Author: Erik Helmerson
 
  
Erik Helmerson, born in Stockholm in 1967, is an awarded film critic, journalist and columnist, currently working as editorial writer for Sweden's largest newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Erik's social commitment is reflected in his contemporary novels, which often have a humorous twist, though always retaining a critical and analytical perspective. With a sharp eye he depicts the big and small issues of our daily life, from the power struggles of relationships to the general problems of communication in a fast paced society.

In his debut “Blixthalka” (“Treacherously Icy”), published in 2008 and very well received by critics and public alike, we get to follow the two friends Erik and Lotta on their journey through Iceland. What starts as an easygoing road trip soon becomes a subtle story about friendship being hurt and the necessity of showing one’s hand.

Erik’s second novel, “Den onödige mannen” (The Unnecessary Man”), published in 2011, is a novel in the style of “American Beauty” and “A Serious Man”. The main protagonist, an average man in his early forties, tries to cope with a sense of loss of purpose in life and in the fight for change he puts both himself and his family in danger. The novel is a speech of defence for the middle classes; personal and humorous, as well as unconventional and with a universal sense of urgency.

Erik Helmerson lives with his family in Stockholm, even though he at times pictures an alternative future on a barren island somewhere in the Baltic Sea or the Atlantic Ocean.



 
Bibliography
2008 Blixthalka
2011 Den onödige mannen (The Unnecessary Man)
At last I experience so many revelations that I wonder if Helmerson simply has compiled the familiar images from the news pages, talk shows and psychologists’ advice columns. Still the final product is strangely free from clichés. This is particularly noticeable in the brilliant dialogue.
- Uppsala Nya Tidning
A story which is probably the story of many modern men […] Helmerson aptly targets the conflict between the ambition to preserve the civilized by being civilized, and the ambition to preserve the civilized by actually opposing the threat –be it football hooligans or bullies.
- Svenska Dagbladet
Helmerson’s novel can be read as another cry from a hurt and confused masculinity, but that would not make it justice. ”The Unnecessary man” is also a story of civil courage, about putting up against ”the others”, and thereby regaining a lost confidence. With time, Peter Håkansson rises out of his resigned indifference, straightens his back and protests, not through violence as in the Koppel and Kallentoft novels, or by fleeing into a confused unreality as does the Fredrik of Hermanson. Peter Håkansson becomes a man again – or should I write a human being – by renouncing violence. The price, however, is high. The one not knowing his place is punished. Such is the law of masculinity.
- Ann Heberlein/Sydsvenskan