Jon Fosse

[Bartleby]

Jon Fosse (b. 29 September 1959) is a Norwegian playwriter, poet, and novelist.
His works are famous for a minimalist, repetitive approach, which the author calls "slow prose", in an attempt to create a hypnotic state in the reader.

Select bibliography:

Prose:
Naustet (1989). Boathouse, trans. May-Brit Akerholt (Dalkey Archive, 2017).
Melancholia I (1995). Melancholy, trans. Grethe Kvernes and Damion Searls (Dalkey Archive, 2006).
Melancholia II (1996). Melancholy II, trans. Eric Dickens (Dalkey Archive, 2014).
Morgon og kveld (2000). Morning and Evening, trans. Damion Searls (Dalkey Archive, 2015).
Det er Ales (2004). Aliss at the Fire, trans. Damion Searls (Dalkey Archive, 2010).
Trilogien (2014). Trilogy, trans. May-Brit Akerholt (Dalkey Archive, 2016). Compiles three novellas: Wakefulness, Olav's Dreams and Weariness.
Scenes from a Childhood, trans. Damion Searls (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2018). Collects texts from various sources.
Det andre namnet - Septologien I-II (2019). The Other Name: Septology I-II, trans. Damion Searls (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2019).
Eg er ein annan - Septologien III-V (2020). I Is Another: Septology III-V, trans. Damion Searls (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2020).
Eit nytt namn - Septologien VI-VII (2021). A New Name: Septology VI-VII, trans. Damion Searls (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2021).

Plays compiled in English:
Plays One (2002). Someone Is Going to Come Home; The Name; The Guitar Man; The Child
Plays Two (2004). A Summer's Day; Dream of Autumn; Winter
Plays Three (2004). Mother and Child; Sleep My Baby Sleep; Afternoon; Beautiful; Death Variations
Plays Four (2005). And We’ll Never Be Parted; The Son; Visits; Meanwhile the lights go down and everything becomes black
Plays Five (2011). Suzannah; Living Secretly; The Dead Dogs; A Red Butterfly's Wings; Warm; Telemakos; Sleep
Plays Six (2014). Rambuku; Freedom; Over There; These Eyes; Girl in Yellow Raincoat; Christmas Tree Song; Sea

Poetry:
Poems (Shift Fox Press, 2014). Selection of poems, translated by May-Brit Akerholt.

Essays:
An Angel Walks Through the Stage and Other Essays, trans. May-Brit Akerholt (Dalkey Archive, 2015).

Links:
Karl Ove Knausgaard on the Writing of Jon Fosse
Pure Prose: On Jon Fosse, by Damion Searls
Jon Fosse: ‘You don’t read my books for the plots’
A Conversation with Jon Fosse
Jon Fosse presents "The Other Name," with Damion Searls & Dustin Illingworth

 

[Bartleby]

Received my copy of Morning and Evening today and was surprised to see that it's so small compared to the other titles published by The Dalkey Archive.
I found it quite cute, that it's the size of the palm of my hand, even tho when put side by side with the others they don't look so uniform now, hehe

 

[SpaceCadet]

Received my copy of Morning and Evening today and was surprised to see that it's so small compared to the other titles published by The Dalkey Archive.
I found it quite cute, that it's the size of the palm of my hand, even tho when put side by side with the others they don't look so uniform now, hehe
View attachment 907View attachment 906

Although the bright blue cover of the Fitzcarraldo's do stand out, it seems like that cutie one is easy to spot on the shelf. I do not own many Dalkey books but I'm quite fond of them.

Incidentally, the French translation of Septology I-II (published by Christian Bourgeois) is due to be out this Septembre (no official book cover yet).

 

[redhead]

Received my copy of Morning and Evening today and was surprised to see that it's so small compared to the other titles published by The Dalkey Archive.
I found it quite cute, that it's the size of the palm of my hand, even tho when put side by side with the others they don't look so uniform now, hehe
View attachment 907View attachment 906

Did prices go down at all to more reasonable levels? Last I checked, used English copies of Morning and Evening were like 50+ USD

 

[Bartleby]

Did prices go down at all to more reasonable levels? Last I checked, used English copies of Morning and Evening were like 50+ USD

They ran a new printing of the book, apparently (in my copy it says this new edition is from 2019). It's available on amazon for 14 USD and on book depository for 18 USD. I bought it from the Brazilian amazon at just the same price if converted to our currency.

