(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
- The book's strength is that it is so linguistically nuanced, it is characterized by a great surplus, humor and irony, at the same time as it is highly dated to its contemporaries, he said.
His debut characterized Hauge himself as "a small philosophical novel of tension" and highlighted the social satire as the most fascinating of the Crimean universe. In a debutant interview with Aftenposten, he also used the opportunity to make a difference for himself and to his then more famous big brother Alfred Hauge, who has written around 50 books:
- Alfred also found his niche in the religious quality literature. I myself am an agnostic and humanist, resigned from the State Church 25 years ago. I chose a different side in religion and politics than him, and did not want to ruin for him or me in a small environment. We were best friends privately. But Alfred's seriousness has never been something for me. I keep the adults' seriousness at bay when I write, he said.
The political side Kolbjørn Hauge chose was SF – where he was involved from the start. Among his non-fiction titles, we find "From protest to party" (1987) about the campaign against nuclear weapons in Stavanger SF in 1960-61. Hauge was also the first SF representative in Stavanger City Council in 1962 together with Arnt Bækholt.
Despite a broad political background, Kolbjørn Hauge does not want his novels to be political in the narrow sense:
- You can interpret a lot politically and critically, but my primary goal is to entertain. I am more concerned with portrayals of people than descriptions of society, more concerned with the small things and ordinary people than people in power and abstractions. And I'm probably more concerned that it should be an enjoyable journey, with lots of linguistic humor, than that the books should change the world, Hauge said in an interview with Ny Tid in connection with "Til jord skal du bli" came out.
At the same time Hauge opened that he would one day write a novel without heroes and villains.
- Gyldendal and Alternativ Framtid announced a short story competition a few years ago, where I contributed and wrote about the inhumanity of advertising and human bluntness. A very socially critical short story. I really want to expand it, he said in the Ny Tid interview.
While we wait, we congratulate Kolbjørn Hauge on the 75th anniversary.
