Jon Fosse: living inward

This admiration, this passion sometimes becomes a powerful engine. This causes us to act with the pure desire to touch what is presented to us, even if it is in another discipline. grace. It is the same longing that leads us to ask how they do this. What is technique, what is talent? he is genius.

The answer almost always appears in the form of the word devotionexpanded to include others effort, perseverance and work. But that was the question on my mind when I had the opportunity to interview Jon Fosse, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature, in March of this year. my devotion to his literature and thanks complicity of editors From De conatus, which made it possible for me to connect with him.

For me this is a considerable responsibilityeven though he is aware of it Wasn’t very well known in Spain and the number of readers of both the interview and the interview. My review of his work You can count with the fingers of one hand. But the feeling was great, respect for literature. Dazzling in her style confront the essence of thingsin the most sincere way, brilliant, surprising writing that never falters.

Discovery

That was the question, but obviously I wasn’t going to ask it directly, so I wrote about what the discovery of his books and essentially ‘Septology’ meant to me.‘, whose reading causes a state very similar to a trance state. through what appears to be a single sentence spanning seven books. A sentence that produces a strange energy, rising and falling, captivating and hypnotizing us, making reading simultaneously fast and slow, unbridled and controlled at the same time, until it reaches a certain point. mystical union It is similar to the prayer used by the leading artist, the painter Asle, when finishing each book of ‘Septologia’.‘In Latin and in their own language.

Fosse confronts the essence of things, their most intimate form, in brilliant, surprising writing that never falters.

I wrote what suits me Themes of the novel (love, hope, the sacred, trust in eternity)), describes the way he presents faith and religion without special censorship, the conflict between reality and imagination, the awareness that some of his loved ones are no longer here, and the impossibility of overcoming this absence without falling into lamentation. And I imagined him remembering his famous saying: Caspar David Friedrich He explains that a painter must paint not only what is in front of him but also what he sees inside, and that he must trace the character of his main character, the painter Asle.

Generosity

Fosse was very generous in his answers. Because he is very generous in his literature. His editors sent him the interview on March 6, and the response was received first thing in the morning the next morning. He told us this For him, writing is about disappearing as a person rather than being visible. who does not intend to achieve anything as a person, because he thinks that writing is a form of listening, not a form of planning or assertion, therefore He just starts writing and sometimes gets the feeling that what he’s describing is already out there somewhere.and he needs to write it down before he disappears.

Sometimes this is easy for him, but sometimes he has to go after the text that is somehow already there. For him, writing is a journey into the unknown.and he often wonders what the meaning, or at least the deeper meaning, of what he writes is.

He does not intend to achieve anything because he thinks that writing is a form of listening, not planning or preliminary assertions.

For this reader The deep meaning of his books lies in our constant and meticulous effort to transcend our condition as mortal beings.. A strong desire not to bow to the limits imposed by time and to eliminate all traditional lines that connect the past to the present and push us from here to the future.

Fosse (Fosse’s characters) do not bow before the force that drives us towards what is to come, towards the inevitable conclusion; instead of dedicated to an artistic and spiritual mission that involves blurring the edgesLikewise, bend planes, merge lives, and reverse the ordinary course of time. violates normal writing rules (dialogue lines, punctuation, capital letters).

Language

When I asked if you thought about it How a novel is told is more important than what it tells.He answered yes directly and went on to explain that his literature was very minimally “about something”. However, if you manage to write well, you will feel that there is unity in the writing.A unity with the language that exists beyond the written language, so to speak, which includes what is said but without words.

For him, writing is a journey into the unknown, and he often wonders what the meaning, or at least the deeper meaning, of what he writes is.

In fact, the main thing in his works is not the facts, but the facts. The traces left by events on characters. Moments pass, scenes change, people leave, and the aim here, what Fosse proposes with a magnificent naturalness and touching originality, is to show an action, some anecdotes, some dialogues as a tool. to cause the unexpressed to be expressed. The truth of the permanent, the essence. But going back to the beginning, how do you do this?

Awareness

To make a pictorial analogy, given that not only the protagonist Asle is a painter, but also his best friend, the other Asle, and his wife Ales are painters. applies very long strokes of the evoked thing to the background of the concretefrom what remains in memory, so the base of the canvas, what is happening outside is practically canceled out by the layers of the canvas. inner density of charactersTo achieve the overcoming of the eternal distinction between inside and outside, the struggle between private and public, hailed as verifiable and absolute.

In his novels, the superiority of the objective and neutral disappears and the characters’ awareness of the events prevails and elevates them to the plane of eternity.

In Fosse’s novels, the superiority of the objective and impartial disappears and the characters’ awareness of the events prevails, elevating it to the level of eternity. And all this happens through a formal motif that is repeated, chained, constant, a pattern that draws us towards his way of saying things, an increasing verbal progression, using words. A very personal style that we can define as literary ostinato.

Mine first readings septology These occurred during the weeks of isolation, when we all had the impression of merging past and present, tearing down temporal boundaries, as well as physical, consciousness and reality. First episode, Other nameI and II. The title, which includes the novels, was revealed in 2019, when Fosse was at the Frankfurt Fair, where Norway was the guest country. Secondly, under the title III-V deliveries I am someone elseWith another great performance in De conatus in 2020 and 2022 Translated by: Cristina Gómez Baggethun and Kirsti Baggethun. And the last one, ‘‘A new name’It was released in Spain in 2021 and January 2023.

Shelter

I ‘covered’ the waiting time between deliveries by readingtrilogy‘It contains three works named ‘Vigilia, Olav’s Dreams and Desaliento’, published in Spain in 2014 and 2018. MelancholiaPublished by Emecé in 2006, the use of dialogue points and lines is surprising and suddenly becomes conventional. very new Joint edition of De conatus and Nordica wonderful’‘Morning and afternoon’We focused on the topic again. overcome deathenlightenment and transcendence.

Each reader will decide how to incorporate Fosse’s books into his own sanctuary. How can we internalize the wonderful excitement that reading creates?with the feeling of realizing that what you have is that an inexhaustible work of art. How to approach its themes (quest for holiness, spiritual experience, survival of love) and how to recite the prayer Explaining it this way makes everything happen at onceand it expands and contracts and thickens like a flock of starlings.