11
A while back, we read “Barmark” by Malin Nord in my book club, a novel about loss, legacy and belonging. It is painful and sad and during the club meeting we mostly spoke about how strong emotions can be carried down, from mother to daughter, in generations. But what I myself remember most strongly, the geographer that I am, is the sense of the landscape. Most of the story takes place in a remote village in the forests of Jämtland, north-central Sweden, by a river. It is described as dark, almost ominous, but also with a sort of beauty that creeps up on you, unnoticeable, until you’ve learned to recognize its melancholy, subdued harmonies. The main character describes such a strong sense of belonging to this river, to the trees, the landscape. But at the same time: Absolutely not belonging, to the village, the people, because her mother came from somewhere else, foreign. The tension between different layers of belonging. It is something I can recognize also in myself.
Photo: I call this “Being the odd one”, an orchid in the tropical greenhouse at Botanisk Hage, Oslo, January 2017. Posted on Instagram April 21, 2020.
Katja Malmborg 