latest artistic victory for the author.»
Adresseavisen
?«Erlend Loe's Doppler is yet another step into utter absurdity. The result is a surrealistic contemporary criticism of the highest quality. Loe's best book since Naïve.Super.»
VG
In 2005 Loe wrote a sequel of Doppler, Volvo Lastvagnar (Volvo Trucks).
Erlend Loe has also written four children's books about the fork lift driver Kurt, which have been a great success in Norwegian children’s fiction after the first book in 1996. These books will raise the reader's eyebrows with their blend of horror and delight. The titles are: Fisken, Kurt blir grusom, Kurt, Quo vadis? and Kurt koker hodet (The Fish, Kurt Turns Evil, Kurt, Quo vadis? and Kurt Racks His Brain). These novels are illustrated by Kim Hiorthøy. The Kurt-series are sold to Denmark, Faroes, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland/France, Slovenia.
Awards ?Ministry of Cultural Affairs Prize for Den store røde hunden (The Big Red Dog), children's picture book, 1996. Illustrated by Kim Hiorthøy.?The Critics' Prize for Kurt Quo Vadis?, illustrated children’s novel, 1998. ?The Booksellers' Prize 1999 for L (L).?The French Prix Européen des Jeunes Lecteurs in 2006 for Naiv.Super. (Naïve.Super.).
Translations ?Tatt av kvinnen (Gone with the Woman), 1993. Sold to Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden. ?Maria & José, 1994, short novel, illustrated by Kim Hiorthøy. Sold to Denmark, Finland, France, The Netherlands, Sweden.?Naiv.Super. (Naïve.Super.), 1996. Sold to Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Iceland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Korea, Georgia, the Faeroes. ?L (L ), 1999. Sold to Finland, Sweden, Russia.?Fakta om Finland (Facts about Finland), 2001. Sold to Denmark, Finland, Italy, Russia, Sweden.?Doppler (Doppler), 2004. Sold to Denmark, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden.?Volvo Lastvagnar (Volvo Lorries), 2005. Sold to Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Sweden.?Organisten (The Organist - Revealing the Shakespeare Secret), 2006. Sold to Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden. ?Muleum (Muleum), 2007. Sold to Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Sweden.
