I Have Seen The World Begin

'Fluent and human, admirably intrepid, and sees Asia anew, the poetry as well as the politics' - Paul Theroux

Carsten Jensen has an enviable ability to talk to a wide range of people and excels as a listener and interpreter of what lies behind conversations

This philosophical meditation on South-east Asia has to be one of the most politically lucid, poetically observed and elegantly translated books I've read in years

Carsten Jensen was born in 1952. He first made his name as a columnist and literary critic. As a journalist he has reported from many regions of conflict, including the Balkans and most recently, Afghanistan. His essays, novels and travel books have won numerous literary awards, including the coveted Golden Laurels and the Danish Bank Literary Prize. In 2010 he received the prestigious Olof Palme Prize, awarded for his contribution to the defence of human rights. We, the Drowned has sold more than 300,000 copies in Scandinavia alone and was voted best Danish novel of the past 25 years.

There is no greater misunderstanding than to think that one travels alone. 
 
On this epic journey through China, Cambodia and Vietnam, political columnist Carsten Jensen travels in order to find out about the Tiananmen Square massacre, the killing fields of Cambodia and the operations of Khmer Rouge. 
 
His constant questioning makes him friends and enemies, but he never settles for half-truths. With a profound sense of the sweep of history, Jensen contemplates the rise and fall of empires and cultures, the birth of new generations, new societies, and indeed a whole new world.

Carsten Jensen

Charlotte Barslund

A magnificent addition to the canon of seafaring writing, a brilliant new reworking of the ancient theme...the pages glow with wonderfully imagined pictures... The language is all you could hope for in a sea novel: sinewy and simple, often surprisingly beautiful

Carsten Jensen is unquestionably one of the most exciting authors writing in Scandinavia today. I always look forward hugely to his books. He is, in my opinion, an utterly unique story-teller

A novel of immense authority and ambition and beauty, by a master storyteller at the height of his powers. This is a book to sail into, to explore, to get lost in, but it is also a book that brings the reader, dazzled by wonders, home to the heart from which great stories come. Meet Carsten Jensen halfway and you're spellbound

Impressive... one of the more engrossing literary voyages of recent years... rich, powerful and rewarding

In the original Danish, Vi de druknede has already won the Danske Banks Litteraturpris, Demark's equivalent of the Man Booker. Now it has been unleashed on the English-speaking world, many more accolades will surely follow

We, The Drowned is first and foremost a novel about the sea, a novel which has practically been written in cooperation with the great authors of the nineteenth century - Conrad, Melville, Stevenson... We, The Drowned is the best novel I have read in ages.

Manoeuvres easily between intimacy, subtlety and contagious pleasure in the greater narrative, the cock-and-bull story and the grotesque details... a counterpart to Gabriel García Márquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

A fiercely romantic novel that spans over 100 years of Danish history of war and love... Large in size, but even larger in scope because of its storytelling and writing.

A rollicking debut by Jensen, the latest in a lineage of authors of maritime sagas stretching from Homer to Patrick O'Brien

Carsten Jensen took the seafaring history of small Danish port and made of it a mighty ocean-going vessel of stories about a whole world in motion.

Beautifully translated and packed with enough drama, suspense and philosophical speculation for myriad lesser novels, We, The Drowned is bold, brilliant, unmissable stuff.

An epic drama of adventure, courage, ruthlessness and passion... A life-changing experience for all

I was swept away (pun noted but not intended) by this wonderful book. I didn't want it to end and thankfully, given its length, it didn't do so for some considerable time. It was voted the greatest Danish book of the last 25 years. I have no idea what sort of competition it was up against but its victory doesn't surprise me: it is one of the best books I have read in the past 25 years as well.

In 1848 a motley crew of Danish sailors sets sail from the small island town of Marstal to fight the Germans. Not all of them return - and those who do will never be the same. Among them is the daredevil Laurids Madsen, who promptly escapes again into the anonymity of the high seas. 
 
Spanning four generations, two world wars and a hundred years, We, The Drowned is an epic tale of adventure, ruthlessness and passion.

Carsten Jensen

Praise for We, The Drowned

A magnificent addition to the canon of seafaring writing, a brilliant new reworking of the ancient theme...the pages glow with wonderfully imagined pictures... The language is all you could hope for in a sea novel: ...

Carsten Jensen is unquestionably one of the most exciting authors writing in Scandinavia today. I always look forward hugely to his books. He is, in my opinion, an utterly unique story-teller

An epic tale

A magnificent addition to the canon of seafaring writing, a brilliant new reworking of the ancient theme...the pages glow with wonderfully imagined pictures... The language is all you could hope for in a sea novel: ...

Carsten Jensen is unquestionably one of the most exciting authors writing in Scandinavia today. I always look forward hugely to his books. He is, in my opinion, an utterly unique story-teller

An epic tale

A magnificent addition to the canon of seafaring writing, a brilliant new reworking of the ancient theme...the pages glow with wonderfully imagined pictures... The language is all you could hope for in a sea novel: ...

Carsten Jensen is unquestionably one of the most exciting authors writing in Scandinavia today. I always look forward hugely to his books. He is, in my opinion, an utterly unique story-teller

An epic tale

Books by Carsten Jensen

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