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Septologien #1-7
Septology
The celebrated Norwegian novelist’s magnum opus, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, published in one volume for the first time.What makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another? Asle, an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway, is reminiscing about his life. His only friends are his neighbour, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers – two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life, both grappling with existential questions about death, love, light and shadow, faith and hopelessness. Jon Fosse’s Septology is a transcendent exploration of the human condition, and a radically other reading experience – incantatory, hypnotic and utterly unique.‘Jon Fosse is a major European writer.’ – Karl Ove Knausgaard‘The Beckett of the twenty-first century.’ – Le Monde‘An extraordinary seven-novel sequence about an old man’s recursive reckoning with the braided realities of God, art, identity, family life and human life itself…the culminating project of an already major career.’ – Randy Boyagoda, New York Times‘A major work of Scandinavian fiction…Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths.’ – Hari Kunzru‘I hesitate to compare the experience of reading these works to the act of meditation. But that is the closest I can come to describing how something in the critical self is shed in the process of reading Fosse, only to be replaced by something more primal. A mood. An atmosphere. The sound of words moving on a page.’ – Ruth Margalit, The New York Review of Books
825 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2022
About the author
Jon Fosse
235 books1,359 followersJon Olav Fosse was born in Haugesund, Norway and currently lives in Bergen. He debuted in 1983 with the novel Raudt, svart (Red, black). His first play, Og aldri skal vi skiljast, was performed and published in 1994. Jon Fosse has written novels, short stories, poetry, children's books, essays and plays. His works have been translated into more than forty languages. He is widely considered as one of the world's greatest contemporary playwrights. Fosse was made a chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite of France in 2007. Fosse also has been ranked number 83 on the list of the Top 100 living geniuses by The Daily Telegraph.
He was awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable".
Since 2011, Fosse has been granted the Grotten, an honorary residence owned by the Norwegian state and located on the premises of the Royal Palace in the city centre of Oslo. The Grotten is given as a permanent residence to a person specifically bestowed this honour by the King of Norway for their contributions to Norwegian arts and culture.
He was awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable".
Since 2011, Fosse has been granted the Grotten, an honorary residence owned by the Norwegian state and located on the premises of the Royal Palace in the city centre of Oslo. The Grotten is given as a permanent residence to a person specifically bestowed this honour by the King of Norway for their contributions to Norwegian arts and culture.
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October 17, 2023
Do artists, similar to the valorous warriors, after their death depart for Valhalla?
The hero of the book is an old artist of the uncertain reputation and dubious abilities… Septology is a nonstop stream of consciousness bordering on delirium…
The picture he’s painted last is just two crossed lines…
He analyses his behaviour and his motives… He recalls his entire life: his family, his childhood, his young years, his married life, his relatives, his artistry, friends and people he knew… However in all his recollections there is a hint at some shift in reality and a shade of ambiguity… He contemplates existence, creativity and Christianity…
His thoughts are an indivisible blend of his imaginary being – the life he wished to live – and his actual life…
Everyone lives two lives: the first is a life of the body and the other – a life of consciousness.
The hero of the book is an old artist of the uncertain reputation and dubious abilities… Septology is a nonstop stream of consciousness bordering on delirium…
The picture he’s painted last is just two crossed lines…
…I’d started painting, with the two lines, one purple and one brown, he says and I feel myself not wanting to talk about it, I’ve never liked talking about a picture I’m working on, or about any picture I’ve finished either for that matter, never, once a picture is finished the picture says whatever it can say, no more no less, the picture says in its silent way whatever can be said…
He analyses his behaviour and his motives… He recalls his entire life: his family, his childhood, his young years, his married life, his relatives, his artistry, friends and people he knew… However in all his recollections there is a hint at some shift in reality and a shade of ambiguity… He contemplates existence, creativity and Christianity…
…I say that the cross is already a paradox, with those two lines that cross, the vertical and the horizontal, as they say, and that Christ, yes, God himself, died and then rose again to conquer death, he who came down to earth when people were separate from God because of what they call original sin, when evil, yes, devils took control of this world, as it says in the Bible, yes, it’s impossible to understand that, I say, and I say that evil, sin, death, all of it came into the world, yes, into the universe, it all exists because God said yes but there was also someone who said no, if you can put it that way, I say, because otherwise there would be neither time nor space, yes, everything that exists in time and space has its opposite, like good and evil, I say, and everything that’s in time and space will someday pass away, in fact most things, almost everything that there’s ever been in time and space is already gone, almost every last thing is outside of time and space, it isn’t anywhere, it just is, the way God isn’t anywhere but just is…
His thoughts are an indivisible blend of his imaginary being – the life he wished to live – and his actual life…
…ever since Asle was admitted to The Hospital and they didn’t let me see him I’ve had no more desire to paint, and the bad picture, the one with the two lines that cross, luckily it’s not on the easel anymore, I’ve put it away, put it at the front of the stack of the unfinished paintings, with the stretcher facing out, I think and I think that it’s probably going to be morning soon, I think and I close my eyes…
Everyone lives two lives: the first is a life of the body and the other – a life of consciousness.
December 27, 2022
Five stars? A constellation of stars.
For me, reading this was less a reading experience, more of an immersion and intermingling within a collective consciousness. Septology's prose style is hypnotic and incantatory, the rhythm so absorbing it invokes a lucid dreaming quality. I was utterly mesmerised by the style and the mystical quality but also the deep humanity and authenticity of the writing—it's has so much soul.
The Septology, is a series of seven novels written by the Norwegian author Jon Fosse, collected in this fine single volume. It's a meditation on the nature of time and the human experience of it. Through the eyes of the main character he explores the ways in which time shapes our lives and our understanding of the world around us.
This really is an exquisite experience. The rhythm and cadence of the prose style, the structure of the novels, creates an entirely immersive flow. This immersive cataloging of each and every beat of conscious present tense is expressed in a realtime syncopation, moment-to-moment, thought-to-thought. The transitions from present moment to memory are seamless and crystalline. This detailed cataloging of thoughts and blending of timeframes elegantly avoids losing any intrigue or drama. The writing is masterfully punctuated with rising tension and powerful suggestion—a wistful peaceful scene of young siblings roaming on an Autumnal beach, will subtly escalate to such intensity you become overwhelmed as tranquility, in the beat of one's heart, becomes a cacophony of potential tragedies in one's mind. A deft heightened pacing and development of intrigue. The minutiae of a life lived is heightened to dramatic intensity; artfully composed and paced; deeply atmospheric. A theatricality to all of this, one can imagine resounding in a hushed and engrossed theatre.
The story is told through the inner thoughts of the protagonist, Asle. The continual and unbroken thoughts are expressed in the infinite single sentence. The prose style itself an exploration of time and existence. And the inclusion and repetition of religious themes suffuses the novel with a sense of the sacred and the transcendent.
The infinite sentence is long and winding, resembling the meandering thoughts we all experience. The character(s) is swept along on the tide of time, memory and moment-to-moment experiences and reflection. From waking to sleep and dream to waking the sentence wind ons. This prose style, combined with Fosse's masterful use of repetition and symbolism, creates a powerful sense of the passing of time and the cyclical nature of human experience.
The novels are structured around the passing of the seasons, with each book taking place over the course of a single season, and this structure allows Fosse to investigate the ways in which time affects our relationships, our memories, and our sense of identity. He also explores the ways in which religious beliefs and practices can provide solace and meaning.
It's so vivid; so enigmatic and engrossing that I'm still thinking about it weeks after finishing. It's so potent. I will be reading everything else Jon Fosse has written*.
*And the translator, Damion Searls learnt Norwegian so he could translate Fosse's oeuvre. Incredible work.
For me, reading this was less a reading experience, more of an immersion and intermingling within a collective consciousness. Septology's prose style is hypnotic and incantatory, the rhythm so absorbing it invokes a lucid dreaming quality. I was utterly mesmerised by the style and the mystical quality but also the deep humanity and authenticity of the writing—it's has so much soul.
The Septology, is a series of seven novels written by the Norwegian author Jon Fosse, collected in this fine single volume. It's a meditation on the nature of time and the human experience of it. Through the eyes of the main character he explores the ways in which time shapes our lives and our understanding of the world around us.
This really is an exquisite experience. The rhythm and cadence of the prose style, the structure of the novels, creates an entirely immersive flow. This immersive cataloging of each and every beat of conscious present tense is expressed in a realtime syncopation, moment-to-moment, thought-to-thought. The transitions from present moment to memory are seamless and crystalline. This detailed cataloging of thoughts and blending of timeframes elegantly avoids losing any intrigue or drama. The writing is masterfully punctuated with rising tension and powerful suggestion—a wistful peaceful scene of young siblings roaming on an Autumnal beach, will subtly escalate to such intensity you become overwhelmed as tranquility, in the beat of one's heart, becomes a cacophony of potential tragedies in one's mind. A deft heightened pacing and development of intrigue. The minutiae of a life lived is heightened to dramatic intensity; artfully composed and paced; deeply atmospheric. A theatricality to all of this, one can imagine resounding in a hushed and engrossed theatre.
The story is told through the inner thoughts of the protagonist, Asle. The continual and unbroken thoughts are expressed in the infinite single sentence. The prose style itself an exploration of time and existence. And the inclusion and repetition of religious themes suffuses the novel with a sense of the sacred and the transcendent.
The infinite sentence is long and winding, resembling the meandering thoughts we all experience. The character(s) is swept along on the tide of time, memory and moment-to-moment experiences and reflection. From waking to sleep and dream to waking the sentence wind ons. This prose style, combined with Fosse's masterful use of repetition and symbolism, creates a powerful sense of the passing of time and the cyclical nature of human experience.
The novels are structured around the passing of the seasons, with each book taking place over the course of a single season, and this structure allows Fosse to investigate the ways in which time affects our relationships, our memories, and our sense of identity. He also explores the ways in which religious beliefs and practices can provide solace and meaning.
It's so vivid; so enigmatic and engrossing that I'm still thinking about it weeks after finishing. It's so potent. I will be reading everything else Jon Fosse has written*.
*And the translator, Damion Searls learnt Norwegian so he could translate Fosse's oeuvre. Incredible work.
Read
October 6, 2023This book has become lodged in my head, I think, and if I’m going to get it out, I’m going to need to write it out of my head, that’s for sure, I think, and I think that the entry point for my own understanding of this book is the reconciliation of the doubling of the characters, I think
And now, I see Asle and the other Asle wearing the same black coat, the same brown shoulder bag, with the same long hair, and I think, unless there’s further description to differentiate them, they must be one and the same, yes, of course, but then I see that one has married Liv and Siv and has had three children and drinks himself to death, while the other has married Ales, has had no kids, has stopped drinking, and has had a successful career as an artist, I think and I think that the author knows that the reader will inevitably be forced to reckon with these ideas and will begin to do that according to the conventions associated with writing, namely a realist narrative, I think, and I think that under those conditions the reader will be forced into the position that Asle is hallucinating or that there really are two Asles, both who paint and so on, yes, of course, and the first position doesn’t seem to be attractive because the Asles meet and there seems to be enough information to suggest that the Asles are distinct, but the second position doesn’t seem to be attractive because if we accept two Asles, then we also must accept two Guros, and we must accept Liv and Siv, and we must accept that Asle and Ales contain the same letters and that soul mates meet each other in a coffee shop, randomly and immediately come together and etc. I think, and I think this is abhorrent in a realist novel, not to mention that the first Asle doesn’t speak much, no, he often falls silent when he is around other characters especially when there are difficult things to discuss, and no, that doesn’t square with his memory of some deeply personal experiences of the Namesake Asle, for example, the scene where the Namesake Asle returns home to find his wife Liv has overdosed, I think, and I think there is no way he would have this information so this leads back to the first interpretation, the hallucinating narrator, how else would you explain Asle remembering a younger version of himself commenting on his current self driving past him and observing him without solipsistic hallucinations?
