Jon Fosse, a Norwegian master of spare Nordic writing, wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Norwegian author Jon Fosse in Stockholm in 2021

Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, whose work tackles birth, death, faith and the other “elemental stuff” of life in spare Nordic prose, won the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday for writing that prize organizers said gives “voice to the unsayable.”

The novelist and playwright said the prize was recognition of “literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations” — an ethos expressed in dozens of enigmatic plays, stories and novels, including a seven-volume epic made up of a single sentence.

Fosse’s work, 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,” the 64-year-old 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 honored “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.

Fosse has also taught writing — one of his students was best-selling Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard — and consulted on a Norwegian translation of the Bible.

“He tends to write in a fairly sparse style,” said Guy Puzey, senior lecturer in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. “There’s a lot of repetition of quite simple expressions, which then take on a lot deeper meaning and make you ponder what lies in between the lines.”

His first novel, “Red, Black,” was published in 1983, and his debut play, “Someone is Going to Come,” in 1992.

His work “A New Name: Septology VI-VII” — described by Olsson as Fosse’s magnum opus — was a finalist for the International Booker Prize in 2022. An exploration of life, death and spirituality, the seven-volume novel contains no sentence breaks.

His other major prose works include “Melancholy;” “Morning and Evening,” whose two parts depict a birth and a death; “Wakefulness;” and “Olav’s Dreams.”

His plays, which have been staged across Europe and in the United States, include “The Name,” “Dream of Autumn” and “I am the Wind.”

Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the academy, reached Fosse by telephone to inform him of the win. He said the writer, who lives in the western city of Bergen, was driving in the countryside and promised to drive home carefully.

“I stand here and feel a little numb, but of course very happy for the great honor,” Fosse told TV2. DAVID KEYTON, STOCKHOLM, MDT/AP