Book series examines love crisis: from Vikings to dating apps

Trinokl's book series examines the paradoxes of today's dating market in a new instalment through the stories of two fictional characters, Sigurd and Amanda. The series analyses how liberal ideologies have created a situation where both men and women struggle to find relationships, birth rates are falling, and dating apps generate regret rather than love.

Trinokl's book series "Love Stories from Vikings to Tinder" has reached a new chapter that examines the contradictions of today's dating market through 2020s Scandinavian literature. This time, the focus is on two works whose main characters are Sigurd and Amanda, two people who are traumatised by the modern dating world in different ways.

Sigurd and Amanda: two different tragedies

Sigurd is 25 years old and has never had sex with anyone. He has never met a woman who has been romantically or erotically interested in him, and fears he never will. Amanda is a 31-year-old woman who has no difficulty getting sex; on the contrary, that is mostly what is offered to her. Yet none of her dating partners ask her out a second time. Both are spiralling towards depression due to constant failure.

Amanda goes on dates with a string of attractive men, gives her best each time and often offers sex immediately to get to know each other better. The result, however, is not a relationship but Tinder addiction and growing regret. On her deathbed, she expects to regret above all having had sex with too many men, and cannot understand why no man is interested in a committed relationship. A similar fate befalls her girlfriends-they easily get dates and into bed with exciting men, yet remain unwillingly single.

The ideological foundation has crumbled

The series places these personal stories in a broader social context. In the 2020s, there is a sense that today's world is built on an ideological foundation that does not align with human nature and cultural values. The narrative of liberal humanism created the belief that all the world's peoples dreamed of living under Western democracy, but two decades of decline in democracy have meant that even Western people believe less and less in the shared history of their communities.

Birth rates are falling across the developed world, ageing populations threaten the sustainability of welfare societies, and problems related to dating are no longer merely a personal concern but a broader social issue. In this situation, storytellers, led by Scandinavian authors, attempt once again to make sense of their contemporaries' troubles.

Trinokl's series thus offers more than a mere literary overview: it is an analysis of how romance, sexuality and social norms are in tension with each other and what this means for the individual seeking someone with whom to truly share their life.