But no, maybe there is a third thing, another way of looking at these two interpretations and holding their contradictions both in mind as truer than either of the realities, a sort of koan or thought-generative paradox narrative picture whose reflection reconciles that we are actually unknown to ourselves as we grow older, as we edit our own memories through repeated narration to ourselves using the aid of images, pictures, paintings, diaries, remnants of permanence whose information is lossy-encoded by virtue of time moving forward and the impossibility of total recall for most, I think and I think that third way of interpreting the text must take into account the reflections on God, yes, of course, they’re too big a part of the book to ignore, that’s for sure, so maybe this third way is like a prayer or a meditation, something that uses prior forms but whose unity of form and content produces something entirely unique, something unnameable
And now I see that Asle re-experiences many things that involve bifurcations, points at which things could have been otherwise, I think and I think that life is like that, I think and I think there are many things that we regret doing, choices that we made that we wish we could unmake (like writing this review in a terrible mimic of Fosse’s style) and ways that we can actually remake ourselves and convert to new ways of life and new thinking that can make us into different people, yes, and there’s also many places to revisit in the text that will make another reading yield a more coherent, or possibly less coherent interpretation, yes, I seem to remember in the first installment, the other name, some talk about two selves, the self of the body or the historical self (the self who is composed of the series of facts and events that actually occurred) and the soul-self, the spiritual side, the self that is changeable moving forward, I think and I think there it is, the two selves, the Asle and the Ales in each person, and maybe the girl with the long dark hair is actually Liv, and the Guro that lives in Bjørgvin actually had another name at one point in the retelling (so Åselik’s Sister could be the only historical Guro), and that St. Andrew’s cross is also St. Andreas cross at the beginning of section VI of a New Name, and that there is a nearness and a farness that is captured throughout this text in a way that is unbelievable, and that maybe that third interpretation is really possible and now I think that I should really stop because despite all of this, I really need to drive to Bjørgvin again to visit Asle, I think
And now I see that the painter has single images while the writer has many successive images in a single work, and that the reader becomes another type of artist in the interpreting of the work of art, yes, of course and that the writer writes the book and it is a single book and the reader reads the book as many times as they want and that it’s never the same book even though it is the same book
And now, I see Asle and the other Asle wearing the same black coat, the same brown shoulder bag, with the same long hair, and I think, unless there’s further description to differentiate them, they must be one and the same, yes, of course, but then I see that one has married Liv and Siv and has had three children and drinks himself to death, while the other has married Ales, has had no kids, has stopped drinking, and has had a successful career as an artist, I think and I think that the author knows that the reader will inevitably be forced to reckon with these ideas and will begin to do that according to the conventions associated with writing, namely a realist narrative, I think, and I think that under those conditions the reader will be forced into the position that Asle is hallucinating or that there really are two Asles, both who paint and so on, yes, of course, and the first position doesn’t seem to be attractive because the Asles meet and there seems to be enough information to suggest that the Asles are distinct, but the second position doesn’t seem to be attractive because if we accept two Asles, then we also must accept two Guros, and we must accept Liv and Siv, and we must accept that Asle and Ales contain the same letters and that soul mates meet each other in a coffee shop, randomly and immediately come together and etc. I think, and I think this is abhorrent in a realist novel, not to mention that the first Asle doesn’t speak much, no, he often falls silent when he is around other characters especially when there are difficult things to discuss, and no, that doesn’t square with his memory of some deeply personal experiences of the Namesake Asle, for example, the scene where the Namesake Asle returns home to find his wife Liv has overdosed, I think, and I think there is no way he would have this information so this leads back to the first interpretation, the hallucinating narrator, how else would you explain Asle remembering a younger version of himself commenting on his current self driving past him and observing him without solipsistic hallucinations?
But no, maybe there is a third thing, another way of looking at these two interpretations and holding their contradictions both in mind as truer than either of the realities, a sort of koan or thought-generative paradox narrative picture whose reflection reconciles that we are actually unknown to ourselves as we grow older, as we edit our own memories through repeated narration to ourselves using the aid of images, pictures, paintings, diaries, remnants of permanence whose information is lossy-encoded by virtue of time moving forward and the impossibility of total recall for most, I think and I think that third way of interpreting the text must take into account the reflections on God, yes, of course, they’re too big a part of the book to ignore, that’s for sure, so maybe this third way is like a prayer or a meditation, something that uses prior forms but whose unity of form and content produces something entirely unique, something unnameable
And now I see that Asle re-experiences many things that involve bifurcations, points at which things could have been otherwise, I think and I think that life is like that, I think and I think there are many things that we regret doing, choices that we made that we wish we could unmake (like writing this review in a terrible mimic of Fosse’s style) and ways that we can actually remake ourselves and convert to new ways of life and new thinking that can make us into different people, yes, and there’s also many places to revisit in the text that will make another reading yield a more coherent, or possibly less coherent interpretation, yes, I seem to remember in the first installment, the other name, some talk about two selves, the self of the body or the historical self (the self who is composed of the series of facts and events that actually occurred) and the soul-self, the spiritual side, the self that is changeable moving forward, I think and I think there it is, the two selves, the Asle and the Ales in each person, and maybe the girl with the long dark hair is actually Liv, and the Guro that lives in Bjørgvin actually had another name at one point in the retelling (so Åselik’s Sister could be the only historical Guro), and that St. Andrew’s cross is also St. Andreas cross at the beginning of section VI of a New Name, and that there is a nearness and a farness that is captured throughout this text in a way that is unbelievable, and that maybe that third interpretation is really possible and now I think that I should really stop because despite all of this, I really need to drive to Bjørgvin again to visit Asle, I think
And now I see that the painter has single images while the writer has many successive images in a single work, and that the reader becomes another type of artist in the interpreting of the work of art, yes, of course and that the writer writes the book and it is a single book and the reader reads the book as many times as they want and that it’s never the same book even though it is the same book
February 16, 2024
“Y me veo de pie, mirando el cuadro con las dos rayas, una morada y una marrón, que se cruzan en el medio….” Con esta original frase se anuncia una obra inclasificable, inmersiva y muy singular que nos lleva a los mecanismos y escondrijos de la introspección humana y a grandes momentos de paz y que ha sido para mí una experiencia especial en mi vida como lector.
Esta edición recoge tres novelas del Nobel de Literatura 2023, el escritor noruego Jon Fosse (1959). La primera de ellas se llama “El Otro Nombre” desarrollada en dos partes, la segunda novela se llama “Yo es Otro” que contiene tres partes y la tercera llamada “Un Nuevo Nombre” que contiene dos partes, de aquí el nombre de la obra, “Septología” desarrollada en siete partes que pienso deben de leerse de manera completa y secuencial.
De inicio puedo comentar que me parece que me he topado con un gran logro literario que me ha dejado un muy grato sabor de boca y que seguramente será motivo de muchos estudios, opiniones, análisis e interpretaciones, tanto de conocedores y entendidos como de aficionados. Al principio me desconcertó un poco el estilo digamos que minimalista pero a la vez abundante y rebosante de detalles y de repeticiones inagotables, de ideas y frases que en apariencia hacen que la trama no avance, que se estanque casi a cada paso y no sólo que se detenga sino que retroceda, pienso, pero que va creando una progresión casi onírica, produciendo un efecto como el de una suave anestesia, para luego volver a avanzar morosamente en un interminable flujo de sencillas ideas y triviales sucesos para llevarnos a la intimidad del ser humano; aunque también el autor se las ingenia para plantearnos cuestiones fundamentales del arte, de la vida y de la espiritualidad colocándonos en una estado de meditación.
Caracterizada por una intensa introspección Fosse despliega su muy larga obra en lo que puede ser un solo párrafo, no utiliza puntuaciones, ni separaciones de ninguna otra especie que no sean comas, construyendo así interminables páginas sin interlineados, pienso, con ideas sencillas y cortas y con una cadencia acompasada que nos va seduciendo poco a poco, pienso. No pasó mucho tiempo para que la prosa de este autor me atrapara.
Me parece que lo más representativo de la obra es que el autor detenta el poder para entrar, de lleno y sin cortapisas, en otra mente humana tanto en sus pensamientos cotidianos y triviales como en los más densos y complejos.
La forma de escribir de Fosse simula el flujo de nuestro pensamiento, no hay interrupciones, nos presenta una corriente continua de pensamientos con múltiples repeticiones, con indecisiones y giros, mezclando ideas insustanciales con otras de carácter práctico y otras más de carácter filosófico y místico, y también con recuerdos llenos de nostalgia. ¿Quién no ha deseado tener este extraordinario poder de penetrar en una mente humana?
Difícil definir esta obra del escritor noruego, tal vez cabría el término literatura experimental o literatura posmoderna o novela de libre construcción o relato introspectivo, no lo sé. Sin duda esta novela la disfrutarán mucho más aquellos que son escritores, especialistas en la materia o críticos, así como los lectores más avezados. Esto no quita que también yo la haya disfrutado enormemente.
Ha sido una muy buena experiencia sentirme sumergido en esa inmensa e interminable conciencia que crea el autor, con esa prosa lenta, minimalista y reposada, pienso, construida con repeticiones y en apariencia sin trama concreto, con un ritmo extraño del que Fosse muestra un dominio total y que en todo momento nos impulsa a continuar leyendo sus interminables divagaciones y recuerdos, pienso.
Todo el libro es una constante y enorme reflexión interior de Asle, el protagonista, que versa principalmente sobre su vida pasada, sobre el arte de la pintura y sobre su irreductible fe religiosa. Estos temas dictan la manera en que Fosse se reconoce ante el mundo:
“…y eso de verse a uno mismo como católico, no es sólo una cuestión de fe, sino una manera de existir en la vida y en el mundo que tal vez se parezca a eso de ser artista, puesto que ser pintor también es una manera de vivir, una manera de existir en el mundo, y para mí estas dos maneras de existir en el mundo encajan muy bien, en el sentido de que ambas generan una distancia con el mundo, digamos, y apuntan hacia algo distinto, tanto hacia algo que está en el mundo, algo inmanente, que lo llaman, como hacia algo que se aleja del mundo, algo trascendente…”
Sin duda el autor es un gran estilista del lenguaje, con dotes de equilibrista y contorsionista, con un enorme dominio de su narrativa y una excepcional destreza para desdoblar simultáneamente el pasado en varios planos del tiempo, para luego volver a enrollar ese pasado sin apenas darnos cuenta.
