Many countries all over the world experience nowadays that the constitution of the population is changing. The fact that we are living longer is a welcome development and has positive consequences for both individuals and society, but also difficulties and problems in the form of new needs with respect to care and challenging questions with respect to how to care for the aged and weak members of society humane treatment and love.

Kirsten Thorup’s novel No man’s land (2003) tells the story of the 94 year-old Carl Sørensen who starts to go senile after the death of his wife. His children put him in care institution whilst they go on holiday. But Carl does not want to be placed in care. He feels as if he has been denied his freedom, his whole life. He wants to go home to his house, his garden and the graveyard so that he can put flowers on his wife’s grave. He cannot understand that he can no longer take care of himself. He tries to break out of the old-age home, wanders around the neighbourhood and gets into arguments with the caring staff. In the mirror he sees an ugly figure of man, which he does not recognize and cannot get rid of; his own mirror image scares him out of his wits. He breaks down in tears, shouts out his desperation and finds himself in his greatest existential crisis without any hope of a solution or future. Kirsten Thorup tells his story from several perspectives: first and foremost from the confused man’s consciousness, wherein the past and future is enmeshed, but also from the adult children’s viewpoint, as well as the voices of the care staff. There are no easy solutions, and there are secrets in Carl’s past, which makes the story both moving and tender and shows why his mind constantly revolves around the wish to beg for his wife’s forgiveness. Carl chooses to respond to the force he is subjected to with a final, ultimative independant action: he refuses to eat, which slowly kills him.

No man’s land is written in a lucid, poetic language that gives the reader insight into the old man’s world, his dreams, his scattered memories and his desperation over being forced into an old-age home. At the same time the novel raises disturbing questions about the responsibility of the family and society and shows the emotions that arise when the elderly near the end of their lives. The sentences impress upon the reader’s imagination, and you feel for Carl, but also understand how sophisticated his character as well as his story are.

Kirsten Thorup is one of the most beloved Danish authors. Since her debut in 1973 she has written a long line of beautifully told novels about the life in contemporary society. Ingemandsland (2003) is a masterful novel that challenges the reader to consider how we can treat one another humanely and with empathy. The Danish social state has good intentions, and it solves problems for many busy families who cannot take care of its aged population on a full-time basis, but it also makes use of a force that is terrifying for the demented persons.

Kirsten Thorup’s novel is a brilliant contribution to a new international literature about aging, about the responsibility of family and the end of life.

Anne-Marie Mai, Professor, University of Southern Denmark