Kristen Roupenian and Eline Lund Fjæren
Uneasiness, horror elements and a fine-meshed humor emerge when humans and power relations are exposed in a light that is far from flattering.
The American writer Kristen Roupenian caused a sensation when her debut short story «Cat Person» was published in The New Yorker in 2017. With #Metoo at its peak, the story’s treatment of bad sex and of going through with the act only because refusing would cause a scene resonated strongly with readers. With more than 4 million hits, the short story became The New Yorker’s most-read online fiction text of all time.
The rights to Roupenian’s first story collection, in which «Cat Person» is included, sold for 1 million dollars after an intense bidding war, and the rights to a movie adaptation has long since been secured by HBO. The Norwegian translation of the short story collection is by Hilde Lyng, and the title is Du vet at du vil.
Through her three novels, Ung jente, voksen mann, Klokken og sengen and Forbruk i september, Eline Lund Fjæren has established herself as a distinct literary voice. She has also been known to address what might be called the grey areas of #metoo, and when she lead a feminist book club in Bergen, Roupenian’s story was among the works discussed. Now, she will meet Roupenian for a conversation about her debut collection.
Litteraturhuset Wergeland https://litteraturhuset.ticketco.events/no/nb/e/om_katter_og_kvinner_kirsten_roupenian_og_eline_lund_fjaeren__on_cats_and_women English