"Monsieur Bang, you are the first impressionist author in the world." Claude Monet. W. Glyn Jones' masterful translation allows us to read in English for the first time one of the neglected classics of Scandinavian Literature. Katinka is the stationmaster's wife in a sleepy Danish provincial town and her domestic languor is disrupted by the arrival of Huus, the new foreman on a nearby farm. Unlike her boorish husband, Huus is attentive and sensitive and despite her best efforts Katinka falls in love with him. Her whole life is turned upside down by an intense passion she had never expected to experience and which has unforeseen consequences. ? Katinka is another of Herman Bang's tragic heroines. ? In its impressionistic almost cinematic style it is a novel ahead of its time. AUTHOR: Hermann Bang (1857-1912) was from an aristocratic Danish family. His homosexuality led to a smear campaign against him and his exclusion from Danish literary circles. He worked as a theatre producer and as a journalist, having first tried unsuccessfully to be an actor. His first novel 'Families without Hope' was banned for obscenity. He specialised in novels about isolated female characters.