La historia se cuenta a través de los pensamientos del pintor llamado Asle, quien perdió a su esposa, Ales, tiempo atrás, y ahora vive solo en un rincón apartado junto al mar de Noruega y ahí transcurre su vida solitaria entregada a la pintura y a la subsistencia. Asle piensa continuamente en otros Asles, uno es contemporáneo suyo que también es pintor, alcohólico y con ideas suicidas, otro es un joven y otro más es un niño, lo que nos hace pensar en que Asle ve en ellos sus vidas pasadas y construye seres imaginarios en una especie de juego de espejos, dotando a la novela de cierta ambigüedad. Con esto el autor nos recuerda que en cada etapa de la vida hay una persona diferente: no es lo mismo el niño que dio paso al joven y éste a su vez a la persona actual. Son seres completamente diferentes que ya sólo viven en nuestra cabeza.
La ambientación es cautivadora ya que Fosse construye un mundo entre el abismo de los fiordos, las embarcaciones, el mar gélido, los copos de nieve, el suelo helado y resbaladizo, las incesantes olas del mar, así como el extremo frío del medio ambiente del pueblo donde habita, pero también nos traslada a las calles y callejuelas de lo que parece ser la ciudad de Bergen llamada aquí Borghovin.
Cada una de las siete partes del libro se inicia con la descripción de una pintura que acaba de hacer Asle, consistente en dos rayas que se cruzan, una morada y otra marrón que forman una cruz. Además de iniciar cada una de las partes con esta frase, también aparece esta idea en reiteradas ocasiones en el inmenso flujo de pensamientos de Asle a lo largo de toda la obra y parece indicar que guarda un significado especial que relaciona al arte con la espiritualidad. Me atrevo a pensar que la contemplación de esta pintura por parte de Asle es el único momento que representa el presente en toda la extensa obra, todo lo demás es pasado, fantasía o alguna proyección del futuro.
A pesar de lo extenso de esta obra, cada novela abarca un solo día más o menos, durante el tiempo de adviento y muy cercano a la Navidad. En esos días Asle va desplegando sus preocupaciones, sus sentimientos de culpa, su ausencia de tranquilidad y sus recuerdos; también nos cuenta algunos contactos con otros personajes, reales o imaginarios, como los otros Asles, o como su esposa fallecida Ales, con Guro una mujer que también parece tener un doble, con su vecino y solitario amigo llamado Asleik, así como con el dueño de la galería de arte Beyer en donde Asle expone sus cuadros, o bien con su amigo de juventud Sigve.
Conforme avanzamos en la novela encontramos también alusiones a la naturaleza de Dios relacionándolas con la pintura, como por ejemplo:
“…en esos cuadros hay una especie de luz, una especie de oscuridad luminosa, una luz invisible que habla calladamente y que dice la verdad, como si no fuera el pintor quien mira, sino hay algo que mira a través del pintor…”
En las postrimerías de la novela Asle se declara estar ya aburrido de la pintura, el gran motor de su vida, de la que dice que ya no significa nada para él, mientras él sigue contemplando a Ales, su esposa fallecida, a través de las olas del mar y no distingue si la cercanía que siente con Ales en el fondo es la cercanía con Dios.
“… porque todo arte bueno tiene espíritu… y lo que los hace buenos no es ni el material, la materia, ni el contenido, la idea o pensamiento, pues no, lo que los hace buenos es precisamente la unión entre materia y forma y alma…”
Si he dicho que el autor es un gran estilista y hace acrobacias con las ideas y el lenguaje, pienso que las traductoras no le van mucho a la zaga en cuanto a virtudes ya que han hecho verdaderas contorsiones lingüísticas y mostrado un gran oficio para lograr un estupendo trabajo de traducción del noruego al español, ellas son: Cristina Gómez Baggethun y Kirsti Baggethun. Un gran reconocimiento para ellas ya que sin este trabajo de traducción no hubiera podido yo disfrutar tanto de esta obra.
Después de haber leído algunas entrevistas con el autor y de haber terminado de leer esta magna obra, podría establecer una analogía entre Jon Fosse el escritor y Asle el pintor: ambos utilizan su arte para desaparecer imágenes, para alejarse de la vida; tanto la pintura como la literatura tienen o pretenden tender un efecto exorcizante.
“es evidente que los grandes artistas marcan una diferencia, con su arte particular, absolutamente particular, introducen algo nuevo en el mundo, pues sí, una nueva manera desconocida hasta entonces, y cuando uno de esos artistas concluye su obra el mundo tiene otro aspecto”.
¿Y finalmente de qué trata esta sucesión de novelas?
Podría concluir que trata del estado de fuga del ser, del tratamiento que se hace de lo común y lo existencial, de las dramáticas incursiones en el pasado, de los simbolismos que establece el autor entre la pintura y la vida: los colores, los trazos, la oscuridad, la luz, lo genuino, lo que es valioso para cada quien.
“…existen dos clases de tiempo, el que pasa y pasa y en realidad solo tiene importancia para que la vida cotidiana siga su curso, y luego el otro, el tiempo auténtico, ese que está compuesto de acontecimientos, mayores o menores, pero en cualquier caso de algo que se diferencia, ya sea para bien o para mal…”
Esta edición recoge tres novelas del Nobel de Literatura 2023, el escritor noruego Jon Fosse (1959). La primera de ellas se llama “El Otro Nombre” desarrollada en dos partes, la segunda novela se llama “Yo es Otro” que contiene tres partes y la tercera llamada “Un Nuevo Nombre” que contiene dos partes, de aquí el nombre de la obra, “Septología” desarrollada en siete partes que pienso deben de leerse de manera completa y secuencial.
De inicio puedo comentar que me parece que me he topado con un gran logro literario que me ha dejado un muy grato sabor de boca y que seguramente será motivo de muchos estudios, opiniones, análisis e interpretaciones, tanto de conocedores y entendidos como de aficionados. Al principio me desconcertó un poco el estilo digamos que minimalista pero a la vez abundante y rebosante de detalles y de repeticiones inagotables, de ideas y frases que en apariencia hacen que la trama no avance, que se estanque casi a cada paso y no sólo que se detenga sino que retroceda, pienso, pero que va creando una progresión casi onírica, produciendo un efecto como el de una suave anestesia, para luego volver a avanzar morosamente en un interminable flujo de sencillas ideas y triviales sucesos para llevarnos a la intimidad del ser humano; aunque también el autor se las ingenia para plantearnos cuestiones fundamentales del arte, de la vida y de la espiritualidad colocándonos en una estado de meditación.
Caracterizada por una intensa introspección Fosse despliega su muy larga obra en lo que puede ser un solo párrafo, no utiliza puntuaciones, ni separaciones de ninguna otra especie que no sean comas, construyendo así interminables páginas sin interlineados, pienso, con ideas sencillas y cortas y con una cadencia acompasada que nos va seduciendo poco a poco, pienso. No pasó mucho tiempo para que la prosa de este autor me atrapara.
Me parece que lo más representativo de la obra es que el autor detenta el poder para entrar, de lleno y sin cortapisas, en otra mente humana tanto en sus pensamientos cotidianos y triviales como en los más densos y complejos.
La forma de escribir de Fosse simula el flujo de nuestro pensamiento, no hay interrupciones, nos presenta una corriente continua de pensamientos con múltiples repeticiones, con indecisiones y giros, mezclando ideas insustanciales con otras de carácter práctico y otras más de carácter filosófico y místico, y también con recuerdos llenos de nostalgia. ¿Quién no ha deseado tener este extraordinario poder de penetrar en una mente humana?
Difícil definir esta obra del escritor noruego, tal vez cabría el término literatura experimental o literatura posmoderna o novela de libre construcción o relato introspectivo, no lo sé. Sin duda esta novela la disfrutarán mucho más aquellos que son escritores, especialistas en la materia o críticos, así como los lectores más avezados. Esto no quita que también yo la haya disfrutado enormemente.
Ha sido una muy buena experiencia sentirme sumergido en esa inmensa e interminable conciencia que crea el autor, con esa prosa lenta, minimalista y reposada, pienso, construida con repeticiones y en apariencia sin trama concreto, con un ritmo extraño del que Fosse muestra un dominio total y que en todo momento nos impulsa a continuar leyendo sus interminables divagaciones y recuerdos, pienso.
Todo el libro es una constante y enorme reflexión interior de Asle, el protagonista, que versa principalmente sobre su vida pasada, sobre el arte de la pintura y sobre su irreductible fe religiosa. Estos temas dictan la manera en que Fosse se reconoce ante el mundo:
“…y eso de verse a uno mismo como católico, no es sólo una cuestión de fe, sino una manera de existir en la vida y en el mundo que tal vez se parezca a eso de ser artista, puesto que ser pintor también es una manera de vivir, una manera de existir en el mundo, y para mí estas dos maneras de existir en el mundo encajan muy bien, en el sentido de que ambas generan una distancia con el mundo, digamos, y apuntan hacia algo distinto, tanto hacia algo que está en el mundo, algo inmanente, que lo llaman, como hacia algo que se aleja del mundo, algo trascendente…”
Sin duda el autor es un gran estilista del lenguaje, con dotes de equilibrista y contorsionista, con un enorme dominio de su narrativa y una excepcional destreza para desdoblar simultáneamente el pasado en varios planos del tiempo, para luego volver a enrollar ese pasado sin apenas darnos cuenta.
La historia se cuenta a través de los pensamientos del pintor llamado Asle, quien perdió a su esposa, Ales, tiempo atrás, y ahora vive solo en un rincón apartado junto al mar de Noruega y ahí transcurre su vida solitaria entregada a la pintura y a la subsistencia. Asle piensa continuamente en otros Asles, uno es contemporáneo suyo que también es pintor, alcohólico y con ideas suicidas, otro es un joven y otro más es un niño, lo que nos hace pensar en que Asle ve en ellos sus vidas pasadas y construye seres imaginarios en una especie de juego de espejos, dotando a la novela de cierta ambigüedad. Con esto el autor nos recuerda que en cada etapa de la vida hay una persona diferente: no es lo mismo el niño que dio paso al joven y éste a su vez a la persona actual. Son seres completamente diferentes que ya sólo viven en nuestra cabeza.
La ambientación es cautivadora ya que Fosse construye un mundo entre el abismo de los fiordos, las embarcaciones, el mar gélido, los copos de nieve, el suelo helado y resbaladizo, las incesantes olas del mar, así como el extremo frío del medio ambiente del pueblo donde habita, pero también nos traslada a las calles y callejuelas de lo que parece ser la ciudad de Bergen llamada aquí Borghovin.
Cada una de las siete partes del libro se inicia con la descripción de una pintura que acaba de hacer Asle, consistente en dos rayas que se cruzan, una morada y otra marrón que forman una cruz. Además de iniciar cada una de las partes con esta frase, también aparece esta idea en reiteradas ocasiones en el inmenso flujo de pensamientos de Asle a lo largo de toda la obra y parece indicar que guarda un significado especial que relaciona al arte con la espiritualidad. Me atrevo a pensar que la contemplación de esta pintura por parte de Asle es el único momento que representa el presente en toda la extensa obra, todo lo demás es pasado, fantasía o alguna proyección del futuro.
