Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable (Vårt behov av tröst är omättligt)

Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable (Vårt behov av tröst är omättligt…, 1952). Translation by Steven Hartman (forthcoming 2012).

Stig Dagerman’s widely known autobiographical essay where he describes his desperate struggle with writer’s block and thoughts of suicide, and where he charts out a route toward transcendence and freedom. Dagerman wrote it in September 1951 and it was published in 1952 in a ladies' journal that had asked him to write “something on the art of living”.

This brief text has captivated readers in Sweden and abroad, where it has been translated and published in slim, almost pocket-size editions. It has inspired, and keeps on inspiring, artists in such varied fields as theater, film, music, the visual arts, and dance.

Italian book cover of Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable. French book cover of Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable. Greek book cover of Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable.

"Everything significant that I experience … occurs beyond the bounds of time."

—Stig Dagerman, Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable

Film

DVD cover of Our Need for Consolation.

Our Need for Consolation (DVD, 19 min, Eng, 2012)

Stellan Skarsgård in an on-screen performance reads excerpts from Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable in this film by Dan Levy Dagerman that also uses dramatization and documentary imagery to give insight into Dagerman’s fight for his life. The film is produced by Hammarstream Films in cooperation with Lo Dagerman, and is available in both an English and a Swedish version. The film is premiering at the Gothenburg International Film Festival January 2012. For more information, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Music

CD cover of Tetes raides.

Notre consolation est impossible à rassassier

Têtes Raides, 20 min reggae track on Banco, Mon Ship/Warner 2007, Tour 2008.

Interview with Christian Olivier, singer in Têtes Raides:

Q: The absolute highlight of your new album Banco has to be "Notre besoin de consolation est impossible à rassasier". How did you come up with the idea of setting this text by Stig Dagerman to music?

Notre besoin de consolation est impossible à rassasier

A: … a friend of mine lent me the book and it just hit me instantly. I believe there are moments when certain things need to be heard and I felt Dagerman’s text, which he wrote back in 1952, is just so topical now. The way I read it, his text is an anthem to freedom. It’s a song that’s absolutely vital now, despite the tragic fate of its author who committed suicide shortly after writing the book. There are some really powerful lines in it, both from a poetic and philosophical point of view. And, I have to admit, the idea of including a track that lasts almost 20 minutes appealed to us as a strong statement in an age dominated by speed, shortened attention spans and permanent channel-hopping. more…

Theater

  • A nossa necessidade de consolo e impossivel de satisfazer. Jorge Cardoso, Director. Arte Viva - Teatro Municipal do Barreiro, Lisbon, Portugal, 2009.
  • Notre besoin de consolation est impossible a rassassier. Theatre Poeme, Bruxelles, Belgium, 2003.
  • Notre besoin de consolation est impossible a rassassier. Compagnie Utopia, France, 2003.

Dance

Ellipsis image.

Ellipsis – Inspired by author Stig Dagerman’s text written prior to his suicide, Ellipsis explores the subconscious when hope seems beyond reach, portraying the resulting dilemmas as a spiritual journey.

Anthony Kurt-Gabel, Choreographer & Concept. Performed by Fish in a Bowl, London, UK, 2009.

Availability

English translation: We have translated excerpts that are used for the film Our Need for Consolation, and are in the process of doing a literary translation of the entire essay. We are presently considering different publication formats. Please check www.dagerman.us for updates.

Editions and Translations

  • Sweden: Vårt behov av tröst är omättligt…, article 1952 (Husmodern); In Vårt behov av tröst, 1954 (Norstedts); In Essäer och journalistik, 1983 (Norstedts); Vårt behov av tröst är omättligt…, pamphlet, 1993, 2001, 2006 (Stig Dagerman Sällskapet)
  • France: Notre besoin de consolation est impossible à rassassier, 1981 (Actes Sud)
  • Greece: Η ανα’γκη μαςγια παρηγορια’…, 2005 (Εκδοσεις, ΜΕΛΑΝΙ)
  • Italy: Il nostro bisogno di consolazione, 1991 (Iperborea)
  • Portugal: A nossa necessidade de consolo e impossivel de satisfazer, 1992 (Fenda)
  • Spain: Nuestra necesidad de consuleo es insaciable, 1998 (Etce’tera)
  • Czech Republic: Radio reading, forthcoming 2012/13 (Dilia Literary Agency – translation to be published?)

Excerpt from Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable

I have no belief and because of that I can never be a happy man. Because happy men should never fear that their lives drift meaninglessly toward the certainty of death. I have inherited neither a god nor any fixed point on this earth from where I can attract a god’s attention. Nor have I inherited the sceptic’s well-hidden rage, the rationalist’s barren mind, or the atheist’s burning innocence. But I would not dare to cast a stone at those who believe in what I doubt, much less at those who idolize doubt as if that too were not surrounded by darkness. That stone would strike me instead, for there is one thing of which I am firmly convinced: our need for consolation is insatiable.

—Stig Dagerman, Our Need for Consolation Is Insatiable, 1952