Games of the Night and Other Writings by Quartet Encounters - Literary Fiction Book Collection for Nighttime Reading & Book Club Discussions

Of the Dagerman books that I have managed to find in English (a considerable difficulty) this one raks among the best (I've yet to read A Burnt Child). Dagerman's work is incredibly dark, and the simple vocabulary of the story takes on darkened tones akin to some of the films of Ingmar Bergam (such as Through a Glass Darkly). While heavy usage of metaphor and simile makes Dagerman's style something of a chore to get through, the end is rewarding, in that one gets a clear picture of a lost conciousness trying to interpret the immediate post-war world. In more than one way Dagerman echos the french existentialists, notably Albert Camus (The Fall). As American film noir of the 1950s expressesed the pent-up depression of the 1930s and the post-war confusion of the 1950s in the US, so Dagerman's work appears to confront a country forced into change by external forces.