I'm a mosaic of people I've ever loved
Every time you are infected with the virus, it is a huge drain on the body, and you must take half a month to recover from the cultivation.
However, in the midst of her lingering illness, the Swedish writer Ia Gerberg had a magical moment, and the high tropics of her body gave her a new perception: "Reading with a fever is like a sense of bad luck: the contents of the book either dissolve directly, or penetrate into the crevices that naturally crack due to the rising body temperature." ”
It's not just the words that dissolve, it's a portal to the past—
As the body temperature rises, the world dissolves directly, and the heat pulls a nerve in the brain, down the spine, through the swollen and sore throat, into a space filled with memories.
As an opportunity, in the tracing of memories, "Only the Remaining Details" was born.
Literary dark horse
A counterclockwise story
In 2022, Ia Gernberg suddenly appeared on the international radar. Closely linked to her name is her latest work, Only the Details Remain. Not only for domestic readers, but also for readers in many countries, this is an unfamiliar name.
Ia Gernberg is a literary newcomer, but she's not young herself: she's 57 this year. Therefore, about Iya Genberg herself, it is a counterclockwise story - in order to achieve her most desired self, she needs to first explore the world. Learn to be patient, despite the whole society giving the "Forward, Forward!" command.
Ia Gernberg was a late-blooming writer who didn't publish her first novel until 2012, when she was 45 years old. Before that, however, she was a journalist and always worked with words. The myth about the late bloomer does not seem to be repeated in her. She was not prolific, and in ten years she published only two novels, a collection of short stories, the first three of which, while well received critical acclaim, did not bring her much readership.
Thankfully, "Only the Details" changed everything. The book was an instant critical acclaim, winning six Swedish literary awards, the Swedish Evening News, and the August Literary Prize, the highest prize in Swedish literature, named after playwright August Strindberg. In addition, the book has become a bestseller in Sweden, and the total sales have exceeded 100,000 copies so far, which is surprising enough in Sweden, which has a total population of just over 10 million.
For a time, she had both honor and readers. After being translated into many Chinese, the influence of "Only the Details" continues to expand, and in August 2023, the English version of "Only the Details" was launched, and at the end of the year, it was selected by The New Yorker as the best book of the year. Even on the day the Chinese version was printed, it was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker International Literary Prize. Perhaps the writer's greatest fear is not criticism, but the absence of a name, but fortunately, her name is known.
Photo of Ia Gernberg receiving the August Prize for Literature
Image courtesy of https://www.salomonssonagency.se/ia-genberg/
Born from a high fever and born from reality
This book is born out of the life of Ia Gernberg.
In an interview, she mentioned that "Only the Details" was born from a high fever caused by the new crown. This refers not only to the beginning of the novel, when the narrator "I" is infected by the virus and has a high fever, but also not only to the moment when the novel is born.
At Easter in 2020, I contracted COVID. In the midst of the high fever, I casually took a book from the shelf, saw the inscription left by my former lover on the title page, and my thoughts accompanied by the high fever, down my spine, into my long-lost past. To me, these words are like a smell, a piece of music, mixed with body temperature, triggering memories. It became the source of the book and the beginning of the book.
Implicit in this narrative is a Proustian mechanism of remembrance - what has the power of spiritualism is not unforgettable events, but casual trivial details. For Proust, it was the Madeleine cake eaten with tea that brought him back to the room of his childhood, and for Ia Gernberg, it was an inscription in a high fever, a testimony of old love.
Genberg chose to begin with the moment of revelation, transplanting it almost as it is, on the first page of the book.
After the virus had been dormant in me for a few days, I developed a high fever and an urgent urge swelled up: to revisit the novel. It wasn't until I was in bed and opened the book that I suddenly understood why. On the title page are several lines of inscription in a blue ballpoint pen, impeccably written:
May 29, 1996
Get well soon.
Remember the signature crepes and cider at the Sailor's Knot Cafe?
Waiting for you to relive it together.
Kiss (your lips),
Johanna
The adjustments that Gerberg made to the inscription were to increase the time, to change the name of the inscription, and that all the other details were true. Even the "Sailor's Knot Café" that appears in this passage is real and can be found in the city of Stockholm.
