A mesmerizing glimpse beyond the illusion we call reality.
Author: Leena Krohn
Finnish original: Erehdys
Publisher: Teos Publishers, 2015
Genre: literary fiction
Number of pages: 155 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, Danish translation
Rights sold: Denmark, Jensen & Dalgaard; Hungary Széphalom Könyvműhely
E, an author approaching the best-before date of authors, arrives at a small library in a gritty little town to give a reading. E is already shaken by the drive there, but there is more to come.
The surprisingly wide audience consists of those who find their cellphones much more interesting than a mere author, and of those who start giving E a very hard time. Why don’t the stories offer clear conclusions, but only mysteries? How do they really end? Bravely, the discouraged author tries to survive the attack and ploughs on to offer the ungrateful crowd pieces of splendor.
Until the final mistake.
Leena Krohn’s novel is a wistful, tragicomic story woven together from many smaller stories. It tells about memory, about where truth ends and make-believe begins, and about letting go. In the world of the stories, the reader is taken to a reality which has twisted off its place. And unlike the brutal audience of the ovel, the reader of Krohn’s Mistake would not let the it ever end.
“Leena Krohn is one of the great visionaries of Finnish literature. Playing at the fringes of reality and fiction, her philosophical texts are always a pleasure to read. Krohn’s masterfully penned stories enchant, amuse, and inevitably send one’s thoughts spinning into overtime.
Her latest work, Mistake, is no exception. […] Krohn’s flowing texts, enviably effortless, are tinged with an ineffable sensation of strangeness. Her tales offer a glimpse beyond the illusion we call reality without proposing simplistic answers – which is precisely why they are so mesmerising. Mistake is full of wise musings and reflections, making it a worthwhile place to pause and ponder.”
– Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
“In Leena Krohn’s prose nature is filled with wonderful, admirable and puzzling phenomena; with endless alteration of chaos and order; with immortality. The lucid language polishes Krohn’s wise outlook once again to sheer pleasure.”
– Aamulehti newspaper
“In a time when literature is becoming increasingly banal, Leena Krohn’s prose brings joy, consolation and shameless enjoyment.”
– Kauppalehti newspaper
Also available:
Things I Never Learned (2021)
Perdition (2018)
A Letter to Buddha (2016)
Hotel Sapiens (2013)
Children of the Sun (2011)
False Window (2009)
My Home is Riioraa (2008)
The Bee Pavilion (2006)
Datura (2001)
Mathematical Creatures, or Shared Dreams (1992)
Umbra (1990)
Gold of Ophir (1988)
Tainaron (2006 | 1985)
Doña Quixote and Other Citizens (1983)
The Pelican’s New Clothes – A Story from the City (1976)
The Green Revolution (1970 | 2020)
About the author:
Leena Krohn