A pesar de lo extenso de esta obra, cada novela abarca un solo día más o menos, durante el tiempo de adviento y muy cercano a la Navidad. En esos días Asle va desplegando sus preocupaciones, sus sentimientos de culpa, su ausencia de tranquilidad y sus recuerdos; también nos cuenta algunos contactos con otros personajes, reales o imaginarios, como los otros Asles, o como su esposa fallecida Ales, con Guro una mujer que también parece tener un doble, con su vecino y solitario amigo llamado Asleik, así como con el dueño de la galería de arte Beyer en donde Asle expone sus cuadros, o bien con su amigo de juventud Sigve.
Conforme avanzamos en la novela encontramos también alusiones a la naturaleza de Dios relacionándolas con la pintura, como por ejemplo:
“…en esos cuadros hay una especie de luz, una especie de oscuridad luminosa, una luz invisible que habla calladamente y que dice la verdad, como si no fuera el pintor quien mira, sino hay algo que mira a través del pintor…”
En las postrimerías de la novela Asle se declara estar ya aburrido de la pintura, el gran motor de su vida, de la que dice que ya no significa nada para él, mientras él sigue contemplando a Ales, su esposa fallecida, a través de las olas del mar y no distingue si la cercanía que siente con Ales en el fondo es la cercanía con Dios.
“… porque todo arte bueno tiene espíritu… y lo que los hace buenos no es ni el material, la materia, ni el contenido, la idea o pensamiento, pues no, lo que los hace buenos es precisamente la unión entre materia y forma y alma…”
Si he dicho que el autor es un gran estilista y hace acrobacias con las ideas y el lenguaje, pienso que las traductoras no le van mucho a la zaga en cuanto a virtudes ya que han hecho verdaderas contorsiones lingüísticas y mostrado un gran oficio para lograr un estupendo trabajo de traducción del noruego al español, ellas son: Cristina Gómez Baggethun y Kirsti Baggethun. Un gran reconocimiento para ellas ya que sin este trabajo de traducción no hubiera podido yo disfrutar tanto de esta obra.
Después de haber leído algunas entrevistas con el autor y de haber terminado de leer esta magna obra, podría establecer una analogía entre Jon Fosse el escritor y Asle el pintor: ambos utilizan su arte para desaparecer imágenes, para alejarse de la vida; tanto la pintura como la literatura tienen o pretenden tender un efecto exorcizante.
“es evidente que los grandes artistas marcan una diferencia, con su arte particular, absolutamente particular, introducen algo nuevo en el mundo, pues sí, una nueva manera desconocida hasta entonces, y cuando uno de esos artistas concluye su obra el mundo tiene otro aspecto”.
¿Y finalmente de qué trata esta sucesión de novelas?
Podría concluir que trata del estado de fuga del ser, del tratamiento que se hace de lo común y lo existencial, de las dramáticas incursiones en el pasado, de los simbolismos que establece el autor entre la pintura y la vida: los colores, los trazos, la oscuridad, la luz, lo genuino, lo que es valioso para cada quien.
“…existen dos clases de tiempo, el que pasa y pasa y en realidad solo tiene importancia para que la vida cotidiana siga su curso, y luego el otro, el tiempo auténtico, ese que está compuesto de acontecimientos, mayores o menores, pero en cualquier caso de algo que se diferencia, ya sea para bien o para mal…”
June 21, 2024
This was the most unique reading experience of my life. Jon Fosse was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 2023 “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” I cannot agree more with that statement. Septology is a novel composed of seven novellas which are divided into three parts: “The Other Name”, “I is Another” and “A New Name.” While there are three different books, Septology was meant to be read as a stand-alone novel.
This novel follows the life of Asle, an aging painter and widower, who lives by himself near Norwegian town called Bjorgvin. He has a doppelganger who lives in Bjorgvin who is also named Asle and he struggles with alcoholism and has a dog named Bragi. Asle spends his days painting pictures and contemplating about his past, religion and death. One day, Alse drives to Bjorgvin and finds another Asle near death from his drinking. Asle decides to help his doppelganger and takes him to a hospital. I don’t want to say anything else about the plot to avoid spoilers, but this storyline is deceptively simple.
What stood out the most to me was Septology’s unique writing style. The novel is written in one continuous sentence, and it’s written in a stream of consciousness technique. Initially, I was hesitant to begin reading this novel because of its stylistic choice but 50 pages in the book I was completely hooked. If an act of meditation was a novel, it would be Septology. The vocabulary of this novel is simple, but the ideas conveyed are profound. This novel delves deep into the questions of religion, art, alcoholism, memory and death. Fosse masterfully explores these topics and leaves the reader with more questions than answers. You truly care for these characters, especially Asle and other Asle. What’s unique about this story is that, at times, it reads like magical realism, but it’s not quite that. Instead, I would call it mystical existentialism. Fosse is interested in the mundane details of our lives, and he manages to create a mystery surrounding those details. At times the prose felt like something written by David Lynch, especially the parts about doppelgangers.
I would recommend this book to fans of literary fiction and psychological fiction. If you’re looking for a different reading experience, you should give Septology a shot. The mood of this novel is haunting, melancholic and moving, so if you’re interested in that, you should pick up this book. Overall, I absolutely loved this book and it will stay with me for a really long time. Jon Fosse is an incredible author who deserves his Nobel Prize award. Norway is really spoiling us with all these contemporary fiction authors who are interested in exploring existential topics. Without a doubt this book is going on my 6 star shelf.
This novel follows the life of Asle, an aging painter and widower, who lives by himself near Norwegian town called Bjorgvin. He has a doppelganger who lives in Bjorgvin who is also named Asle and he struggles with alcoholism and has a dog named Bragi. Asle spends his days painting pictures and contemplating about his past, religion and death. One day, Alse drives to Bjorgvin and finds another Asle near death from his drinking. Asle decides to help his doppelganger and takes him to a hospital. I don’t want to say anything else about the plot to avoid spoilers, but this storyline is deceptively simple.
What stood out the most to me was Septology’s unique writing style. The novel is written in one continuous sentence, and it’s written in a stream of consciousness technique. Initially, I was hesitant to begin reading this novel because of its stylistic choice but 50 pages in the book I was completely hooked. If an act of meditation was a novel, it would be Septology. The vocabulary of this novel is simple, but the ideas conveyed are profound. This novel delves deep into the questions of religion, art, alcoholism, memory and death. Fosse masterfully explores these topics and leaves the reader with more questions than answers. You truly care for these characters, especially Asle and other Asle. What’s unique about this story is that, at times, it reads like magical realism, but it’s not quite that. Instead, I would call it mystical existentialism. Fosse is interested in the mundane details of our lives, and he manages to create a mystery surrounding those details. At times the prose felt like something written by David Lynch, especially the parts about doppelgangers.
I would recommend this book to fans of literary fiction and psychological fiction. If you’re looking for a different reading experience, you should give Septology a shot. The mood of this novel is haunting, melancholic and moving, so if you’re interested in that, you should pick up this book. Overall, I absolutely loved this book and it will stay with me for a really long time. Jon Fosse is an incredible author who deserves his Nobel Prize award. Norway is really spoiling us with all these contemporary fiction authors who are interested in exploring existential topics. Without a doubt this book is going on my 6 star shelf.
Read
December 13, 2023I was going to give my female friend who won't read female authors (despite being an avid reader) Jeff in Venice for Christmas, but on second thoughts, it's going to be this. That'll learn her.
August 19, 2023
This was hard going but so rewarding. I took it in slowly over quite a while, finding it easier to read on quiet nights alone at home. This isn't a journey I could recommend to anyone really, it's 800 pages and only a handful of sentences. That said it was breathtaking, insightful and truly a work of art. Thats it, it's art, a massive continuous thought with the pen (or brush) only leaving the surface fleetingly every so often to breathe then plunging back to the depths.
October 16, 2023
A beautiful collection - incredibly moving portrait of grief, grieving, art, and God's relationship to all of that. I was drawn into this book like few others. While there was certainly a case of diminishing returns as the "books" wound down (A New Name was certainly weaker than the Other Name, for example - both are excellent though) as the author plays with form and opposites, I still found a great deal to chew on and consider during my read. The Other Name, Septology I-II, in particular, was astounding, a real triumph. First time I have wept during a read in quite some time. Utterly beautiful and deeply human.
April 28, 2024
„...mislim, i pitam se zašto more postoji? i nebo? i zašto ja postojim? zašto bilo šta postoji umesto da je sve ništa? pitam se, jer u jednom trenutku je sve nastalo, i u jednom trenutku će sve nestati, ne samo ja,“
Nakon što sam neizmerno uživao u Foseovoj Melanholiji, kao logičan sled na čitalačkom repertoaru našlo se njegovo najobimnije i po rečima kritičara najkvalitetnije delo Septologija. I kao što i samo ime kaže delo se sastoji iz sedam delova, a tih sedam delova smešteni su u tri knjige koje predstavljaju užitak za sve ljubitelje književnosti. Ko je čitao Melanholiju, Jutro i veče, i To je Ales, u suštini i može da zaključi o kakvom stilu pisanja i kakvim lajtmotivima je ispunjeno delo Septologija. Na sceni, mada u nešto blažem obliku, opet imamo konstantno ponavljanje jednih te istih delova rečenice, malo izmenjenih, ali uvek bar sličnih, koji pojačavaju tenziju čitaoca tokom čitanja i iskazuju psihičko i emotivno stanje junaka književnog dela. Povezanost života i smrti, tanka linija koja razdvaja ta dva transcedentalna pojma, blizina i povezanost svetlosti i mraka i surovi norveški pejzaš u obliku fjordova, koji su mesto za život, oni ga pružaju i unapređuju, ali ga u svom mraku kroz igru i rad i uzimaju. Očigledan je uticaj i mitova, svakidašnjih i neodređenih pojmom nacije, na koje se oslanja život svakodnevnog čoveka i na osnovu kojh su stvorene i savremene religije. Fose očigledno voli u svojim delima da piše o umetnicima, slikarima, oni kao da pružaju odgovarajuću potku Foseu za razrađivanje svojih ideja, on kroz umetnikove misli dotiče Paltonovu ideju praslike.
