Erlend Loe og Hal Sirowitz har i en time sittet på hver sin kontorstol i Dagbladet :på nettet-lokalene og svart på spørsmål fra leserne.

Nå har de to forfatterne dessverre sagt takk for seg, for å gå videre til neste intervju (men samtalen er her fremdeles - litt lenger ned):

Sirowitz:
I feel a strong connection to norwegians because of the way they took to my work. I´m grateful. it helps me as a writer. it´s great being accepted by another culture. it shows me the world is smaller than we think. literature unites us. I hope to come back and explore more of norway.

Loe:
som oppdager og oversetter av sirowitz´ dikt har det vært utrolig å legge merke til mottagelsen han har fått i norge. sirowitz er et godt menneske og en god forfatter. jeg ser frem til å lese og muligens oversette hans neste bok.
takk for nå.

Was it with purpose you made the book "mother said" funny? And have you shown your book "mother said" to your parents?
Helene

at first no. I was surprised that my work was funny. I think it was because I was sad that I was trying to make myself laugh. now I like to make others laugh, too. I never showed the book to my mother. I was afraid. when she passed away I showed it to my father. he liked it. he said she would have liked it too. I was making her famous.

Would you call your books poetry or prose?
Egil I call them poems. but there´s not a big difference between poetry and prose. some prose writers are poets. I always felt that Samuel Beckett´s prose was poetry. too much time is spent describing the difference. poetry is more condensed than prose.

Hva var det som gjorde at du bestemte deg for å oversette "sa mor" og "sa terapauten min"?
Jeg må også nevne at begge samlingene er geniale!!! Line Frivold

jeg bestemte meg for å oversette diktene simpelt hen fordi jeg syntes og syns at de i tillegg til å være innsiktsfulle også er morsomme.

How often do you go to therapy? ;)
Anne

once a week. it helps me to make my pain into a story. every week I have to decide what to tell my therapist. I realize that some things that bothered me were not that important. I feel happier now. a therapist is like a supportive mother.

I can see from your poems that you didn`t like your parents, but what about now, have you forgiven them?
Trond Rømo

I did like them. they just didn´t understand me. I accept who they are now.

Where had you been now without your mother? Is writing the poems therapy for you?
Trond Rømo

I´m writing a memoir called Hal Said. in this book I try to make myself look bad. I think I succeded. writing is therapy for me. I can only think as fast as my hand moves across the page. it slows me down. otherwise the thoughts in my head get all confused. I owe my mother a lot. she is responsible for me becoming a poet. it was the last thing she expected. she thought artists were strange. but without realizing it she gave me a lot of material to write about.

Jeg har i den senere tid lest relativt mange bøker som jeg vil kanskje karakteriseres som noe minimalistiske og naivistiske. Dette er en trend jeg særlig har sett i england og USA. Hva syntes du om denne typen bøker? Henter du inspirasjon fra noen av disse forfatterne (f.eks Nick Hornby)
Bassen

enkelt og naivt er for meg to helt forskjellige ting. jeg liker det enkle i så ulike forfattere som jean-phillipe toussaint og astrid lindgren. det naive er ikke noe jeg egentlig leter etter. ikke utover at jeg gjorde det for å undertreke noen poenger i naiv.super. ellers leser jeg f.eks. richard brautigan, alain de botton, og mange andre.

På videregående lærer vi alle disse ulike metodene for å forstå dikt, men er det ikke slik at den analytiske tilnærminga til lyrikken ødelegger den naive, umiddelbare gleden ved å lese et dikt? I alle fall; hva mener dere?
Vegard Johansen

hal: jeg er enig. når jeg går på kunstmuseum, ser jeg bare på maleriene slik de er, jeg leser ikke om dem på forhånd. det samme gjelder lyrikk. jeg syns folk burde lese introduksjonen til en bok etter at de har lest boka ferdig.
erlend: jeg var redd for det samme da jeg studerte litteratur, men oppdaget at det ikke helt funker på den måten. man kan helt klart analysere en tekst i hjel, men man kan også lære å se dimensjoner i den som man ellers ville ha gått glipp av. jeg vet f.eks. en del om film og dramaturgi og slikt, men allikevel er jeg ofte solgt etter fem minutter på kino. analyseapparatet kobles ut når noe er bra.

Er du misunnelig på Hal Sirowitz fordi han hadde en grusommere mor enn din, slik at han kunne skrive diktbøker som mange likte (mens du måtte nøye deg med å oversette dem fordi du ikke hadde noen grusom mor)? Eller kanskje du har en grusom mor. Hva vet jeg.
Kristian E. Baardsen

Did you love your mother? And, in case of "yes", why? Kristian E. Baardsen

How do I obtain «Mother Said» and «My Therapist Said» in English? The books are available here in Norwegian. I live in Norway, but I prefer to read the books in the original language. I have written twice to Foyles bookshop in London this October and have telephoned today to Waterstone's bookshop in London. Foyles wrote back twice, and Waterstone's answered by phone, always the same message: « - the books are not on their lists and are unavailable.» I would like the books to be sent to me to my address in Norway.Please advise me as to where I may order them.
Best wishes for the future, Sandy Lunoe

We wonder: - How many animals have you seen? (No cheating) and - Since Erlend has translated «Mother Said» to norwegian, could you please translate «Naiv Super» to english? It is a very enjoyable book!
Endre & Kjetil

if I knew norwegian I would definitely translate erlend´s book. I´m just not good at languages.
I´ve seen a few animals, though I never counted them. I´m obsessive about a lot of things. I don´t want to have a new obsession.
og fra erlend: jeg håper også at naiv.super. vil bli oversatt til engelsk en dag, men jeg tror ikke at det kommer til å skje med det første. det er det vanskeligste markedet å komme inn på.

When will your poems be published in England? As a Norvegian studying in England I have been abel to enjoy the Norvegian translation of your poems. But I can't share them with my friends here.
Hans Eirik Borgen

Mr Sorowitz;
We live in a time where poetry is close to hitting rock bottom in Norway. Norwegians are, well, to put it plain, not interested. Still, your poems have gotten quite a lot of attention here. Reading your poetry is considered to be cool, while reading traditional poetry is considered to be more of a dull, "geeky" thing. How does it feel to be the average Norwegian's poetic alibi?
Lill Kristin Syversen

I feel happy that people are reading my poetry in Norway. I feel I´m a cross over writer. my poetry appeals to poets and the people who aren´t poets. poetry should have a wider audience. I write for a crowd of people in a room. other poets just write for someone sitting alone in their room. poetry should be accessible. people should get it the first time they read it. if they want to read it a second time, fine, but it´s their choice.

Have you gone through all the stories in "Mother said"? Or is some/all og it fiction?
Helene

unfortunately most of it is true. when you write you imagine stuff, so parts of it could be made up. but even I don´t know which parts really happened and which I made up. if it´s not true, it should be true. I don´t plan to write more poems about my mother, but in my new book, I´m writing about her in prose. I´m using a different form to describe her.

Was your mother really that exhorted ? Cecilie Horgheim

Yes. Even my father was scared of her. But yet, at the same time she loved me. I think she was just frustrated about her life. She wanted to do more, but couldnt. She was not as happy as she wanted. So she tried to live through me. And that couldn´t work.