Jon Fosse: Career of Norwegian author, playwright awarded 2023 Nobel Prize in literature

The Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to Norwegian author Jon Fosse on Thursday (October 5). The academy awarded Fosse Nobel Prize for “his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

The official account of Nobel Prize wrote on X, “Jon Fosse – awarded the 2023 #NobelPrize in Literature – has much in common with his great precursor in Norwegian Nynorsk literature Tarjei Vesaas. Fosse combines strong local ties, both linguistic and geographic, with modernist artistic techniques. He includes in his Wahlverwandschaften such names as Samuel Beckett, Thomas Bernhard and Georg Trakl.”

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With this, 64-year-old Fosse becomes the fourth Norwegian author to be awarded with Nobel Prize.

Jon Fosse: Norwegian author and dramatist conferred with Nobel Prize in Literature 2023

Jon Fosse, born in Norwegian town of Haugesund met with a near-death accident at the age of seven, which left a great influenceon his writing.

He studied comparative literature at the University of Bergen and published his first novel, Raudt, svart (Red, Black) in 1983. The novel was written in Nynorsk, which is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language.

Fosse was equally well-versed in drama writing and published his first play, Og aldri skal vi skiljast (And We'll Never Be Parted) in 1994.

In one of his interviews, Fosse revealed he is influenced by Franz Kafka's writings among many others. He said, "I think the authors who have influenced me the most are the Norwegian writer Tarjei Vesaas, the Austrian poet Georg Trakl, and Samuel Beckett. Although I think the writers I admire the most are Franz Kafka and Knut Hamsun."

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He has written novels, short stories, poetry, children’s books, essays and plays, and his works have been translated into more than forty languages.

Fosse has been ranked number 83 on the list of the Top 100 living geniuses by The Daily Telegraph. In the past, the Norwegian author has been nominated for many prestigious literature awards including International Booker Prize (2022), and National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2023).

Fosse was awarded the 2015 Nordic Council's Literature Prize for the trilogy Andvake (Wakefulness), Olavs draumar (Olav's Dreams) and Kveldsvævd (Weariness).

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In April 2022, his novel A New Name: Septology VI-VII, translated into English by Damion Searls, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. The book was named a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction.

Interestingly, many of Fosse’s works have been popular in Iran and have been translated into Persian by Mohammed Hamed. Some of his plays have been performed in Tehran as well.

(With inputs from agencies)

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