''L'' is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

written by the Norwegian writer Erlend Loe. It is about a group of young men who go on an expedition to the small island Manuae in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It was published in 1999, and was a big success.Nora Pröfrock “Stop making sense.“ - Erlend Loes Romane „Naiv.Super.” (1996) und ... 3638636402 2007 Einleitung Der Autor Erlend Loe (*1969) aus Trondheim gilt als einer der auffälligsten und erfolgreichsten ... (1996) und L (1999), von denen bis zum Jahre 2001 zusammen annähernd 200.000 Exemplare verkauft wurden

Plot

The main theme in the story is an expedition to prove main character Erlend's theory about Pacific islands. He believes that their inhabitants came from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

on skates. This is, of course, an impossible theory, but the story is kept alive with Loe's personal, at times naïve, style. The book is divided into two parts. The first part is about how Erlend, inspired by

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000&nb ...

's '' Kon-Tiki'', came up with the theory, and the planning of the expedition. The second part is about the expedition itself, which takes place on Manuae in the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

. The seven boys in the expedition, including fictionalized versions of Loe and artist Kim Hiorthøy, all feel that they have not contributed to "build Norway", so this trip is like their way of saying "sorry", and placing

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

on the map once and for all. Erlend strongly believes that his theory is correct and that they will be praised as heroes when they return. In the end of the book the boys feel like this wasn't enough to place Norway on the map, so they start another experiment, where they try out the different ways of governing a country. For example, they try out

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

and

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. They spend the last days on the island sitting around and waiting for the boat to pick them up. When they come home there is no marching band waiting at the airport, and realise that it will take more to get Norway "out there".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:L (Novel) 1999 novels 20th-century Norwegian novels Books by Erlend Loe Novels set in Oceania