Hjalmar Söderberg - Doctor Glas (1905)

I have finally read through Hjalmar Söderberg's Doctor Glas, a novel first published in Sweden 1905 and not translated into English until 1963. A book considered as quite provocating once it hit the bookshelves in the early 20th century. A book with very clear thought and in no way provocing today, or at least not to me. It deals with the matters of life & death - love & lust. And the moral questions that goes through the whole novel is the one of whether or not you can kill a man for another to live. Or more specifically in the novel. Could it be acceptable to end the life of Reverend Gregorius to let his young wife, Helga, lead her life the way she wants. Something she is not allowed to now, trapped in a loveless marriage where her husband forces himself upon her.

The book is written in the form of the Physician Dr. Glas' diary and the dilemma he is presented to by the young Helga. The language has got nearly a hundred years on its back now but it is in no way a burden to read. though the passing of time shows some signs of course.

It is long since I have folded this many edges of the sides, long ago since I have underlined this much passages and felt that I could identify with the young Doctor's dilemmas. Far too many to write them all down here. But some should of course be posted as a reference to what I mean.

Så gick det år efter år, och livet drog mig förbi. Jag såg många kvinnor som tände min längtan på nytt men just de kvinnorna märkte aldrig mig, det var som om jag inte fanns till för dem. Hur kom det sig? Jag tror att jag förstår det nu. En kvinna, som älskar, har just den förtrollning över sin gång och hy och över hela sitt väsen som tände mitt begär. Men eftersom de redan älskade andra män, kunde de ju icke se mig. Andra såg istället på mig ... Men det var nu alltid spilld möda.
Years went, and life passed me by. I saw many women that lit my flame but those women never noticed me, it was as if I didn't exist. How come? I think I understand it now. A woman, in love, has that spell over her walk and skin over all her presence that lits my flame. But since they already loved other men, they couldn't see me. Others saw me ... But that was always in vain.

There is another passage quite early that I find quite illustrating for this very blogg as well:

Det som jag skriver ned på dessa blad är icke någon bikt; för vem skulle jag bikta mig? Jag berättar icke allt om mig själv. Jag berättar blott det som behagar mig att berätta; men jag säger ingenting som icke är sant. Jag kan dock icke ljuga bort min själs eländighet, om den är eländig.
What I write down here is no confession; for whom would I confess? I do not tell you everything about myself. I just tell what I like to tell; but I will not be untrue. I can't lie away my soul's wretchedness, should it be wretched.

Other themes are abortion, suicide and euthanasia - to help another man end his life. Glas rejects it on his sworn doctor's oath but find himself from time to time disagree on the thesis to try to preserve life at all costs, to all ends and in all situation. He finds a son born an abomination by a mum he some years earlier rejected to help to an abortion.

-Ja, självmord är fult. Men det kan vara ännu fulare att leva.
-Yes suicide is ugly. But it can be far more ugly to live.

Glas on suicide

Liv, jag förstår dig inte.
Life, I don't understand you.

It is by a wonderful twist of fate a book I finished reading while rocking my two-month-old godson to sleep in his pram. Resting with a peaceful expression, a life not yet tainted by the world around us. A calm and peace unseen anywhere else. There's still hope! :)