The Werewolf

Blurb

A novel of the tyranny of love over men and women and the unending trials of strength between good and evil in human nature. Its main characters are of heroic stature yet deeply flawed, moving against the backdrop of Norwegian society from World War I to the 1960s. Over the novel broods the symbol of the Werewolf, which for Sandemose represents all the forces hostile to a full, free life - the thirst for power over others' lives, the lust to destroy what cannot be possessed or controlled. In their private encounters with the Werewolf, few can claim total victory. Sandemose's characters all bear the scars of lost battles. The central figures are Erling, a dipsomanic writer; Jan Venhaug, a gentle farmer; his wife Felicia, who is Erling's mistress (only one of her sexual problems); and Julie, Erik's bastard daughter who ends up in Jan's bed. The characters are deliberately submerged and blurred, their oddities explained as the work of the Werewolf, the destructive force in everyone.