„...posle sat ili dva ili koliko već dugo u peći celi vidljivi čovek nestane, telo nestane, ali nevidljivi čovek ostaje, jer on se nikad nije rodio pa ne može ni umreti, mislim, da, nevidljive oči ostaju kad nevidiljive nestanu, jer ono što je duboko u očima, duboko u čoveku, to ne nestaje, jer duboko u čoveku je Bog, tu je carstvo božije, tako je zapisano, da, i jeste tako, tu, duboko u čoveku je ono što će otići i spojiti se sa onim što je nevidljivo u svemu, i što je povezano sa vidljivim, ali što nije vidljivo, da, to je ono što je nevidljivo u vidljivom, i što čini da vidljivo postoji,“
U Septologiji pripovedač je Asle, ostareli slikar, koji nam nekoliko dana pred katolički Božić pripoveda priču o svom životu, svom obitavanju na ovom svetu. Sam način pripovedanja je neobičan, sa obiljem ponavljanja, ali i sa konstantnim promenama onoga o čemu se pripoveda. Tako je u jednom trenutku odvija razgovor Aslea sa komšijom Aslakom, da bi u istoj rečenici Asle svoje pripovedanje prebacio na prošlost i neki određeni trenutak iz sećanja u kome Asle hoda pore Ales, u kome iznajmljuje stan u Bjergvinu ili nam opisuje detinju igru u čamcima na obalama fjorda. Istovremeno primetno je odsustvo znaka interpunkcije na način koji smo to navikli, čitava Septologija je jedna velika rečenica, mračna reka koja svetli, misli su odeljene zarezima, tu je i poneki upitnik, ali rečenica je jedna, a čak si ni ta jedna rečenica ne završava na kraju dela, jer tačke ni na kraju nema, priča se poput života, naprosto nastavlja mimo svih nas. Delo obiluje likovima za koje ne možemo utvrditi da li su jedna osoba, više osoba istog imena, ili ista osoba različitog imena, tokom čitanja perspektive koje naginju na jedno ili drugo mišljenje se menjaju, jer Asle u bolnicu odvodi Aslea, Asle se u restoranu susreće sa slikarem Asleom apsolutno istim kao i on i fizički i sudbinski, njihove priče su u određenim trenucima istovetne, ali se u sasvim drugim trenucima granaju i razlikuju. A tu su i ženski likovi, Ales pre svega, pa i Asleove prethodne žene i njihova deca Dečkić, Devojčica i Dečak, ili Guru mistična sestra ka kojoj idu na Božić, preko fjorda, preko vode, sa druge strane vode?, ali koju je Asle već sretao, koja je uvek tu negde, kod koje je on bio, sa kojom je pričao, koja mu je poznata, Asleu ili Asleu? Kroz svoje pripovedanje, koje je u sadašnjosti u prvom licu, a u prošlosti se pretvara u Aslea koji poput svevidećeg pripovedača samo prisustvuje dešavanjima i prenosi ih, Fose koristi slikarstvo da bi sukobio mrak i svetlost, lepotu i ružnoću, da bi nam darivao tišinu. Asle u svojim slikama traga za božanskim sjajem, on traga za svetlošću u mraku, za onim večnim sjajem nevidljivim ali jedino stvarno vidljivim, on ne preslikava pejzažno svoju okolinu, njega ne interesuje mrtva priroda, on slika sjajnu tamu, koja u sebi sadrži tragove božanstva. U toku pripovedanja on svoje slike prodaje u bjergvinskoj galeriji, on je cenjen i od prodaje slika živi, ali kao i kada je reč o životima Aslea, ostavlja se pitanje koliko je Asle u stvari uspešan slikar.
„mislim i gledam svoje mesto na moru, uvek, uvek sedim i gledam svoje mesto na moru, gledam talase,“
Septologija predstavlja jednu od onih knjiga koje kod čitalaca izazivaju i različite emocije, u pitanju je delo koje ima bezbroj tumačenja i koje se poput života jednog čoveka može na različit način posmatrati, iz različitih perspektiva. Kada smrt dođe po čoveka, u toj poslednjoj agoniji, da li dolazi do podeljenosti na duh i telo, da li duh prepoznaje svoje telo ili na njega gleda kao na nepoznatu ličnost? Septologija deli svoje likove na jedinstvo i mnoštvo, na one koji su prizemni i koji se uzdižu iznad vidljivih elemenata, u jednom trenu oni darivaju istovetnost, u drugom likovi istog imena imaju različite osobine, baš poput čoveka i njegove svetlosti i njegove tame, onog koji je pio i onog koji zbog nečega više ne pije. I naravno ostaje pitanje ženskih likova, a samo njihovo razrešenje ne mogu ni pojmiti, i naravno Aslak, komšija sa traktorom, koji upravlja brodićem, ko je zapravo on? Septologija je delo o kome će se sukobljavati mišljenja, koje će doživeti mnogo tumačenja i koje u svom nemerljivom kvalitetu sa radošću primorava čitaoca da ponovo prione na čitanje, jer tu je negde rešenje, tu je negde nevidljiva svetlost koja obasjava vidljivi tekst ove fantastične i sa razlogom hvaljene knjige.
Delo je preveo Radoš Kosović i rekao bih i ugradio deo sebe u Septologiju, on je stvaralac sam za sebe i bez takvog fenomenalnog prevodioca ni ova knjiga ne bi bila preneta na pravi način na naše književno tržište. I naravno on nije samo prevodilac Septologije, jer u ovo doba pojačano interesovanja za nordijske autore sve češće se može videti njegovo ime, pa ostaje pitanje koliko je zapravo svojim vrhunskim prevodima Kosović otvorio vrata nordijskoj vrhunskoj savremenoj književnosti.
„... i Aslak kaže da o najvećom stvarima, o moru i nebu, o životu i smrti, niko ništa ne može reći zasigurno, kaže i pije pivo i kaže da je sve to u nekakvom nepoznatom mraku, dolazimo iz nepoznatog mraka i vraćamo se u nepoznati mrak, tako je to, i tu nema više šta da se kaže, a da li je čovek bio nešto u tom mraku pre nego što se rodio, i da li postane nešto u tom mraku kad umre, o tome se ništa ne može reći i ništa ne može znati, on samo može da se čudi tome, a odgovore nema,“
Nakon što sam neizmerno uživao u Foseovoj Melanholiji, kao logičan sled na čitalačkom repertoaru našlo se njegovo najobimnije i po rečima kritičara najkvalitetnije delo Septologija. I kao što i samo ime kaže delo se sastoji iz sedam delova, a tih sedam delova smešteni su u tri knjige koje predstavljaju užitak za sve ljubitelje književnosti. Ko je čitao Melanholiju, Jutro i veče, i To je Ales, u suštini i može da zaključi o kakvom stilu pisanja i kakvim lajtmotivima je ispunjeno delo Septologija. Na sceni, mada u nešto blažem obliku, opet imamo konstantno ponavljanje jednih te istih delova rečenice, malo izmenjenih, ali uvek bar sličnih, koji pojačavaju tenziju čitaoca tokom čitanja i iskazuju psihičko i emotivno stanje junaka književnog dela. Povezanost života i smrti, tanka linija koja razdvaja ta dva transcedentalna pojma, blizina i povezanost svetlosti i mraka i surovi norveški pejzaš u obliku fjordova, koji su mesto za život, oni ga pružaju i unapređuju, ali ga u svom mraku kroz igru i rad i uzimaju. Očigledan je uticaj i mitova, svakidašnjih i neodređenih pojmom nacije, na koje se oslanja život svakodnevnog čoveka i na osnovu kojh su stvorene i savremene religije. Fose očigledno voli u svojim delima da piše o umetnicima, slikarima, oni kao da pružaju odgovarajuću potku Foseu za razrađivanje svojih ideja, on kroz umetnikove misli dotiče Paltonovu ideju praslike.
„...posle sat ili dva ili koliko već dugo u peći celi vidljivi čovek nestane, telo nestane, ali nevidljivi čovek ostaje, jer on se nikad nije rodio pa ne može ni umreti, mislim, da, nevidljive oči ostaju kad nevidiljive nestanu, jer ono što je duboko u očima, duboko u čoveku, to ne nestaje, jer duboko u čoveku je Bog, tu je carstvo božije, tako je zapisano, da, i jeste tako, tu, duboko u čoveku je ono što će otići i spojiti se sa onim što je nevidljivo u svemu, i što je povezano sa vidljivim, ali što nije vidljivo, da, to je ono što je nevidljivo u vidljivom, i što čini da vidljivo postoji,“
U Septologiji pripovedač je Asle, ostareli slikar, koji nam nekoliko dana pred katolički Božić pripoveda priču o svom životu, svom obitavanju na ovom svetu. Sam način pripovedanja je neobičan, sa obiljem ponavljanja, ali i sa konstantnim promenama onoga o čemu se pripoveda. Tako je u jednom trenutku odvija razgovor Aslea sa komšijom Aslakom, da bi u istoj rečenici Asle svoje pripovedanje prebacio na prošlost i neki određeni trenutak iz sećanja u kome Asle hoda pore Ales, u kome iznajmljuje stan u Bjergvinu ili nam opisuje detinju igru u čamcima na obalama fjorda. Istovremeno primetno je odsustvo znaka interpunkcije na način koji smo to navikli, čitava Septologija je jedna velika rečenica, mračna reka koja svetli, misli su odeljene zarezima, tu je i poneki upitnik, ali rečenica je jedna, a čak si ni ta jedna rečenica ne završava na kraju dela, jer tačke ni na kraju nema, priča se poput života, naprosto nastavlja mimo svih nas. Delo obiluje likovima za koje ne možemo utvrditi da li su jedna osoba, više osoba istog imena, ili ista osoba različitog imena, tokom čitanja perspektive koje naginju na jedno ili drugo mišljenje se menjaju, jer Asle u bolnicu odvodi Aslea, Asle se u restoranu susreće sa slikarem Asleom apsolutno istim kao i on i fizički i sudbinski, njihove priče su u određenim trenucima istovetne, ali se u sasvim drugim trenucima granaju i razlikuju. A tu su i ženski likovi, Ales pre svega, pa i Asleove prethodne žene i njihova deca Dečkić, Devojčica i Dečak, ili Guru mistična sestra ka kojoj idu na Božić, preko fjorda, preko vode, sa druge strane vode?, ali koju je Asle već sretao, koja je uvek tu negde, kod koje je on bio, sa kojom je pričao, koja mu je poznata, Asleu ili Asleu? Kroz svoje pripovedanje, koje je u sadašnjosti u prvom licu, a u prošlosti se pretvara u Aslea koji poput svevidećeg pripovedača samo prisustvuje dešavanjima i prenosi ih, Fose koristi slikarstvo da bi sukobio mrak i svetlost, lepotu i ružnoću, da bi nam darivao tišinu. Asle u svojim slikama traga za božanskim sjajem, on traga za svetlošću u mraku, za onim večnim sjajem nevidljivim ali jedino stvarno vidljivim, on ne preslikava pejzažno svoju okolinu, njega ne interesuje mrtva priroda, on slika sjajnu tamu, koja u sebi sadrži tragove božanstva. U toku pripovedanja on svoje slike prodaje u bjergvinskoj galeriji, on je cenjen i od prodaje slika živi, ali kao i kada je reč o životima Aslea, ostavlja se pitanje koliko je Asle u stvari uspešan slikar.
