On Capturing the Spirit of the Times

Can fiction capture the spirit of the times? In I hvalens buk and Perfection, Hilde Rød Larsen and Vincenzo Latronico explore the lives of people living at the heart of our era—an era shaped by the climate crises, globalization, social media, and the search for meaning. Both attempt to capture a moment in contemporary life. The conversation revolves around how the novel can depict the structures and moods of the present, and how a close look at the intimate and personal can also encompass the global.sonal can also encompass the global.