On Monday I saw Bodil Malmsten's monologue "Enligt Bodil Malmsten". As I expected, it was simply complex, brazen and straight-forward. At times, her language makes me feel as though the skin of reality has slowly peeled back.

She started her trio on treason with reading lines from "Den dagen kastanjerna slår ut är jag långt härifrån", which I'm convinced will be seen as a masterpiece in the hopefully-not-too-distant future. Simply put, it's not a ride, it's a journey. It's the only book that so far has been able to describe some of the emotions I've gone through in words.

She embalmed the audience in her very own humor, grace and words on suicide, her neighbours in Finistere, her earliest shot at stardom and showed videos of ballet dancers, herself doing a clapping game with her nephew Stuffe and her sense of style, a reference to Vladimir Mayakovsky, words on blogging and more lines from an array of her novels.

All in all: delightful, evocative and lovely. Even the superficial remnant of her reading from "Nästa som rör mig" - where the main character, Johanna, disposes of her credit cards, goes on a journey, uses a knife to marr her attackers - it's all heart-warming, disturbing and so very needed. Where Bodil Malmsten stirs, others just sit, and that's part of why I love her writings.

She's currently touring with this monologue, and all about that is found here. Her personal blog - in Swedish - is found here. Pictures from the "premiere" of the monologue are found here.