Who is Jon Fosse; winner of The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023

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Who is Jon Fosse?, the man who once wrote a novel in a single sentence and the awardee of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2023. He is a Norwegian author. Fosse was awarded the prestigious prize for his “innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

“It is through his ability to evoke man’s loss of orientation and how this paradoxically can provide access to a deeper experience close to the divinity that Fosse has come to be regarded as an innovator,” said Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel Committee, during the announcement of the prize.

Who is Jon Fosse; Man who won the Nobel Prize in Literature for Work Probing 'Human Anxiety and Ambivalence' — Jon Fosse Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature for Work Probing ‘Human Anxiety and Ambivalence’ [Courtesy]

“The 2023 literature laureate Jon Fosse presents everyday situations that are instantly recognizable in our own lives. His radical reduction of language and dramatic action expresses the most powerful human emotions of anxiety and powerlessness in the simplest terms,” the award committee said.

“Septology,” is a single-sentence seven-novel sequence by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse. The novels are about an aging painter living on his own outside a remote village in Norway, with his doppelgänger leading a parallel existence elsewhere.

Who is Jon Fosse

Born in 1959 on the Norwegian West Coast, Fosse is one of the most recognized and widely performed playwrights. His work spans a variety of genres consisting of plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books, and translations. His debut novel “Raudt’, svart” (Red, Black) was published in 1983 and since then, his work has been translated in over 40 languages worldwide.

Fosse’s first play, “Og aldri skal vi skiljast” (And We’ll Never Be Parted), was performed and published in 1994. His other works include novels, short stories, poetry, children’s books, essays and plays.

In 2015, Fosse was ranked number 83 on the list of the “Top 100 living geniuses” by The Daily Telegraph.

In April 2022, his novel “A New Name: Septology VI-VII”, which was translated into English by Damion Searls, was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.

The 64-year-old lives with his second wife in Austria.

What is the Nynorsk Language?

While Fosse is the fourth Norwegian writer to get the literature prize, he is the first in nearly a century and the first who writes in Nynorsk, one of the two official written versions of the Norwegian language.

Norway’s Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson received the prize in 1903, Knut Hamsun was awarded it in 1920 and Sigrid Undset in 1928.

It is used by just 10% of the country’s 5.4 million people, according to the Language Council of Norway, but completely understandable to users of the other written form, Bokmaal.

In recognition of his contribution to Norwegian culture, in 2011 Fosse was granted use of an honorary residence in the grounds of the Royal Palace.

Facts about the Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually by the Swedish Academy to authors for outstanding contributions in the field of literature.

The Nobel Prize in Literature [Courtesy]

The Nobel Prize in Literature is the fourth award to be granted this week. The Literature Prize is followed by the highly watched awards in Peace and Economics.

Fosse, who received the call from the Nobel Committee while driving along the Sognefjord in the Norwegian countryside, expressed his gratitude in a statement issued by his Norwegian publisher, Samlaget. “I am overwhelmed and grateful,” he said. “I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations.”

Read: Who’s on the shortlist for the 2022 International Booker Prize?

List of Nobel laureates in Literature

The first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded in 1901 to Sully Prudhomme of France. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma, and a monetary award prize that has varied throughout the years.

As of 2023, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 120 individuals. The youngest laureate was Rudyard Kipling, who was 41 years old when he was awarded in 1907. The oldest laureate to receive the prize was Doris Lessing, who was 88 when she was awarded in 2007. It has been awarded posthumously once, to Erik Axel Karlfeldt in 1931.

Who did not accept the Nobel Literature Prize and why?

The 59-year-old author Jean-Paul Sartre declined the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he was awarded in October 1964. He said he always refused official distinctions and did not want to be “institutionalized”. Jean-Paul Sartre made known that he did not wish to accept the Nobel Prize in Literature, as he had consistently refused all official honors in the past.

When he received the award in 1958, Russian-born Boris Pasternak was forced to publicly reject the award under pressure from the government of the Soviet Union. In 1964,

Other Facts About the Nobel Prize in Literature

Seventeen women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the second highest number of any of the Nobel Prizes behind the Nobel Peace Prize. There have been four instances in which the award was given to two people (1904, 1917, 1966, 1974).

What is the controversy with the Nobel Prize in Literature?

Possibly one of the most genuinely controversial literature awards was assigned to Austrian writer Peter Handke, a known denier of the Bosnian genocide during the war in the Balkans in the 1990s and a close supporter of former Serbia’s president Slobodan Milošević.

Which Years were Nobel Prize in Literature not Awarded and Why

There have been seven years in which the Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded (1914, 1918, 1935, 1940–1943).

The 1914 Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded when the committee’s deliberations were upset by the beginning of World War I (1914–1918). Thus, the prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.

The 1918 Nobel Prize in Literature was withheld for the second time since 1914 because the committee’s deliberations were still disturbed by the ongoing War I. The war ended on 11 November 1918, a month after the annual announcement ceremony.

The 1935 Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded after the Swedish Academy decided that no author in the field of literature was a suitable candidate.

Read: Who is Narges Mohammadi; the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Who is Narges Mohammadi; the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

The Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded from 1940-1943 when the Nobel committee’s deliberations were upset by the start of World War II on September 1, 1939.

There have been three years for which the Nobel Prize in Literature was delayed one year: the prizes for 1915,1949 and 2018 were each awarded together with that of the following year in October of the following year.

As of 2022, there have been 29 English-speaking laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed by French with 16 laureates and German with 14 laureates. France has the highest number of Nobel laureates.