Kallocain - Books Babb.no

Swedish language

Published Sept. 3, 1941 by Trut Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-91-88275-05-9

This is a novel of the future, profoundly sinister in its vision of a drab terror. Ironic and detached, the author shows us the totalitarian World-state through the eyes of a product of that state, scientist Leo Kall. Kall has invented a drug, kallocain, which denies the privacy of thought and is the final step towards the transmutation of the individual human being into a "happy, healthy cell in the state organism." For, says Leo, "from thoughts and feelings, words and actions are born. How then could these thoughts and feelings belong to the individual? Doesn't the whole fellow-soldier belong to the state? To whom should his thoughts and feelings belong then, if not to the state?" As the first-person record of Leo Kall, scientist, fellow-soldier too late disillusioned to undo his previous actions, Kallocain achieves a chilling power and veracity that place it among the finest novels to emerge …

This is a novel of the future, profoundly sinister in its vision of a drab terror. Ironic and detached, the author shows us the totalitarian World-state through the eyes of a product of that state, scientist Leo Kall. Kall has invented a drug, kallocain, which denies the privacy of thought and is the final step towards the transmutation of the individual human being into a "happy, healthy cell in the state organism." For, says Leo, "from thoughts and feelings, words and actions are born. How then could these thoughts and feelings belong to the individual? Doesn't the whole fellow-soldier belong to the state? To whom should his thoughts and feelings belong then, if not to the state?" As the first-person record of Leo Kall, scientist, fellow-soldier too late disillusioned to undo his previous actions, Kallocain achieves a chilling power and veracity that place it among the finest novels to emerge from the strife-torn Europe of the twentieth century.

1 edition

gmc@bookwyrm.social reviewed Kallocain by Karin Boye

Well-written classic

5 stars

This classic from 1940 explores a concept that has been an inspiration for many more modern movies: what if you were forced to tell the truth, hold nothing back, reveal your deepest inner secrets? Combine that premise with a totalitarian state and you have Kallocain by Karin Boye.

The tension builds right from the start and doesn’t let off. Through the protagonist, an altogether horrible man, the reader gets an increasingly worrying picture of this dystopian world. Despite the protagonist’s faults, the author has managed to portray the man such that it is easy to find sympathy for his plight, making one stick around for the transformational journey he undergoes.

We know right from the start that the protagonist is in jail, but why or where is left open, adding to the suspense. At every chapter, one wonders whether that is the chapter where the protagonist makes his …

This classic from 1940 explores a concept that has been an inspiration for many more modern movies: what if you were forced to tell the truth, hold nothing back, reveal your deepest inner secrets? Combine that premise with a totalitarian state and you have Kallocain by Karin Boye.

The tension builds right from the start and doesn’t let off. Through the protagonist, an altogether horrible man, the reader gets an increasingly worrying picture of this dystopian world. Despite the protagonist’s faults, the author has managed to portray the man such that it is easy to find sympathy for his plight, making one stick around for the transformational journey he undergoes.

We know right from the start that the protagonist is in jail, but why or where is left open, adding to the suspense. At every chapter, one wonders whether that is the chapter where the protagonist makes his fatal mistake and is apprehended by the officials of the world state.

All together a very good read indeed.

cblgh@bookwyrm.social reviewed Kallocain by Karin Boye

Swedish cousin of Brave New World, authored by a lesbian poet in 1940s Sweden

5 stars

finished reading kallocain during lunch, it has such luscious sentences

it feels like a poem wearing the guise of a novel. the first time i tried to read it, i read like i would any other novel. but for me, it only revealed itself, and was frankly only understandable, when taking the pace down a few notches

i don't know what translation keeps the dreamy poetry of its sentences intact; you could always learn swedish

finished reading kallocain during lunch, it has such luscious sentences

it feels like a poem wearing the guise of a novel. the first time i tried to read it, i read like i would any other novel. but for me, it only revealed itself, and was frankly only understandable, when taking the pace down a few notches

i don't know what translation keeps the dreamy poetry of its sentences intact; you could always learn swedish