The Tsar's Dwarf

The Tsar's Dwarf (Zarens dværg in Danish) is a 2006 novel by Danish novelist Peter H. Fogtdal (1956- ) transl ted in English by American author and translator Tiina Nunnally.

"Like 'The Elephant Man' by David Lynch, Peter H. Fogtdal's novel celebrates the life and the dignity of those who were considered sub-humans. It's a wonderful novel where the pursuit of human dignity is narrated with a masterly mixture of drama and humour." Sergio Luis de Carvalho, Portuguese novelist.

"It's immensely liberating to read this grotesque novel far out of the fringes of fiction. It has been many years since Danish literature produced such a phantasmagorical novel that brushes so closely to plausible historical reality." Niels Houkjær, Berlingske Tidende, Denmark

The Tsar's Dwarf

Sørine is a rich and deeply realized character, but she is also often a difficult one to connect with. There’s a very good reason for this: not only has she been dropped within a set of almost farcically terrible circumstances, but, as a result of the lifelong mockery and abuse that she has experienced, her demeanor is caustic and aggressive, cynical and frequently quite cruel. She further compounds the distance between herself and other characters by referring to “human beings” as almost an entirely different species from herself. In putting the burden of empathy on the reader, and forcing one to fully consider the emotional consequences of the treatment that Sørine has received, however, Fogtdal uses his heroine’s alienation to the narrative’s advantage.

This process of learning to empathize with another is actually twofold: as the reader is learning how to empathize with Sørine, Sørine is also learning to empathize with others. Where at the novel’s start she’s equally spiteful towards “human beings,” dwarfs, and “goodfolk,” by its end, she’s arrived at a place of acceptance towards those who have wronged her.

Sørine’s world is one in which everyone has their own share of suffering and everyone has been wronged. Tsar’s sons are murdered by their own fathers. Infants die of plagues. Dwarfs are forcibly married for the amusement of aristocrats and displayed in museums. The Tsar’s Dwarf is a novel that shows us that regardless of the form that it takes, it is suffering that binds us together. And ultimately, it is this shared experience that makes it possible to be compassionate towards individuals who at first, seem impossibly different from ourselves.[1]

[1] Three Percent, University of Rochester