He is picked up by a man named Havstein, who runs a psychiatric half-way house. So we follow this man who wishes not to be followed, tracing him through Harstad’s delectably light but nonetheless impactful prose.Īfter growing up under-the-radar in his native Stavanger, Mattias finds himself in the middle of a road in the Faroe Islands with a large wad of cash in his pocket. His idol is Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, who has long gone unnoticed. Harstad’s debut novel (the entire title of which is Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?) chronicles Mattias, an unassuming gardener with a stellar voice and no intention to make anything of it. Which is perhaps what makes the hero of Norwegian author Johan Harstad’s Buzz Aldrin so refreshing and fascinating: He shies away from fame or recognition of any sort. Everyone wants their fifteen minutes, no matter how fleeting or ill-merited they are. With the advent of YouTube, it seems any ten-year-old with a half-decent voice is on the fast track to virtual fame. In most of us there is the secret (or not so secret) desire for greatness, to be shortlisted for the Nobel or the Pulitzer, to be the answer to the freebie question on a 5th grade history exam. So, over the course of her internship she’s become increasingly jaded and even more addicted to caffeine than ever before. (She’s going to be in Grapple.) Kelsey’s main intern responsibility this summer is calling all the indie bookstores in the country and setting up sales calls. She’s also very involved in the theatre department and will be making her NYC acting debut later this month at the in the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Kelsey Burritt is affectionally referred to here in the office as “Intern #2.” 2 She is a rising junior majoring in English and Spanish.
(Thanks Wikipedia for all the general info.) Overall, he sounds like a pretty interesting artist, and for more information, click here to see an interview with him at the Seven Stories offices.
He also runs LACKTR, a sort of label/media project that helped produce the album Bring Out Your Life Vest by The Kulta Beats and noise musicians Bjørn Erik Haugen and Kelly Davis, the songs on which were written specifically for Buzz Aldrin. Since that time he’s published two more novels: Hässelby 1 and DARLAH. Buzz Aldrin, which was his third book, came out when he was 26 years old.
Johan Harstad is a pretty prolific young Norwegian writer. The latest addition to our Reviews Section is a piece by Kelsey Burritt on Johan Harstad’s Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?, which is translated from the Norwegian by Deborah Dawkin and published by Seven Stories Press.
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