„mislim i gledam svoje mesto na moru, uvek, uvek sedim i gledam svoje mesto na moru, gledam talase,“
Septologija predstavlja jednu od onih knjiga koje kod čitalaca izazivaju i različite emocije, u pitanju je delo koje ima bezbroj tumačenja i koje se poput života jednog čoveka može na različit način posmatrati, iz različitih perspektiva. Kada smrt dođe po čoveka, u toj poslednjoj agoniji, da li dolazi do podeljenosti na duh i telo, da li duh prepoznaje svoje telo ili na njega gleda kao na nepoznatu ličnost? Septologija deli svoje likove na jedinstvo i mnoštvo, na one koji su prizemni i koji se uzdižu iznad vidljivih elemenata, u jednom trenu oni darivaju istovetnost, u drugom likovi istog imena imaju različite osobine, baš poput čoveka i njegove svetlosti i njegove tame, onog koji je pio i onog koji zbog nečega više ne pije. I naravno ostaje pitanje ženskih likova, a samo njihovo razrešenje ne mogu ni pojmiti, i naravno Aslak, komšija sa traktorom, koji upravlja brodićem, ko je zapravo on? Septologija je delo o kome će se sukobljavati mišljenja, koje će doživeti mnogo tumačenja i koje u svom nemerljivom kvalitetu sa radošću primorava čitaoca da ponovo prione na čitanje, jer tu je negde rešenje, tu je negde nevidljiva svetlost koja obasjava vidljivi tekst ove fantastične i sa razlogom hvaljene knjige.
Delo je preveo Radoš Kosović i rekao bih i ugradio deo sebe u Septologiju, on je stvaralac sam za sebe i bez takvog fenomenalnog prevodioca ni ova knjiga ne bi bila preneta na pravi način na naše književno tržište. I naravno on nije samo prevodilac Septologije, jer u ovo doba pojačano interesovanja za nordijske autore sve češće se može videti njegovo ime, pa ostaje pitanje koliko je zapravo svojim vrhunskim prevodima Kosović otvorio vrata nordijskoj vrhunskoj savremenoj književnosti.
„... i Aslak kaže da o najvećom stvarima, o moru i nebu, o životu i smrti, niko ništa ne može reći zasigurno, kaže i pije pivo i kaže da je sve to u nekakvom nepoznatom mraku, dolazimo iz nepoznatog mraka i vraćamo se u nepoznati mrak, tako je to, i tu nema više šta da se kaže, a da li je čovek bio nešto u tom mraku pre nego što se rodio, i da li postane nešto u tom mraku kad umre, o tome se ništa ne može reći i ništa ne može znati, on samo može da se čudi tome, a odgovore nema,“
May 1, 2022
Jon Fosse’s Septology is a masterpiece! Reading it reminded me of the first time I read Mrs. Dalloway or The Sound and the Fury, not because they share a style, but because I hadn’t read anything quite like it before. Apparently Le Monde dubbed Fosse “the Beckett of the 21st century”! Anyway, Septology is now my favourite Norwegian novel (sorry Hamsun). And I love that much of the novel takes place in Bergen (Bjørgvin) where I used to live!
Septology is easy to summarize but difficult to describe. It’s a novel about memory, time, God, art, existence, and, I suppose, grief. So life, essentially. Not much happens in the present time of the novel since it’s mostly made up of the narrator’s thoughts: flashbacks that tell the story of his youth, including how he became an artist and how he met his late wife. Written in a slow stream-of-consciousness with lots of repetition and few paragraphs or periods, the text very successfully mimics the way our minds work when we think and recall moments that have shaped our lives. Subtly heartbreaking and never sentimental, the writing is breathtaking. I loved this so much and wish more people would pick it up because it’s one of those books that I’m dying to discuss.
“…she says that today is one of the great days, one of the days when something happens, yes, an event, because it’s so strange, day after day goes by and it’s like time is just passing, but then something happens, and when it happens the time passes slowly, and the time that passes slowly doesn’t disappear, it becomes, yes, a kind of event, so actually there are two kinds of time, the time that just passes and that really matters only so that daily life can move along its course and then the other time, the actual time, which is made up of events, and that time can last, can become lasting…”
Septology is easy to summarize but difficult to describe. It’s a novel about memory, time, God, art, existence, and, I suppose, grief. So life, essentially. Not much happens in the present time of the novel since it’s mostly made up of the narrator’s thoughts: flashbacks that tell the story of his youth, including how he became an artist and how he met his late wife. Written in a slow stream-of-consciousness with lots of repetition and few paragraphs or periods, the text very successfully mimics the way our minds work when we think and recall moments that have shaped our lives. Subtly heartbreaking and never sentimental, the writing is breathtaking. I loved this so much and wish more people would pick it up because it’s one of those books that I’m dying to discuss.
“…she says that today is one of the great days, one of the days when something happens, yes, an event, because it’s so strange, day after day goes by and it’s like time is just passing, but then something happens, and when it happens the time passes slowly, and the time that passes slowly doesn’t disappear, it becomes, yes, a kind of event, so actually there are two kinds of time, the time that just passes and that really matters only so that daily life can move along its course and then the other time, the actual time, which is made up of events, and that time can last, can become lasting…”
December 25, 2022
Utterly immersive. Hauntingly spare, confronting in its depths.
Uncanny to read a book that so brilliantly mimics the patterns of human thought. Stream of consciousness? More like a torrent. A lot of people's first comment is that this book is an 800 page sentence, but after a short while it became second nature to me, and made me ponder about what we might be missing by cleaving to grammatical conventions. Full stops can imply a great deal about human cognition: that we have discrete 'thoughts', that they occur in succession, that they can be excerpted and tested for their rationality as a hermetically sealed sentence. And although we might be conditioned to believe human thought does in fact function this way, the instinctiveness of Fosse's writing exposes its fallacy. His writing resists division, as I found when I was trying to write down some quotes. There are no seams. Each 'thought' is bound up with the one that precedes it and the one that follows it. Each has its specific context that alters its meaning, significance and implications.
His writing also does something remarkable to time, both the temporality within the book and the reader's temporality. The book spans a handful of days leading up to Christmas in western Norway. The darkness never fully lifts. Yet as we become lost with Asle in his memories, particularly those of his beloved Ales, our sense of the book's time is distorted. Small things prompt us about time's reality - the room's coldness after the stove has died, Bragi the dog's bodily needs. Was it only me getting almost physically uncomfortable about the dog's wellbeing? Dogs need more than crumbled bread!!
Christian theology pervades the book like a ghost. Fosse elegantly (and accurately) captures both the beauty of Roman Catholic philosophy and the immense existential challenge it poses to the adherent.
I have too many thoughts about this book to put here. I'm currently working my way through everything that's been written about Septology and Fosse. I then plan to write a proper review which I'll be sure to link people to.
Safe to say I have a lot of unfinished business with Septology.
Uncanny to read a book that so brilliantly mimics the patterns of human thought. Stream of consciousness? More like a torrent. A lot of people's first comment is that this book is an 800 page sentence, but after a short while it became second nature to me, and made me ponder about what we might be missing by cleaving to grammatical conventions. Full stops can imply a great deal about human cognition: that we have discrete 'thoughts', that they occur in succession, that they can be excerpted and tested for their rationality as a hermetically sealed sentence. And although we might be conditioned to believe human thought does in fact function this way, the instinctiveness of Fosse's writing exposes its fallacy. His writing resists division, as I found when I was trying to write down some quotes. There are no seams. Each 'thought' is bound up with the one that precedes it and the one that follows it. Each has its specific context that alters its meaning, significance and implications.
His writing also does something remarkable to time, both the temporality within the book and the reader's temporality. The book spans a handful of days leading up to Christmas in western Norway. The darkness never fully lifts. Yet as we become lost with Asle in his memories, particularly those of his beloved Ales, our sense of the book's time is distorted. Small things prompt us about time's reality - the room's coldness after the stove has died, Bragi the dog's bodily needs. Was it only me getting almost physically uncomfortable about the dog's wellbeing? Dogs need more than crumbled bread!!
Christian theology pervades the book like a ghost. Fosse elegantly (and accurately) captures both the beauty of Roman Catholic philosophy and the immense existential challenge it poses to the adherent.
I have too many thoughts about this book to put here. I'm currently working my way through everything that's been written about Septology and Fosse. I then plan to write a proper review which I'll be sure to link people to.
Safe to say I have a lot of unfinished business with Septology.
March 24, 2024
craziest month of my life.....i've said this before bc i think i read it in one of the blurbs but reading this is like doing a rosary in how it forces you to slow down but there are also so many movements it pushes you into on account of the form of being one unbroken sentence, and that's what kept me at it initially but also being me i did really really enjoy all the stuff about god and painting. i'd only read melancholy
i-ii before this but that was an entirely different much more painful endeavour than this although they're certainly adjacent (both being about norwegian painters/repetitive style) but this book is so. like obviously im not gonna be able to accurately capture what's been so carefully unfurled across 800 pages but something about believing so deeply in god but also in some deep abyss having abandoned yourself or some version of yourself and it is just so terrible to be so much alone and have to go on anyway. but then also the whole world is there. and there's
christmas dinner to eat that someone made for you because they didn't want you to be alone. and even though you feel so empty let it be to make room. can you tell i cried like 3 separate times in the last 100 pages i love this book dude
i-ii before this but that was an entirely different much more painful endeavour than this although they're certainly adjacent (both being about norwegian painters/repetitive style) but this book is so. like obviously im not gonna be able to accurately capture what's been so carefully unfurled across 800 pages but something about believing so deeply in god but also in some deep abyss having abandoned yourself or some version of yourself and it is just so terrible to be so much alone and have to go on anyway. but then also the whole world is there. and there's
christmas dinner to eat that someone made for you because they didn't want you to be alone. and even though you feel so empty let it be to make room. can you tell i cried like 3 separate times in the last 100 pages i love this book dude
June 21, 2023
There’s a case for reading them with time apart and a case for reading them at once. The reiteration of events do feel stilted because they feel like a recap that stands out, rather than the influx of memories that are relived, probably as a trauma response. They feel apart from it for the only reason of signalling to the reader that they should remember them, because it’s about to be expounded on.
It also, I think, mostly denies a lot of catharsis, despite learning quite a bit. Some things are never explained, though they’re dwelled on constantly. And I suppose just with the writing style there’s a heavy bit of solipsism that begs a few questions. Mostly, the strength is in the unique style of delivery and the melding of conveying philosophical underpinnings and characterization. There’s a lot of form meeting function that telegraph so much about the character. The reader knows so much more about them than they do themselves, which rings very true, to me. How well can you know yourself without input from other people? How much can you make out and what do you construe in your own little locked room? What are your own paths trampled down in the wilderness of your mind, unconsciously taking you through the same way, time after time again?
It also, I think, mostly denies a lot of catharsis, despite learning quite a bit. Some things are never explained, though they’re dwelled on constantly. And I suppose just with the writing style there’s a heavy bit of solipsism that begs a few questions. Mostly, the strength is in the unique style of delivery and the melding of conveying philosophical underpinnings and characterization. There’s a lot of form meeting function that telegraph so much about the character. The reader knows so much more about them than they do themselves, which rings very true, to me. How well can you know yourself without input from other people? How much can you make out and what do you construe in your own little locked room? What are your own paths trampled down in the wilderness of your mind, unconsciously taking you through the same way, time after time again?
September 30, 2022
Jon Fosse is one of the very best contemporary authors. Read his books, especially Septology.
