Wise words. State Library of Tasmania, Murray Street, Hobart. February 2012. Two contemporary European novels this week, one Norwegian and one French. Professor Andersen’s Night by Dag Solstad is an odd little existentialist novel that explores the breakdown of the titular literary academic. The once radical Professor Andersen is now divorced, middle-aged and alone. Moreover, the distinguished Ibsen scholar believes that he has witnessed a murder on Christmas Eve which sparks a crises of self and purpose. Despite the centrality of the murder and the vivid Oslo (and Trondheim) setting, this one is most definitely not a slice of Nordic noir. Long, rambling sentences of interior monologue follow the contortions of an academic mind defying rational intentions. The book is a little bit of a grind, as the central character is designed to be unlikable. The Professor’s crisis stems from the subtle realisation (and fear) of the pointlessness of his career. Indeed, underneath it all his whole e...