Jon Fosse, a Norwegian master of spare Nordic writing, wins the Nobel Prize in literature
CTV
Jon Fosse, a master of spare Nordic literature in a sprawling body of work ranging from plays to novels and children's books, won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for works that "give voice to the unsayable."
Jon Fosse, a master of spare Nordic writing in a sprawling body of work ranging from plays to novels and children's books, won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for works that "give voice to the unsayable."
Fosse's work, which is rooted in his Norwegian background, "focuses on human insecurity and anxiety," Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel literature committee, told The Associated Press. "The basic choices you make in life, very elemental stuff."
One of his country's most-performed dramatists, Fosse said he had "cautiously prepared" himself for a decade to receive the news that he had won.
"I was surprised when they called, yet at the same time not," Fosse, 64, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. "It was a great joy for me to get the phone call."
The author of 40 plays as well as novels, short stories, children's books, poetry and essays, Fosse was honoured "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable," according to the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize.
Fosse has cited the bleak, enigmatic work of Irish writer Samuel Beckett -- the 1969 Nobel literature laureate -- as an influence on his minimalist style.
His first novel, "Red, Black," was published in 1983, and his debut play, "Someone is Going to Come," in 1992. His major prose works include "Melancholy;" "Morning and Evening," whose two parts depict a birth and a death; "Wakefulness;" and "Olav's Dreams."
