Danish novelist Henrik Stangerup warns us of the path we are following. The Man Who Wanted to be Guilty perceptively captures the spirit of totalitarianism and its steady erosion of the concepts of individual guilt and moral responsibility. Set in Denmark—the archetypal welfare state—Stangerup's anti-utopian novel considers a totalitarian society that does not rely upon crude means such as terror and concentration camps. Instead, it stifles with kindness and therapy.

The plot of this novel is simple, but rich in meaning. Torben, a former novelist, kills his wife during a drunken quarrel. His beloved son is taken from him and sent to an undisclosed location, but no punishment is administered and no trial held. Not only is no blame attached to him at all, but ultimately the fact of the murder itself is officially denied by the Helpers who control the people. Torben's struggle is to compel others to admit his guilt and return his son.

Comparisons will inevitably be made with George Orwell's 1984 because the two novels share some elements. The totalitarian assault on language which was so dramatically demonstrated in 1984 continues in this novel. In fact, Torben works for the Bureau of Language Improvement devising innocuous names for state actions. Orwell's Winston Smith worked for the Ministry of Truth rewriting history. In both novels, however, the protagonist resists the awesome powers of the state. Stangerup, however, dispenses with the fanciful gadgetry of 1984. Stangerup's Denmark is peaceful and relies on none of the traditional statist devices—for instance, stirring up frenzy among the people in order to channel it against the enemies of the state.

Like Orwell, Stangerup provides a future history background. Denmark's present trends have continued. People are crammed into vast, ugly housing projects. Taxes penalize work, and welfare benefits reward idleness. Despised immigrant workers, excluded from the welfare state's umbrella, perform most of the useful work. The Danish people are subjected to manipulative psychological techniques which control aggression and undesirable emotions—like any tendency toward individualism. (Sceptics should note that psychiatrist Thomas Szasz has cautioned for years that our liberties are threatened by the rise of the theraputic state.) Child-raising is controlled by permits that can be withdrawn and the children removed forever. Readers of Roland Huntford's The New Totalitarians know that Sweden controls parents with bureaucracy, but Stangerup models his state on several, especially the Scandinavian, countries—where the influence of therapeutic (and bureaucratized) professionals is great.

Orwell wrote in the shadow of Nazism and Communism. Stangerup writes in the shadow of the Big Brother with a friendly face. He does not take totalitarianism at its bloodstained worst, but at its very best—and still finds it wanting. “Did not the state have only one aim: The Common Good from Cradle to Grave? But why was nobody happy then?”

The Man Who Wanted to be Guilty skillfully blends realistic and fantastic elements to create a powerful work of imagination with critical importance to our time.