Incorporating the flesh and blood of real life and memories into fiction, stripping away the past self and reshaping it into the protagonist of the novel, this is the attempt made by Genberg in "Only the Details". Thanks to this, everything described in the novel reads so real, that the originally airtight wall between fiction and reality seems to have been dissolved by high fever, turned into a light bubble, and disappeared with a light poke. Perhaps it is this authentic vividness that gives it a unique charm.
It is from this point of view that it is impossible to tell whether "Only the Details" is a fiction, an autobiography, or both—the voids that cannot be filled by memory, the depths of the heart that cannot be reached by the eye, can only be filled with words with the help of imagination.
Four people, four lives
Sketch out the life of "me".
After reading the inscription, "I" understood why I found it, because many years ago, in another high fever, my then-lover Johanna gave it to me. This high fever led to another high fever, and the past opened the door to "me" to sneak in.
Johanna came from a wealthy background, and every one of her gifts was beautiful and thoughtful, and of course expensive, and the gesture she gave was so casual that it seemed to be only improvised. But they all became burdens that I couldn't respond to, and I was saddled with student loans, had a chaotic life, and took a break from school several times. In the face of this unrivaled love, it seems that I can only endure it.
This is an unmatched relationship, and the ending has long been doomed, but I couldn't see it at the beginning.
The friendship with Nikki was different, I knew it was going to end from the beginning, but I was 23 years old at the time and didn't care about it. She has a sea of emotions churning in her, which can change at any time, and there are only two states - love or hate, and there is no in-between. From the beginning, I knew that her passion for this friendship would eventually burn out.
It's just a matter of time.
This quote could also describe my relationship with Alejandro, and it could even be said that the countdown to the relationship was set from the very beginning. The question is not when it will end, but how long it will be. Perhaps it was a moth to a flame-like love, and our relationship was as short as breathing, but it left an indelible mark on me, and everyone I met in the future was put on the scales of my heart to compare with him.
And in the end, I wrote about the person I couldn't avoid, "my" mother Boulget. A sexual assault when she was young left her with an insurmountable anxiety for the rest of her life, always on the lookout for possible accidents, always keeping a safe distance from the world, and forever alienating me. I can only observe her silently and witness the hardships of her life and life. Giving life a normal appearance is the cause of her life's struggle.
They have occupied an important place in my life, and I have given myself up, absorbed it to my heart's content, and allowed myself to be changed by them forever and ever. There is a part of them in me, and if you want to talk about yourself, you have to start with them. It is through others that I can reach the core of myself. I still have fragments of the past, even if they have lost their meaning:
Johanna used to be my best and only reader, and after losing her, the writing became out of place, so I gave up. Nikki's books are still on my shelves, and Alejandro's CDs are in my collection, even if I can't find a device to play them. And my mother, Boulget, her anxious breathing was in her ears.
I never wanted to throw it away, or forget it.
"This is the self, or the so-called 'self': the traces left by the people who have crossed paths with us. Therefore, these chapters are taken together to form the life of "me".
And I also caught my traces in their bits and pieces, the games I played, the songs I listened to, and the words I wrote can all reverberate at this moment. Just like a high fever, a book and a few lines of text can form a spell that summons the past. It's never the events or the information that matters, it's the details.
It is in this intimate entanglement that we seem to leave the assurance of our existence, and even in the moment of our absence, there are people who perceive the shape of our absence.
In our lives, people come and go, friends fade away, and lovers separate. Always be ready to say goodbye, don't get too emotional, and learn to be indifferent, that's what we teach. But does it have to be so? Does it have to matter if it lasts forever?
The dispersion of human beings is the theme that Ia Gerberg explores in Only the Details. However, the beginning and end of every relationship are the ones she cares about the most. For her, the relationship never really ends, as long as we get along and influence each other, even if it's just like the same movie, the imprint has been formed and cannot be erased.
Ia Gernberg describes only the details of getting along. For her, this is the truth of everything, the essence of the relationship, and the certainty that we can have in the moment full of uncertainty.
When the tide recedes, only the details of life are scattered around. If we pick it up carefully, we will find that we have a lot.