Den bokstavliga himlen
(The Literal Heaven)
by Mats Kempe
reviewed by B.J. Woodstein
Mats Kempe’s newest book, Den bokstavliga himlen (The Literal Heaven), is, as so often with his work, a poetic, thoughtful, and challenging text.
The novel combines several different narratives. First there is a telling of singer Al Bowlly’s life, as requested by Kempe’s now-late childhood friend Patrik. Bowlly was a man of Lebanese and Greek extraction, who was born in Mozambique, raised in South Africa, became successful and well-known in the UK and the US in the 1930s, and died in the Blitz in London during World War 2. Simultaneously, there is also an exploration of Kempe’s own life. This includes his experiences with his mother, who seemed to want to encourage her son while also begrudging him what he had and who he was, and who was jealous and unable or unwilling to come to terms with her own feelings.
Later, after his mother’s death, Kempe is left trying to work out what he feels about her and their relationship; of course, it is impossible to tie up such emotions and thoughts with a tidy bow, and Kempe describes the messy discomfort involved in parent-child relations in such a way that many readers can relate to it. Furthermore, there are also sections that relate to the loss of Kempe’s friend Patrik and others that explore Kempe’s wife being ill with cancer, and the impact on their family. In short, then, there are at least three or four distinct but related tracks here, but they are brought together through the themes of music, connections between people, and – in contrast to Sartre’s ‘being and nothingness’ – being and everythingness.
As is his approach in many of his works, Kempe plays with genre, not in a consciously postmodern way or to have a clever shtick, but because this is what suits the story – or, rather, stories – he is telling. His writing is to some extent reminiscent of W.G. Sebald’s (without the photos), in its philosophical, thought-provoking, graceful, descriptive style. In Den bokstavliga himlen , Mats Kempe weaves these parallel tales together to offer a reflection of both his own life as well a reflection on the meaning of a life more generally.
Den bokstavliga himlen
Norstedts, 2025, 341 pages
Foreign rights: the author
Mats Kempe is the author of a number of novels and short story collections. Among other awards, he received the Samfundet De Nios Special Prize in 2024. B.J. Woodstein’s English translation of an excerpt from Den bokstavliga himlen is featured in this issue (SBR 2026:1).