THE LAST ROMANTIC
MARTIN HALL
TWO-VOLUME NOVEL
AUGUST 2005
PEOPLE’S PRESS (ISBN 87-91693-09-8)
Martin Hall’s long awaited novel The Last Romantic was released on August 25, 2005, a monumental piece of work divided into two volumes covering more than 700 pages.
The story begins in the summer of 1980 and ends in the autumn of 2005, a time span in which the reader follows the escapades and development of the book’s narrator, 18 years old in 1980, making him one year older than the author himself. It’s a story crashing head-on into the myths and excessive lifestyle of Copenhagen’s bohemian crowd of the period.
It took Hall five years to finish the book and the novel was without a shadow of doubt his most significant literary achievement at the time – a statement substantiated by the fact that he received several grants from The National Fund for the Endowment of The Arts during the process.
Genre: Novel
Pages: 705
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Casper Sejersen
“It was the summer of 1980. I was 18 years old, 1,82 tall and about 73 kg heavy. When Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States in November, I was down to about 65. Some might say it was due to all the amphetamine I took, but it was just as much an attitude thing."
”One of the best descriptions of Danish cultural life (or lack of the same) in the last 25 years.”
( * * * * * )
Citadel (the Danish equivalent to i-D)
”A magnificent roguish and excessively rich fantasy … Gripping and amusing, intelligent and, I dare say: edifying.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
”An intellectual feat of strength.”
( * * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet (the Danish equivalent to The Sun)
”Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll mixed with high-flown existential philosophy and a skewering critical angle to modern culture.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)
”The best book I’ve read about ”the sons of no generation” as Hall calls them.”
( * * * * * )
Nordjyske Stiftstidende
”Seldomly gripping portrait of the eighties and nineties.”
( * * * * )
Femina
The following passage is taken from the publishers’ foreword to the book:
“Throughout human and art history, the romantic struggle is a continuous motif. In the words of Sartre, this is nostalgia for the future – the desire to live life to its fullest, knowing that this will never be realized, and a state of melancholy for the same reason. In Martin Hall’s monumental novel, a gigantic epoch that stretches over 25 years from 1980 to 2005, the storyteller is a young author who matures in the course of the story: From the decadent punk and underground art scenes of the 80’s through the glittering excesses of the 90’s to the level-headedness of the mature man, the question remains; how do you keep your romantic ideals when the world around you doesn’t respond?
The Last Romantic is an extravagant tale about the children of the 80’s, the “sons of no generation” as the author himself has described the iconolaters of this age in a song. It is a novel about zeitgeist and daring, about speed freaks and dandies, dealers, rock’n’roll animals and S/M-parties, all written from the perspective of the particular temper of the times – a complete novel about white nights, the search for spirituality, casual sex, delirious love affairs, crass comedy and philosophy, all gathered in the experiences of a generation, who so far hasn’t had their literary testament written.
More than anything, The Last Romantic is the great novel about becoming a man – at all times.“
The Last Romantic has been translated into German and Lithuanian. It’s later been released as a paperback edition on Gyldendal, Denmark’s largest publishing house. It remains Martin Hall’s most read book and continues to cause controversy due to its roman à clef status.
”One of the best descriptions of Danish cultural life (or lack of the same) in the last 25 years.”
( * * * * * )
Citadel (the Danish equivalent to i-D)”A magnificent roguish and excessively rich fantasy … Gripping and amusing, intelligent and, I dare say: edifying.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)”An intellectual feat of strength.”
( * * * * * )
Ekstra Bladet (the Danish equivalent to The Sun)”Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll mixed with high-flown existential philosophy and a skewering critical angle to modern culture.”
Berlingske Tidende (the Danish equivalent to The Times)”The best book I’ve read about ”the sons of no generation” as Hall calls them.”
( * * * * * )
Nordjyske Stiftstidende”Seldomly gripping portrait of the eighties and nineties.”
( * * * * )
Femina