Despite the criticism from the Swedish cultural commentator, Fosse is mostly praised. Catherine Taylor, literary critic in The Guardian, refers to Fosse as follows. – Reading the works of Jon Fosse is a deep experience, deeply spiritual, not to say religious. Fosse has claimed that “actually we long for God, because man is a continuous prayer” and whether that is true or not, Fosse’s books are nothing short of miraculous. Jon Fosse ranks among Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Knut Hamsun, and Sigrid Undset as Norwegian winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature. 95 years after Sigrid Undset won the award, it is Jon Fosse who receives the award. – Fosse mixes listening to language and nature in his Norwegian background. That’s what Anders Olsson said in the Swedish Academy when he announced the award. Jacques Testard, Fosse’s British publisher, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times that Fosse has invented his own way of writing novels. – With a unique prose style, twisted, almost mysterious. Jon Fosse at Frekhaug quay only hours after he was told that he was this year’s Nobel Prize winner in literature. Photo: Stian Sørum Røkenes / news The writing style is simple, but with a deep meaning, says Testard. – It is very important to remember that he writes in Nynorsk, a minority language in Norway. A political act in itself. He is also an exceptional playwright and poet. He is an incredible mind, and it could not have happened to a nicer person. Wrong Norwegian Not everyone is proud of the Nobel Prize winner. The head of culture in the Swedish newspaper Expressen, Victor Malm, thinks it was the wrong Norwegian to win the Nobel Prize in literature. It would have been braver to choose Dag Solstad, writes Malm. – Solstad’s insight into the Scandinavian welfare state’s historical experiences has no counterpart in world literature. Malm says that Fosse can make him tired. – Fosse is not boring, but if you put him up against my wildly humorous compatriot Solstad, my Nobel Prize candidate, you see something less original and more general. He has nothing against Fosse, says the cultural commentator. – But this also means that Solstad will never be awarded the prize and that the Swedish academy is missing out on the most important Scandinavian authorship of our time, writes Malm further. Jon Fosse (b. 1959) Jon Fosse is an award-winning author, marketer and playwright from Hardanger. Since 2011, he has lived in Grotten, “The state’s honorary residence for deserving artists”, in Oslo. He is considered one of the most important writers of our time. Fosse made his debut 40 years ago, in 1983. Since then he has written around seventy novels, stories, poems, children’s literature, essays and skit plays. His publications have been translated into over 50 languages. He has received a number of awards at home and abroad. The author is known for his distinctive language and musical, repetitive and rhythmic writing style.
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– An incredible mind – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
