Customer Reviews

Bengt's Last Summer

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The epic tale of an ageing professor set against the backdrop of a Swedish summer. - Bengt Svensson, a professor of church history, spends his summer in the fascinating landscape around Lake Siljan. The lake, the hotel, everything is described in a way that the author should get a prize from the Swedish Tourist Board.
Bengt is about to celebrate his 60th birthday in this landscape set apart from everyday life when he sees a little girl, Svea, - is struck by her beauty, follows her footsteps and finds himself changed. - This motif is somewhat reminiscent of Mann's Death in Venice, even though Svea is no angel of death, and bright colours, both in the professor's personality and the landscape, dominate. Bengt likes painting; he is a collector of butterflies. For him, the lake has some personality, too; what are the messages it ("she") conveys? Sexual overtones are barely audible.
The novel is a great celebration of life, beauty, friendliness, and even what one might consider a few symbolic passages (the birthday article that sounds like an obituary, the Grim Reaper, a girl's lapse "We are very proud to have known you", thus accidentally alluding to his death, - these passages are so unobtrusive that they blend with Bengt's childlike naivety.
Somethimes the narrator addresses the reader in a homeric way, it is delightfully unclear whether or not this is meant in an ironic way. Is this the epitome of naivety or of refinement? Of course it may be both.
This delicately told, definitely slowly-paced novel praises the joys of sensual perception, be it music, fine foods, the weather, the lake, - or the little girl Svea.