Full video review here: https://youtu.be/X77c0K7lKQY
Full video review here: https://youtu.be/X77c0K7lKQY
December 6, 2022
Finer minds than mine have waxed eloquent about this book, but FWIW, I enjoyed it as a slow, melancholy, hypnotic rumination on art, life and the choices we make.
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022 and longlisted for the National Book Awards, Translated Literature 2022, Septology is said to be the magnum opus of Norwegian author Jon Fosse (b.1959). Importantly, as far as I'm concerned, Septology is nothing like the self-indulgent meanderings of that other famous Norwegian author who has mined his own life, and the lives of his significant others, ad nauseam. (I have read one of his, and I hope made it clear in my review that I loathed his cruel observations about his family.)
Septology was originally published in three volumes, all translated by Damion Searls and published in English by Fitzcarraldo Editions.
Det andre namnet - Septologien I-II (2019). The Other Name: Septology I-II;
Eg er ein annan - Septologien III-V (2020). I Is Another: Septology III-V; and
Eit nytt namn - Septologien VI-VII (2021). A New Name: Septology VI-VII.
In October 2022, Giramondo published this Australian edition of the series in one volume for the first time.
Septology is not a book for all tastes. Considering that it's a very long book, not much happens, and some of what happens is confusing. But by the time the reader reaches the last chapter, it's impossible not to be invested in the narrator Asle, and to care about what happens to him and the other people in his life. And to feel a sense of loss on the last page.
BTW There are some 'spoilers' in what follows, but nobody reads Septology for the plot. Even during the heart-stopping sequence when there is a risk that Asle might die in the blizzard or fall into the sea under Åsleik's drunken seamanship, the reader knows that there are many pages to go so it's not a spoiler to observe that he survives those events.
In Book 1 we meet Asle, an ageing painter sufficiently successful to have made an adequate living out of his art. Since the death of his wife, he lives alone on the Norwegian coast in Dylgia, a few hours' drive from Bjørgvin, now known as Bergen. The name Dylgia seems to be a bit of a Norwegian in-joke, because my Google search revealed that it was the site of a battle in one of the sagas. Well, Septology is a saga, and the central character seems to have struggled with himself for most of his life.
Book I, like Books II-VII, begins with Asle contemplating the same painting. In Book I, it is Monday.
These pairings in the painting prefigure numerous other pairings in a work suffused with doppelgangers.
But in Book II, these same thoughts take place on Tuesday and he is less sure about the painting, and by Book V it is Thursday, and he thinks it's a really bad painting. By Book VI the crisis in his life is upon him:
He doesn't understand why, but he just wants to get rid of it all and in Book VII, his aversion has solidified. And this is the man who in Book I was obsessed by light. He sees pictures in his head and paints to clear his mind of them.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/12/06/s...
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022 and longlisted for the National Book Awards, Translated Literature 2022, Septology is said to be the magnum opus of Norwegian author Jon Fosse (b.1959). Importantly, as far as I'm concerned, Septology is nothing like the self-indulgent meanderings of that other famous Norwegian author who has mined his own life, and the lives of his significant others, ad nauseam. (I have read one of his, and I hope made it clear in my review that I loathed his cruel observations about his family.)
Septology was originally published in three volumes, all translated by Damion Searls and published in English by Fitzcarraldo Editions.
Det andre namnet - Septologien I-II (2019). The Other Name: Septology I-II;
Eg er ein annan - Septologien III-V (2020). I Is Another: Septology III-V; and
Eit nytt namn - Septologien VI-VII (2021). A New Name: Septology VI-VII.
In October 2022, Giramondo published this Australian edition of the series in one volume for the first time.
Septology is not a book for all tastes. Considering that it's a very long book, not much happens, and some of what happens is confusing. But by the time the reader reaches the last chapter, it's impossible not to be invested in the narrator Asle, and to care about what happens to him and the other people in his life. And to feel a sense of loss on the last page.
BTW There are some 'spoilers' in what follows, but nobody reads Septology for the plot. Even during the heart-stopping sequence when there is a risk that Asle might die in the blizzard or fall into the sea under Åsleik's drunken seamanship, the reader knows that there are many pages to go so it's not a spoiler to observe that he survives those events.
In Book 1 we meet Asle, an ageing painter sufficiently successful to have made an adequate living out of his art. Since the death of his wife, he lives alone on the Norwegian coast in Dylgia, a few hours' drive from Bjørgvin, now known as Bergen. The name Dylgia seems to be a bit of a Norwegian in-joke, because my Google search revealed that it was the site of a battle in one of the sagas. Well, Septology is a saga, and the central character seems to have struggled with himself for most of his life.
Book I, like Books II-VII, begins with Asle contemplating the same painting. In Book I, it is Monday.
And I see myself standing and looking at the picture with the two lines that cross in the middle, one purple line, one brown line it's a painting wider than it is high and I see that I've painted the lines slowly, the paint is thick, two long wide lines, and they've dripped, where the brown line and purple line cross the colours blend beautifully and drip and I'm thinking this isn't a picture but suddenly the picture is the way it's supposed to be, it's done, there's nothing more to do to it. (p.3)
These pairings in the painting prefigure numerous other pairings in a work suffused with doppelgangers.
But in Book II, these same thoughts take place on Tuesday and he is less sure about the painting, and by Book V it is Thursday, and he thinks it's a really bad painting. By Book VI the crisis in his life is upon him:
... I can't look at this picture anymore, it's been sitting on the easel for a long time now, a couple of weeks maybe, so now I either have to paint over it in white or else put it up in the attic, in the crates where I keep the pictures I don't want to sell, but I've already thought that thought day after day, I think and then I take hold of the stretcher and let go of it again and I realise that I, who have spent my whole life painting, oil paint on canvas, yes, ever since I was a boy, I don't want to paint anymore, ever, all the pleasure I used to take in painting is gone... (p.551)
He doesn't understand why, but he just wants to get rid of it all and in Book VII, his aversion has solidified. And this is the man who in Book I was obsessed by light. He sees pictures in his head and paints to clear his mind of them.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/12/06/s...
December 18, 2022
As stated in numerous reviews, Septology is rather a meditation than a traditional prose novel. Yet how much can be conveyed in simple words, the same thoughts reappearing in kaleidoscopic, vertiginous cadence...
As the protagonist remarks about paintings (and art in general), there shines a light that's most visible in the deepest of darknesses. A halo of inner light surrounds Septology throughout.
As the protagonist remarks about paintings (and art in general), there shines a light that's most visible in the deepest of darknesses. A halo of inner light surrounds Septology throughout.
April 27, 2024
A genuine masterpiece, deserving of all the praise. It isn't interesting in any of the ways that interesting books usually are -- it has very little humor, suspense, shock, mystery, conflict, verbal pyrotechnics, or even many events per se -- and yet it finds its own way to be totally mesmerizing and to carry you along almost effortlessly, despite its length and density, on gentle but strong currents of thought. A unique and profound reading experience.
October 17, 2023
I did not finish. I got up to page 80 of roughly 660 pages. I read as far as I did because this is a Nobel-prize winning author. At first, when I read the first few pages, I decided I might like the book. Two painters, two men with the same name, not to mention a cameo appearance by the younger of one of the two with his sweetheart, Norway fjords, the quiet creative life… sounded intriguing. But the stories — “she” is not with him anymore, the alcoholic, shaking “other” painter, the idea that we must believe in God (this seems a very religion-oriented book, at bottom), the friend going away for Christmas and the special lamb dinner—just kept coming back like stray cats, and while I am fond of the occasional cat, I am not interested in feral cats, cats that show up for no apparent reason, cats that on their 25th appearance just upset me because what can you do? I can see that the plays might be different. But this is simply too frustrating a novel, too self-indulgent, almost, in a weird way, preachy. I am taking this quote out of context, but in one interview the author says he might “feel sorry for the reader.” I do not want anyone to feel sorry for me. I do not read books to become a victim.
December 21, 2023
Hard to imagine a piece of art coming any closer to perfection than this.
February 10, 2023
God’s Shining Darkness.
I think and I think and I stare at the words on the page that describe Asle who stares at the two lines of St. Andrew’s Cross, the one purple and the one brown, and I think that there is something Asle is doing in his paintings that is like what the writings of Meister Eckhart do, illuminate a shining darkness, that Asle isn’t interested in visual art and letters as such, but in Spirit, in a way of being alive in the world, and I think and I think that Septology is really a book about grief, about a widower fragmenting his self into many identities, but I’m not sure about that, it’s equally about a certain unity in things, and art has something to do with that I think, and Asle seems to think of himself as some kind of monk with his “wordless prayer of painting” and that sounds peaceful I think, even though I don’t much care for silence myself, and I think that Asle’s God doesn’t exist because He doesn’t have a why or a how, just like the moon doesn’t have a why or a how, and I start to drift a little because of this really long sentence I’m reading, but it’s not like I haven’t read books like this before, and I think of how Asle distrusts words, and how he says that “all words lie” and how every colour is a million kinds of colours, and I think there’s something of Wittgenstein in this sentiment, and how Asle tries to paint away his thoughts of Ales, of Asle and Ales, and of the grief that ties him to his landmark on the Sygne Sea, and of his grandfathers black boots in the rain that he paints, of his grandmother in the sky, and of the boy that drowned in that barmen boat, and God is so far away and so near, and all ideas about God are wrong, and at the same time we are made up of God, and death never leaves us with enough time, it always comes too quickly, and I don’t pray like Asle does but I think I should start praying again, but I don’t like most prayers, and so I think and I think about “God’s wordless nearness” as Asle puts it, and I think how he must need God to be close when everyone is so far away, and I look at the black window full of night and howling wind, and I close my eyes and put Septology on my couch, and I think I am getting rather anxious and get up from the couch and go make some tea, and I think of the many conversations I’ve had like those of Asle and Asleik, and the repetitions in the conversation that seem to be trying to communicate a new thing each time, and how each repeated phrase is trying to say something about the self, about how we run out of words sometimes, and we keep saying the same things, praying the same prayers, and in the end it’s all just silence, and then the kingdom of god comes, in that wordless silence which ends all literature, and I pick up Septology and flip around through it and look at my underlined bits and I think and I think that I don’t know if I like silence, and I start reading the words again
I think and I think and I stare at the words on the page that describe Asle who stares at the two lines of St. Andrew’s Cross, the one purple and the one brown, and I think that there is something Asle is doing in his paintings that is like what the writings of Meister Eckhart do, illuminate a shining darkness, that Asle isn’t interested in visual art and letters as such, but in Spirit, in a way of being alive in the world, and I think and I think that Septology is really a book about grief, about a widower fragmenting his self into many identities, but I’m not sure about that, it’s equally about a certain unity in things, and art has something to do with that I think, and Asle seems to think of himself as some kind of monk with his “wordless prayer of painting” and that sounds peaceful I think, even though I don’t much care for silence myself, and I think that Asle’s God doesn’t exist because He doesn’t have a why or a how, just like the moon doesn’t have a why or a how, and I start to drift a little because of this really long sentence I’m reading, but it’s not like I haven’t read books like this before, and I think of how Asle distrusts words, and how he says that “all words lie” and how every colour is a million kinds of colours, and I think there’s something of Wittgenstein in this sentiment, and how Asle tries to paint away his thoughts of Ales, of Asle and Ales, and of the grief that ties him to his landmark on the Sygne Sea, and of his grandfathers black boots in the rain that he paints, of his grandmother in the sky, and of the boy that drowned in that barmen boat, and God is so far away and so near, and all ideas about God are wrong, and at the same time we are made up of God, and death never leaves us with enough time, it always comes too quickly, and I don’t pray like Asle does but I think I should start praying again, but I don’t like most prayers, and so I think and I think about “God’s wordless nearness” as Asle puts it, and I think how he must need God to be close when everyone is so far away, and I look at the black window full of night and howling wind, and I close my eyes and put Septology on my couch, and I think I am getting rather anxious and get up from the couch and go make some tea, and I think of the many conversations I’ve had like those of Asle and Asleik, and the repetitions in the conversation that seem to be trying to communicate a new thing each time, and how each repeated phrase is trying to say something about the self, about how we run out of words sometimes, and we keep saying the same things, praying the same prayers, and in the end it’s all just silence, and then the kingdom of god comes, in that wordless silence which ends all literature, and I pick up Septology and flip around through it and look at my underlined bits and I think and I think that I don’t know if I like silence, and I start reading the words again
March 2, 2024
A beautiful & plodding story. I appreciate how the repetition allows for many different attempts to illustrate the presence of the divine. The deliberate Meister Eckhart references were noted. A much more approachable stream-of-consciousness novel than something like Ulysses.
