The March of the Musicians     by Per Olov Enquist, Translated by Joan Tate Original title: Musikanternas uttåg Original language: Swedish Country: Sweden   Published by Collins Format: Hardcover ISBN: 0002715082 List Price: £10.95 Buy online from Amazon.co.uk for £10.95

This novel from 1978 can be seen as a watershed in Enquist's career. It continues the politico-cultural probings of its distinguished predecessors: The Legionnaires (l968) which examines a controversial episode of post-war Swedish history, and emphasises the difficulty of making moral judgements without hindsight; The Second (l971), again founded on fact and here intimately connecting the world of sport with the world of politics, more specifically with Swedish socialism; the collected short stories Stories from the Time of the Cancelled Revolts (1974) which deal with the collapsed revolutionary movements of the 1960s and 70s. The March of the Musicians arises out of an investigation of the history of Swedish Trades Unionism, of industrial conflicts up in Enquist's native Västerbotten, around the timber-mills of Bureå, in the early years of the twentieth century. Again defying cherished national self-images, Enquist depicts the workers as often (cruelly) opposed to Trades Unionist concern for their rights, treating agitator Johan Elmblad contemptuously, and showing him up as powerless in the face of other social and cultural forces. The family at the centre of the book, the Marklunds, embody the pietistic quietism of Enquist's own family and prefer Christian-inspired resignation to socialist action. The young man, Nicanor, a stand-in for Enquist himself, is however drawn to the movement and indeed to the agitator Elmblad himself.



But by writing about Västerbotten, its timber business and his family, Enquist — perhaps without knowing this — embarked on a presentation of a private myth, with its roots in familial and local history, and started on that inward turn, the finest fruit of which is Captain Nemo’s Library. Already in The March of the Musicians the figures of the mythic tragedy are present, though they will later undergo transformation and development. Eva-Liisa here, for instance, based on Enquist's foster-sister, anticipates the Eeva-Lisa of Captain Nemo, her rape by Uncle Aron, the seduction, pregnancy and death in the later book. Sombre, poetic and personal, the l978 novel perhaps provides the best gateway into Enquist's work, more easily accessible than the subsequent novels, demanding less particular knowledge of Swedish history than The Legionnaires etc. The title of the novel comes from the Brothers Grimm story of the Town Musicians of Bremen: ‘Come away with us.... There's always something better than death’, the novel having begun as an inquiry as to why so many from early 20th century Västerbotten ended up in Brazil.

[Nicanor goes into Eva-Liisa's room]

When he was back on her bed, she looked at him.

Her eyes dark, fixed on him steadily. By fixing her eyes on him, she seemed to be wanting to force out an answer, or to ask for something, but her eyes, watchful and swollen, did not surrender, and he no longer believed they were in Karelia looking at alpine flowers shimmering against the snow. Hair short, nails bitten, Lord in they mercy see to it that the sin does not spread so that the boys do not become like her. For our blood's sake.

She scarcely seemed to be breathing, as if asleep, but her eyes were open.

He stretched out his hand, holding the lump of sugar towards her. She did not move. She did not take it. He waited for a long time. Outside, the aspen leaves moved softly, trembling gently, but all he saw was Eva-Liisa's eyes, very dark, watching him. He held the piece of sugar closer to her, right up against her mouth. Lips dry, slightly bitten; she was breathing. Close, close to her lips, he held it. And then, at last, he saw her lips part almost imperceptibly: and with the very tip of her tongue, she carefully touched the rough white surface of the sugar-lump. p75