Among the strangest narratives I've ever read: Dag Solstad

In a recent NYTBR column Karl Ove Knausgaard touted fellow Norwegian writer Dag Solstad, noting that he would be a well-recognized world writer had he not written in the rarely translated language of Norwegian. Truly, works by Solstad are hard to find, but I did locate a copy of his 1996 novel, Shyness & Dignity. Not sure if this novel is in any way representative of his work, but I an finding it to be among the strangest and, at least initially, intentionally off-putting narratives I've ever read. The novel begins with a 50-something man nursing a hangover and bidding a cold and indifferent good-bye to his wife as he sets off for his job, as a teacher (actually, department chair) at a Norwegian high school. Over the next 30 pp or so we see him teaching a lesson on the Ibsen drama, The Wild Duck; he teaches w/out enthusiasm and is glum and morose and even scornful of his students, who are bored out of their minds by his pedantry. Problem: So are we. Esp non-Norwegian readers, as virtually none of us is familiar with this play (maybe could have worked with the better known Hedda Gabler or Doll's House), let alone the role of one of its minor characters, which the teacher (we don't learn his name until about 50 pp in) makes central to his lesson. (An English translator might take a real leap of faith and translate the whole discussion to, say, Shakespeare.) I was about to throw up my hands in exasperation, when things take a turn: the teacher (his job doesn't seem very demanding of his time) leaves for home mid-morning and when his umbrella won't open he throws a fit - smashing the umbrella against a post, cutting his hands, yelling vile insults at the students who silently watch this emotional breakdown. Then he starts to wander the streets of Oslo (a bit too many street names and neighborhoods of no interest to anyone but and Oslo resident), upset and disturbed about ruining his career and maybe his marriage and his life. A very odd book to say the least, but for the moment I'm hooked by this pathetic, disturbed character. 

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