February 8, 2024
Jag är golvad.
March 12, 2024
It's hard to "rate" this book for a couple of reasons. First, I have little doubt that it did exactly what Fosse wanted it to do and whenever it's obvious that that is the case I feel like the role of a "review" is reduced to almost nothing. If a book did what an author intended, who am I to say anything beyond whether I liked it or not. Second, reading Septology didn't feel like reading so much as experiencing - how does one rate that?
Taken out of any context, the writing of Septology was inarguably poor. The attempt at run-on-stream-of-consciousness has been achieved by other authors with much greater literary success; however, with the context of the main character's supposed consciousness layered back in, and a sprinkle of generosity offered Fosse, my argument against the writing style deflates almost to (again), did I like it or not (I very much didn't)
Septology was a hypnotic read in a way that Mathias Énard's Zone, for example, was not (to offer a similarly structured comp), though any other comparisons to Énard's masterpiece are best left unbroached here as Fosse's novel suffers considerably when compared to Énard's
Finally though, the overall conceit of Septology worked very well. I have not seen the idea of the sliding doors of life's choices done this way before - Fosse's construction was wholly original. The subtlety of each book's reveals worked very well, though that does bring me to my final judgement of the novel as a whole - what Septology does, it does very well, it just doesn't do nearly enough of it and the clunkiness of the writing doesn't hold up to the spareness of the goods
Taken out of any context, the writing of Septology was inarguably poor. The attempt at run-on-stream-of-consciousness has been achieved by other authors with much greater literary success; however, with the context of the main character's supposed consciousness layered back in, and a sprinkle of generosity offered Fosse, my argument against the writing style deflates almost to (again), did I like it or not (I very much didn't)
Septology was a hypnotic read in a way that Mathias Énard's Zone, for example, was not (to offer a similarly structured comp), though any other comparisons to Énard's masterpiece are best left unbroached here as Fosse's novel suffers considerably when compared to Énard's
Finally though, the overall conceit of Septology worked very well. I have not seen the idea of the sliding doors of life's choices done this way before - Fosse's construction was wholly original. The subtlety of each book's reveals worked very well, though that does bring me to my final judgement of the novel as a whole - what Septology does, it does very well, it just doesn't do nearly enough of it and the clunkiness of the writing doesn't hold up to the spareness of the goods
August 14, 2024
i can't believe he starved his dog for seven days
March 2, 2024
"I have only one picture, one single picture, and all the other pictures, both the ones I see and the ones I can't forget that get stuck in me, have something about them that resembles the one picture that I have inside me and that isn't something anyone can see but I do see some of what's in it, some of what's lodged inside me, yes" (28).
"I try to breathe from the thing that's most inside me, and I breathe in deeply and I say Christe inside myself and I breathe out slowly and I say Eleison and I tru to breathe from the thing that's there in my innermost place, from the picture that's there that I can't say anything about" (30).
"no one can say anything about God, but it is possible to think that without God nothing would exist, but because God isn't anything He is separate from the world of created things, where everything has a limit ... He's not a thing, in other words He's nothing, I say, and I that no thing, no person, creates itself because it's God who makes it possible for things to exist at all, without God there's nothing" (81).
"what's inside the eye, inside the person, doesn't go away, because there's God inside the person, it's the kingdom of God there, yes ... there inside the person is what will pass away and become one with what is invisible in everything, yes ... it's what makes the visible exist, but out of everything that exists it's only people in whom the invisible in the visible is so closely related to what's invisibly visible in everything else ... and it's that and nothing else that my pictures have always tried to show" (269).
"the spirit is a unity of body and soul, the way form and content are an invisible unity in a good picture, yes, there's a spirit in the picture so to speak, yes, the same as in any work of art, in a good poem too, in a good piece of music, yes, there is a unity that's the spirit in the work and it's the spirit, the unity of body and soul, that rises up from the dead" (404).
"we always always long for something and we believe that what we long for is this or that, this person of that person, this thing or that thing, but actually we're longing for God, because the human being is a continuous prayer, a person is a prayer through his or her longing" (464).
"and that's what culture is, probably, he says, it's probably just one person being like another person that creates a culture, for example wearing a suit or tie, while what art is, yes, art is everything just being like themselves, and totally themselves" (514).
"...and Meister Eckhart has thought almost everything I think before I did, I think" (614).
"I try to breathe from the thing that's most inside me, and I breathe in deeply and I say Christe inside myself and I breathe out slowly and I say Eleison and I tru to breathe from the thing that's there in my innermost place, from the picture that's there that I can't say anything about" (30).
"no one can say anything about God, but it is possible to think that without God nothing would exist, but because God isn't anything He is separate from the world of created things, where everything has a limit ... He's not a thing, in other words He's nothing, I say, and I that no thing, no person, creates itself because it's God who makes it possible for things to exist at all, without God there's nothing" (81).
"what's inside the eye, inside the person, doesn't go away, because there's God inside the person, it's the kingdom of God there, yes ... there inside the person is what will pass away and become one with what is invisible in everything, yes ... it's what makes the visible exist, but out of everything that exists it's only people in whom the invisible in the visible is so closely related to what's invisibly visible in everything else ... and it's that and nothing else that my pictures have always tried to show" (269).
"the spirit is a unity of body and soul, the way form and content are an invisible unity in a good picture, yes, there's a spirit in the picture so to speak, yes, the same as in any work of art, in a good poem too, in a good piece of music, yes, there is a unity that's the spirit in the work and it's the spirit, the unity of body and soul, that rises up from the dead" (404).
"we always always long for something and we believe that what we long for is this or that, this person of that person, this thing or that thing, but actually we're longing for God, because the human being is a continuous prayer, a person is a prayer through his or her longing" (464).
"and that's what culture is, probably, he says, it's probably just one person being like another person that creates a culture, for example wearing a suit or tie, while what art is, yes, art is everything just being like themselves, and totally themselves" (514).
"...and Meister Eckhart has thought almost everything I think before I did, I think" (614).
January 1, 2024
Haunting, hypnotic, mystical and meditative from cover to cover
February 18, 2023
This remarkable and surprisingly moving Norwegian epic is almost a love child between Knuasgaard's MY STRUGGLE and Lucy Ellmann's DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT (similarly contained in one sentence). But I'd argue that this masterwork is better than either of those two hefty epics. Seven novellas from a painter at the end of his days, each starting with a description of a St. Andrew's cross (two lines) that he is in the middle of and ending with a prayer. Asle is this dude's name. Ah, but there are many Asles here. There is the "I" Asle and the "he" Asle (sometimes referred to as the Namesake). Is the "I" Asle a ghost of sorts? Jon Fosse leaves any interpretation up to the reader. And honestly, given how Asle, in all of his forms, recalls the beauty of life (and his dead love Ales, an anagram of his name), we are left with breathtaking paeans to gratitude and the world around us. As an additional touch, Fosse ignores all names of places, referring to locations only as Food and Drink and The Cafe and The Country Inn (where Asle stays). And the resulting narrative is inexplicably mesmerizing and, to my sensibilities at least, more purposeful than Knausagaard. I really haven't read a work of fiction like this in sometime: one that is both real and surreal while sustaining an original stylistic approach. And can we also give Damion Searls a huge round of applause for the great care he took with this excellent translation? Really, if you're a literary geek, you're going to want to read this astonishing and humbling work.
March 9, 2024
...yes, how could I ever have painted my pictures without black? no, I don't understand it, because it's in the darkness that God lives, yes, God is darkness, and that darkness, God's darkness, yes, that nothingness, yes, it shines, yes, it's from God's darkness that the light comes, the invisible light...
...but they don't realize that it's a shining darkness they're seeing and they think it's something else, that's how it is, and even though I don't understand why it's at night, in the darkness, that God shows himself, yes well maybe it's not so strange, not when you think about it, but there are people who see God better in the daylight, in flowers and trees, in clouds, rats, in everything that exists, in everything that is, yes, there's something of God in everything, that's how they think, yes, they think God is the reason why anything exists at all, and that's true, yes, there are skies so beautiful that no painter can match them, and clouds, yes, in their endless movements, always the same and always different, and the sun and the moon and the stars, yes, but there are also corpses, decay, stenches, things that are withered and rotten and foul, and everything visible is just visible, whether it's beautiful or ugly, but whatever is worth anything, what shines, the shining darkness, yes, is the invisible in the visible, whether it's in the most beautiful clouds in the sky or in what doesn't die, the invisible is present in both what rots and what doesn't rot, yes, the world is both good and evil, beautiful and ugly..."
...but they don't realize that it's a shining darkness they're seeing and they think it's something else, that's how it is, and even though I don't understand why it's at night, in the darkness, that God shows himself, yes well maybe it's not so strange, not when you think about it, but there are people who see God better in the daylight, in flowers and trees, in clouds, rats, in everything that exists, in everything that is, yes, there's something of God in everything, that's how they think, yes, they think God is the reason why anything exists at all, and that's true, yes, there are skies so beautiful that no painter can match them, and clouds, yes, in their endless movements, always the same and always different, and the sun and the moon and the stars, yes, but there are also corpses, decay, stenches, things that are withered and rotten and foul, and everything visible is just visible, whether it's beautiful or ugly, but whatever is worth anything, what shines, the shining darkness, yes, is the invisible in the visible, whether it's in the most beautiful clouds in the sky or in what doesn't die, the invisible is present in both what rots and what doesn't rot, yes, the world is both good and evil, beautiful and ugly..."
December 30, 2023
Wow. An utterly immersive experience. I've never encountered a novel that so effectively mimics human thought processes. The Nobel committee truly summed this up best: Fosse succeeds in giving voice to the unsayable.
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