Tales of the Night (book)

Tales of the Night (Fortællinger om Natten) is a story collection by Danish author Peter Høeg. It comprises eight short stories that are about "Love and its conditions on the night of 19 March 1929".

Publication history

 * Fortællinger om Natten 1990, Denmark, Rosinante ISBN 9788716146359
 * Tales of the Night 1997, England, Harvill Press ISBN 9781860464201
 * Tales of the Night 1998, USA, Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 9780374272548

Contents

 * Journey Into a Dark Heart
 * Homage to Bournoville
 * The Verdict on the Right Honourable Ignatio Landstad Rasker, Lord Chief Justice
 * An Experiment in the Constancy of Love
 * Portrait of the Avant-garde
 * Pity for the Children of Vaden Town
 * Story of a Marriage
 * Reflection of a Young Man in the Balance

Reception
Jay Parini, in a review of Tales of the Night for The New York Times, wrote "Throughout this volume, Hoeg attacks the conventionality of Danish life, with its bureaucracy and rigid sense of duty, its reflexive worship of the institutions of science, law, commerce and art. When his urge to accumulate details and points of view does not drown the narrative, the stories blaze with intelligence and passion. But only in the bizarre, affecting tale of Ignatio Rasker's decision to throw everything away for love does Hoeg live up to his full potential." The Denver Post found "Though sometimes self-consciously philosophical, reflecting the author's youth and desire to declare himself a cerebral sort, every tale in this collection has its own fascinations."

Tales of the Night has also been reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and Library Journal.