Awards

• Long-listed for International Booker 2020
• Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 (Sweden)

Overview

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9781910695913

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Reviews

‘Jon Fosse is a major European writer.’ — Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle ‘Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths. The social world seems distant and foggy in this profound, existential narrative, which is only the first part of what promises to be a major work of Scandinavian fiction.’ — Hari Kunzru, author of White Tears ‘There is, in this book’s rhythmic accumulation of words, something incantatory and self-annihilating — something that feels almost holy.’ — Wall Street Journal ‘Over the past two decades, Jon Fosse, a playwright, poet, essayist and children’s author as well as a novelist, has won almost every award going in Norway, while his “slow prose” has gained him a cult following in English translation. He has been compared to Ibsen and Beckett, and his writing has elements of both the former’s severity and the latter’s use of insistent repetition.... The work simply loops and flows. The style is formal, yet with a sense of restlessness. As for plot, there is plenty.... Fosse’s fusing of the commonplace and the existential, together with his dramatic forays into the past, make for a relentlessly consuming work: already Septology feels momentous.’ — Catherine Taylor, Guardian ‘Fosse’s portrait of intersecting lives is that rare metaphysical novel that readers will find compulsively readable.’ — Publishers Weekly, starred review ‘Deeply enigmatic though never obscure, the novel presents questions [...] But to understand how completely these things elude comprehension, and to clothe their fundamental mystery in such gorgeous raiment, is an achievement no less profound.’ — Dustin Illingworth, The Nation

'Jon Fosse is a major European writer.' - Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle 'Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths. The social world seems distant and foggy in this profound, existential narrative, which is only the first part of what promises to be a major work of Scandinavian fiction.' - Hari Kunzru, author of White Tears 'Fosse's finest work to date.' - European Literature Network 'There is, in this book's rhythmic accumulation of words, something incantatory and self-annihilating - something that feels almost holy.' - Wall Street Journal 'Over the past two decades, Jon Fosse, a playwright, poet, essayist and children's author as well as a novelist, has won almost every award going in Norway, while his slow prose has gained him a cult following in English translation. He has been compared to Ibsen and Beckett, and his writing has elements of both the former's severity and the latter's use of insistent repetition. ... The work simply loops and flows. The style is formal, yet with a sense of restlessness. As for plot, there is plenty. ... Fosse's fusing of the commonplace and the existential, together with his dramatic forays into the past, make for a relentlessly consuming work: already Septology feels momentous.' - Catherine Taylor, Guardian 'Fosse's portrait of intersecting lives is that rare metaphysical novel that readers will find compulsively readable.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review 'Deeply enigmatic though never obscure, the novel presents questions [...] But to understand how completely these things elude comprehension, and to clothe their fundamental mystery in such gorgeous raiment, is an achievement no less profound.' - Dustin Illingworth, The Nation

'Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths. The social world seems distant and foggy in this profound, existential narrative, which is only the first part of what promises to be a major work of Scandinavian fiction.' - Hari Kunzru, author of WHITE TEARS

'Jon Fosse is a major European writer.' - Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle

'Jon Fosse is a major European writer.' - Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle 'Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths. The social world seems distant and foggy in this profound, existential narrative, which is only the first part of what promises to be a major work of Scandinavian fiction.' - Hari Kunzru, author of White Tears 'There is, in this book's rhythmic accumulation of words, something incantatory and self-annihilating - something that feels almost holy.' - Wall Street Journal 'Over the past two decades, Jon Fosse, a playwright, poet, essayist and children's author as well as a novelist, has won almost every award going in Norway, while his slow prose has gained him a cult following in English translation. He has been compared to Ibsen and Beckett, and his writing has elements of both the former's severity and the latter's use of insistent repetition.... The work simply loops and flows. The style is formal, yet with a sense of restlessness. As for plot, there is plenty.... Fosse's fusing of the commonplace and the existential, together with his dramatic forays into the past, make for a relentlessly consuming work: already Septology feels momentous.' - Catherine Taylor, Guardian 'Fosse's portrait of intersecting lives is that rare metaphysical novel that readers will find compulsively readable.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review 'Deeply enigmatic though never obscure, the novel presents questions [...] But to understand how completely these things elude comprehension, and to clothe their fundamental mystery in such gorgeous raiment, is an achievement no less profound.' - Dustin Illingworth, The Nation

Author Information

Jon Fosse was born in 1959 on the west coast of Norway and has written over thirty books and twenty-eight plays that have been translated into over 40 languages. His first novel, Red, Black, was published in 1983, and was followed by such works as Melancholia I & II, Aliss at the Fire, and Morning and Evening. He is one of the world's most produced living playwrights. In 2007, Fosse became a chevalier of the Ordre national du Merite of France, and he was awarded the International Ibsen Award in 2010. In 2011, he moved into Grotten, an honorary residence for artists on the grounds of the Royal Palace in Oslo. He was awarded the European Prize for Literature in 2014 and the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2015. He currently has homes in Bergen, Oslo, and in Hainburg, Austria. Damion Searls is a translator from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch and a writer in English. He has translated many classic modern writers, including Proust, Rilke, Nietzsche, Walser, Ingeborg Bachmann, Alfred Doblin, Jon Fosse, Elfriede Jelinek, Uwe Johnson and Nescio.

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