Andrzej Tichý

On the cover of Andrzej Tichý’s Händelseboken (not translated into English), four skeletons perform a grim danse macabre. We’ve seen this dance before: it’s the late medieval allegory of how we all dance towards death. In Andrzej Tichý’s novel, this dance of death unfolds in abandoned playgrounds and unremarkable pizzerias in Malmö, as well as in seedy brothels and border stations across Europe. 

Andrzej Tichý has always stood on the side of the marginalised and vulnerable, on the side of children. With Händelseboken, he brings them and their stories directly into the centre. The language is relentless – at times bordering on fury – and it persistently directs the reader’s attention to the underclass, racism, and societal hierarchies without ever losing momentum. Instead of a traditional narrative arc or a clear sequence of events, Händelseboken offers the reader a myriad of voices – some named, some anonymous, some historical, some fictional – all illustrating a fractured era, defined primarily by its failed humanity.

The book’s cast of characters is almost overwhelming. Geographically, the story gravitates around the Lindängen district in Malmö, but Tichý has written a European novel, filled with fragments of stories from the continent’s many backstreets. The chronology is not entirely clear, and voices fade in and out of each other. Pronouns and subjects gradually lose their importance. Instead, what emerges is a multifaceted, heterogeneous chorus of lamentation over the accelerating danse macabre of our time.

The reader is pulled into a 700-page-long centrifuge of driven and intense prose that is impossible to put down. The form shifts between longer narratives, childlike essay drafts, monologues, short fragments, and factual or fictional quotes and one-liners. Everyday life blends with magical realism, banality with depth, tragedy with cathartic humour. And Tichý is always loyal to his characters. The novel’s angel, Metatron, expresses this as such: “Those who are exiled, flee, drown, and are imprisoned, and those who are oppressed by physically exhausting, mentally draining, and spiritually limiting labour, they are, in truth, sacred beings.”

With Händelseboken, Andrzej Tichý shows that we are all deeply interconnected; even when we stand at the edge of the abyss, our experiences remain shareable. His urgent novel reminds us that, despite everything, there is a radical potential and beauty even in this.

Andrzej Tichý, born in 1978, is one of the most significant voices in contemporary Swedish literature. He made his debut and breakthrough in 2005 with Sex liter luft (not translated into English) and has since received numerous prestigious awards and nominations. With Händelseboken, his authorship evolves even further. Thematically, the novel has universal relevance, and its risk-taking form brings something entirely unique and new to the genre of the novel. Händelseboken is Andrzej Tichý’s tenth book, and this marks his third nomination for the Nordic Council Literature Prize.