2023-10-05 13:16:12
As soon as he learned that the Nobel Prize for Literature was going to him, Thursday October 5, Norwegian Jon Fosse, 64, wanted to give meaning to the choice of the Swedish Academy. “It is a reward for literature which seeks above all to be literature, without any other consideration”, he notes in a press release. No other intention, in fact, than to serve his art in this author of a “immense work (…), Who consists of a collection of plays, novels, collections of poetry, essays, children’s books and translations”, as the jurors recall.
As proof, his latest novel, The Other Name, a “septology” of which the first two parts were published in France in 2021 (1). In these 500 pages which consist of a single sentence punctuated only by commas, the anchoring of the story in time – a few hours – and space – the southwest coast of Norway – is of little importance.
What matters is the flow of consciousness of Asle, painter and main character, whom the reader follows closely in the discovery of his namesake, alone and alcoholic, who lives in the big city next door. Is it the empathy he develops for his double – the man he could have been? – and the questions that this discovery raises about transcendence, salvation and otherness. It is the faith of this Catholic hero like its author who, born into a family of pietist inspiration, became Catholic in 2013.
“It is not a novel carried by a plot but by a language, rehashings, a breath, explains Jean Mattern, editorial director at Christian Bourgois. This is what is unique about Jon Fosse. »
First staged in France in 1999
Author of around thirty plays, Jon Fosse, who began writing at the age of 24 after literary studies, achieved notoriety in Europe from 1999. That year, the Frenchman Claude Régy directs Someone will come at the Amandiers theater. A decisive step for the man who would become the most performed playwright on the Old Continent, although he remains little read, particularly in France. In 2003, Isabelle Carré played in And the night sings, at the Théâtre du Rond-Point. In 2010, Patrice Chéreau directed Autumn dream at the Louvre, in the Denain salon.
His texts may seem difficult to access. “We are in a very strong economy of words, very thin texts with dialogues which boil down to “yes, no, but” and its characters have no names but functions, concedes Claire Stavaux, his editor at L’Arche. But it’s very fluid if you let yourself get carried away. »
An opinion shared by the translator of The Other NameJean-Baptiste Coursaud: “From a linguistic point of view, it is not a difficult language. It works with a lexicon reduced to the essentials and with an immediate language. To translate it is to unlearn how to translate and renounce the effect. But it’s not a complicated system of thought either. You have to let yourself be captivated by his voice, it’s like an incantation, a prayer. »
“It gives voice to silence and a presence to solitude. »
Presence, absence, memory, the intangible are his favorite themes, less stated directly than suggested by his writing in “a stripped-down, repetitive and minimalist language”continues Claire Stavaux. “It gives voice to silence and a presence to solitude. » A metaphysical depth which ensures a strongly timeless and universal dimension to his work.
While predictions were betting on the Russian novelist and opponent of the Kremlin Lioudmila Oulitskaïa, has the Academy nevertheless renounced a political prize by choosing Jon Fosse? “In my opinion, he is a political author, believes Claire Stavaux. It deals with the human in the social body, even minimal: the family, the neighborhood. Isn’t that the main thing? »
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Nynorsk, a minority language
Jon Fosse writes in Nynorsk, or neo-Norwegian, one of the two official languages in Norway with Bokmal.
Spoken by approximately 15% of the population, especially in the west of the country, Nynorsk was developed from several dialects in the 19th century, in a process of reappropriation of national identity after the domination of Denmark, which had imposed its language.
Although a minority, it is a literary language and a prize for literature in Nynorsk is awarded every year. Jon Fosse has been awarded three times.
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