Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel – a magnum opus that is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the State of the Nation chapter - 10 out of 10

 

Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel – a magnum opus that is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, in the State of the Nation chapter

 

10 out of 10

 

Alberta and Sandel is a spectacular chef d’oeuvre, celebrated as one of the greatest books to come from Scandinavia, where the narrative is placed, in the northern part of Norway, a small town, where you somehow encounter people of a lower class, that was my impression anyway, it feels as if everyone wants to leave

 

It is not exactly a place where one gets exiled, but the south appears to be glorified, it is not a paradise, but then the climate in those parts is harsh – probably not so much now, what with climate change, albeit we do have extremes, in our city we experienced weeks of forty degrees Celsius, unheard of until now

They get excited on the other hand by the arrival of spring, I am not sure they have summer there, and the flowers, the signs of good weather – as for flowers, Alberta Semler, the heroine, she does not care for the hydrangea, with its awkward smell – was it of corpses? – but that is because she received it from the Chief Clerck

 

We have a very unhappy main character, and we feel compassion for her – there is a difference between mercy and compassion, we read in The Unbearable Lightness of Being https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-9-put.html by Milan Kundera about it

We feel compassion for those that we consider equals, more or less, while pity is reserved for the humas we see as worse off – maybe there is a dose of something else, but let us get back – Alberta lives in this dark, cold place, while she worships fire, they have to face all sorts of shortcomings, although her father is a magistrate

 

As always, I cannot resist the temptation to get off the rails, it might be a sign of something, but maybe not, Insha’ Allah, so now I think of Alito and Thomson, two justices that look absolutely corrupt and batshit crazy to me, the magistrate in the novel does not have the money pouring in that those two fucks enjoy…

The magistrate has had some money problems, when they were in the south, in a privileged position, to summarize, the north is lower class, the south is for the nobles, once his wife was celebrated in the south, but she will get a letter from her brother-in-law, discussing the impossibility of hosting poor Alberta in their home

 

This vile fellow insists that Mrs. Semler was such a beautiful woman, while her daughter is not, hence, Alberta will have no chance, if she comes down – we get that the mother tried to change fate for her child – because everything costs so much, and they have no means, she will be just a ‘wallflower’, if invited at parties

 

Her parents are so critical, they are the opposite of the helicopter parents of the present – the latter sort are horrible, and I keep hearing little monsters howling, throwing firecrackers, peeing, cursing, at late hours of the night, because they are allowed, nay, encouraged to do whatever the hell they want, just like Trump on Russia, if they pay no protection money, Putin can occupy them – mother is so dissatisfied with the girl

She only loves Jacob, her brother, who is also a misfit, his father threatens to throw him out, if we saw him in a film, he would be a supporting role, and I was wondering why the title says Alberta and Jacob, when he only has maybe a fifth, or less space – he has not done well in school, while his sister would like to learn more.

 

Nevertheless, when she asks the magistrate, he says he has no means, and then she presses on for an escape from this gloomy, little town, by getting a position on an island, he says speak with your mother, who is furious, but then the heroine does not get the job, and she has to stay there, or maybe end it some other way…

At one point – nay, he has been there a few times – Jacob is in trouble, he has to pay twenty kroner, a huge sum, which is he does not have, and if his father finds out, then it is really the door, so his sister is determined to help, against the odds, so she takes a bracelet to the jeweler, and offers the money for an escape

 

Eventually, Mrs. Semler finds about and complains, without the expected scandal nonetheless, but she has had to use the same means to get something for her son…Jacob will become a sailor, he embarks on a ship for Liverpool, and then all the way to Brazil, which is not the career they would expect, but that is what happens when you fail in school

He has a good friend, of lower ‘extraction’, and Alberta is very worried, afraid really of him, so when Jacob is gone, and this young man is on her way, she literally runs away, which is offending the fellow, who catches up, and talks about her feeling so superior that she does not even want to be anywhere near…

 

Furthermore, he had had to see her, because Jacob had sent him a package for her (containing twenty kroner, so that she can buy whatever she wants with it) which he is meant to give her in private, an awkward moment of intimacy is there, he comes close and kisses her, and then she runs away, only to think about this later

She will be so infuriated, desperate with everything that she will determine at some point that she will let the man kiss herm again, and again, the parents are trying to arrange a matrimony with somebody she does not like, and she tries to escape the traps set for her…a very sad fate, almost tragic, but there is hope, in the end…

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”