 

[Leseratte]

Some reviews on Jon Fosse:

Pure Prose

Translating Jon Fosse from Norwegian. Norwegian is a language that English-language writers and translators seem willing to pick up: James Joyce learned it to read Ibsen; Lydia Davis is learning it to read, and solely by reading, Dag Solstad; and I learned it to read Jon Fosse. It helps that...

www.theparisreview.org

Books by Jon Fosse and Complete Book Reviews

Read more about A Shining and other books by Jon Fosse

www.publishersweekly.com

A Conversation with Jon Fosse — Music & Literature

A feature by Cecilie Seiness Yes, a lot has happened over the past ten years. So much was happening that I had to take a break from writing. I experience things in life, and I experience things when I write. What I experience when I write has as great an impact, if not greater, than what I experie

www.musicandliterature.org

 

[Johnny]

Looks like the 3rd and final book of the Septology trilogy, A New Name is available now.

 

[Johnny]

A New Name just arrived, 228 pages, epigraph is by Nietzsche “ Just a fool! Just a poet!”. Looking forward to it, wonder if the Academy has read it yet.

 

[redhead]

Nice. My copy can’t come soon enough

Looking forward to it, wonder if the Academy has read it yet.

I think they can request books from publishers if they haven’t published yet?

 

[Marba]

The Norwegian edition was apparently published August 30th, so if they want to read it for their deliberations there should have been enough time.

 

[nagisa]

...doesn't anyone else find his repetition of repetition tedious after a while (and by "after a while," I mean several pages)?

Nope ? Like Beckett, he handles it well and it becomes hypnotic and/or resonantly evocative (IMHO)

 

[redhead]

I know I'm quickly becoming an anti-Fosse voice here, which is unfair of me because I've, admittedly, read little of his work (one novel and snippets of several others). However, doesn't anyone else find his repetition of repetition tedious after a while (and by after a while, I mean several pages)? Has it just become part of his signature style or has he become a one trick pony? It brings to mind, in an odd way, the films of Quentin Tarantino (and I apologize if I've made this argument in the past - I'm getting too old to remember ). The first Tarantino film I saw (and enjoyed, by the way), was "Reservoir Dogs," even though it had a disturbing torture scene that was played for comedy. I then saw his follow up, "Pulp Fiction," which also has a torture scene partially played for fun. I later saw his first film which features, you guessed it, a torture scene. I gave up on Tarantino for years before watching "Inglourious Basterds," where I found he had graduated to an ongoing series of torture scenes. My question to both Fosse and Tarantino is the same - "Don't you want to try something new?"

Regarding the repetitions in the prose, I actually feel like, for me at least, it’s the opposite of what you say: when I pick up one of his books for just a page or two, I find the repetition a bit grating, and when I sit down and make time for one of his books, I fall under his spell. His style’s also noticeably evolved over the years. You have the repetitious, anxious narrators in Boathouse and Melancholy, the compressed minimalism and eschewing of punctuation in Morning and Evening, Aliss at the Fire, and the Trilogy, and the “slow prose” of his Septology project. You can tell they’re all by the same author, but I wouldn’t say he’s a one trick pony.

He also often reuses themes, locations, plot points, and more in his work, which disappointed me when I first realized but I’ve come around to it. I’d compare him to Kenzaburo Oe or Modiano in this regard, in that he frequently repeats the same building blocks when starting a work, but either uses them to create something new or offers a different perspective on similar material.

 

[Stevie B]

Thanks for the responses, nagisa and red. I'm glad to know Fosse's prose gives you pleasure, and I acknowledge that I likely haven't been patient enough to be put under his spell. If Fosse were to win the Nobel, I'd definitely give him another go, and I would try to take a different reading approach. In the meantime, however, there are so many authors whose work does speak to me, I'd rather tackle more of their books that I'm really excited to read.

 

[nagisa]

@Stevie B De gustibus Life is indeed too short for authors we don't vibe with!

I'd add that Fosse is better known for his theatre (I started reading him with that): I find that you can better imagine the different modulations an actor would put on the repetitions in that format.

@redheadshadz very well put!

 

[redhead]

Nice. My copy can’t come soon enough

Finally here! Going to start it after work today

 

[redhead]

Just finished A New Name. I need to mull over the ending a bit more before saying anything in depth, but it’s just as good as the other volumes and Septology as a whole is a masterful achievement.

 

[MichaelHW]

There is a new book by him here in Norway this year. I have never read anything by him because I always thought he was a little dark. At least that is the impression I have gotten from seeing some excerpts from his plays? But this new book they say is very funny!

 

[faulkner]

Interview with Fosse at the New Yorker:

Jon Fosse’s Search for Peace

The Norwegian author has spent decades producing a strange, revered body of work. But he still doesn’t know where the writing comes from.

www.newyorker.com

 

[redhead]

Interesting to hear he’s translating Murnane’s The Plains. I’ve seen some people note similarities between their writing, and though I can’t quite fully articulate it, I can see something like a connection too.

 

[Liam]

A wonderful interview! It was nice to see the interviewer actually following Fosse's line of thought instead of just barraging him with questions.