Fosse Nobel Award

    Sam sent me an article from the Norwegian American paper about Jon Fosse receiving the Nobel Prize for literature. The award ceremony was in Stockholm on December 10, 2023. "The 64-year-old was clearly moved by the solemnity of the moment, but he smiled when he received the award and bowed deeply to the king, the academy, and the audience....Fosse met children who read his books and was clearly moved when they sang to him...."'I look forward to meeting you, I know you're very shy, but that's fine so are we,' said one of the greetings from a child named Asli."

   Fosse is the fourth Norwegian to receive the prize. Former winners were Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Knut Hamsun and Sigrid Undset. It had been 95 years since Undset was awarded her prize.

  How many of those present had read the book? 😀

Takk for alt,

Al

Quick Read

     It took the better part of a month to read Jon Fosse's Septology. The subsequent book took three days. Day, a novel by Michael Cunningham has an interesting structure. It's pandemic related. The book is in three sections each one day; April 5, 2019, April 5, 2020 and April 5, 2021. 

   A cast of characters is introduced in the first day. This introduction is quite complete. They show up again a year later enduring the depths of the pandemic. In the final section the survivors are gathered to scatter the ashes of one of the characters who fell victim to COVID. Both the second and third day sections reveal much of what happened during the intervening years.

    While the concept of the book was interesting I felt no emotional connection with any of the characters. Consequently, their traverse of the pandemic and after effects were only mildly interesting. Cunningham received a Pulitzer Prize for his book  The Hours. I'd be surprised if this one wins any prizes.

Takk for alt,

Al

"Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play."  Franklin Delano Roosevelt 

Aha

    Every once in awhile a truth, which has been hiding in plain sight, suddenly reveals itself. In a recent issue of the Economist there was an article about AI, artificial intelligence. The gist of the article was not about the essence of AI but about the reluctance for some to accept it.

   In the article the slow acceptance of farmers to use tractors for power instead of horses was held up as like resistance to AI. It was pointed out that many farmers embraced automobiles before tractors. That opened my eyes to a truth that had long hidden in plain sight. It was a truth about my family.

   My father bought his first car in either 1914 or 1915, an Overland. It must have been among the first cars in the township if not the county. Roads were little more than prairie trails. About 1920 he bought a Buick Roadster, his second car. The 1928 Ford Model A, was his third car. It carried my parents, from their wedding in St. Paul to Chicago, Niagara Falls, Washington, D.C., South Carolina and home to South Dakota, on their honeymoon.

   When did Dad buy his first tractor? 1941! Twenty seven years after his first car. He was the 'horse man' of the large farming operation with his father and brother. That may have been part of the reason for delaying tractor purchase. Both of his brothers bought tractors before he; one for farming the other for road building. It's one of myriad questions I'd like to ask; why did he delay tractor purchase for so long? But. until the Economist article, I'd never wondered about the gap between purchasing an automobile and a tractor.

Takk for alt,

Al

Fosse, Part III

    In case one, or both of you readers, haven't gotten your copy of Septology yet perhaps some more thoughts from the book will carry you until you have a chance to read for yourself. The main charcter, Asle, is a painter whose talents at painting were in evidence as a boy. Accepted into art school on the basis of pictures he's painted, with out graduating from Academic High School, he references an art school lesson with which he disagreed. The reflection comes later in life after he's a renowned artist able to support himself by painting.

   "when I went to the Art School they said you should never paint with black becasue black is not a colour, they said, but black, yes, how could I ever have painted my pictures without black? no, I don't understand it, becasue it's in the darkness that God lives, yes, God is darkness, and that darkness, God's darkness, yes, God is darkness, and that darkness, God's darkness, yes, that nothingness, yes, it shines, yes, it's from from God's darkness that the light comes, the invisible light,"  P. 267 

   "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it." John 1:5 NRSV That previous paragraph quoted above strikes me as riff on John 1:5. It's a thought to which he returns reflecting on the hiddenness of God. Give it some thought and I continue to encourage reading the book. More later...

Takk for alt,

Al

   

Fosse, part II

     Wondering if both of you readers ordered Fosse's Septology after the yesterday's blog?  While it is a bit formidable it is also engaging and rewarding. The theological reflections give much to think about. Alse, the protagonist spends much time thinking about the hiddenness of God, and other aspects of the Divine, with good effect.

   An example of his thought is evident as he reflects on Jesus' Sermon On The Mount. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is quoted as saying. Typical reflections on this statement usually coalesce around 'humility'. The humble who do not put themselves forward will be rewarded with heaven. Doubtless humility is a very worthwhile virtue and countless sermons have made that point.

   Fosse has a very different take. He interprets the 'poor in spirit' are those lack awareness of the spirit which lives in them. Because of this unawareness they are not self-righteous like many of the religious people. These spiritually clueless persons will unware be included in the Kingdom. There's an interesting thought. It's clear that Fosse, as expressed through Asle, despises religious bigotry while he values the church, in this case the Roman Church.

   Yes, I recommend you read it for yourself, it did win the Nobel after all.

Takk for alt,

Al

No Comment

 

tour de force

     Norwegian author, Knut Hamsun, 1859-1952, was the first novelist to use steam of consciousness in the protagonist's mind as a literary technique. For examples read Mysteries, 1890 or Pan 1894. Both books are small, quickly read and worth reading. His Growth Of The Soil, won the Noble Prize in 1920. A Nazi sympathizer, he fell out of favor during WW II. His style exercised a huge effect on following novelists, not the least of which was Earnest Hemingway.

   Contemporary Norwegian author, Jon Fosse, age 64, is a busy writer with 39 novels and short story collections, 40+ plays, 13 volumes of poetry and numerous children's stories. He received the Noble Prize in 2023, for Septology, a tour de force. The English translation, which I read, is 667 pages of small print, 1000 pages in Norwegian.  Reading it is also a tour de force which took me most of January.

   His writing is much in the tradition of Knut Hamsun. It consists of what Asle, the main character, thinks or remembers. Originally published in three volumes the book cover's seven days in Asle's life, thus the title. Memories of this old man fill in the gaps of the story, so while the book covers seven days, his memories are of a lifetime. There is no period in it so all these pages consist of one sentence.

   Two themes penetrate the story, The first is relationships; family, spouse, friends and acquaintances. One of Asle's friends is named Asle so the reader needs to pay attention to the who's revealed in the memory. Asle's wife is named Ales, and if that isn't confusing enough another friend is Asleik. Two women in the story are named Guro. Profound thoughts emanate about these relationships.

   The other theme is harder to name: spirituality? the nature of God? the numinous? His thoughts about the nature and presence of God are keen. I'll have much more to say about this in a subsequent blog.

Takk for alt,

Al