“I am overwhelmed and grateful. I see it as an award for literature that above all aims to be literature, without other considerations,” Fosse said in a statement. “I was surprised when they called me, but not that surprised either,” he added to the Norwegian public channel NRK.
Born on September 29, 1959 in the city of Haugesund (southwest), Fosse is a versatile writer who is not very accessible to the general public.
However, he is one of the living authors whose plays are most performed in Europe.
Often compared to Samuel Beckett, Fosse’s work is minimalist, based on simple language that conveys its message through rhythm, melody and silence.
Fosse emerged as a playwright on the European stage with his play “Someone’s Going to Come.”
He also became known for “Naustet” (1989, not translated into Spanish), which earned him critical acclaim, and “Melancolía” I and II (1995-96), another of his great works.
His name had been circulating for years among the favorites to win the award.
When he heard the news, “I was driving through the countryside, towards the fjord north of Bergen in Norway,” Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, said after the announcement.
“We had the opportunity to start talking about practical issues and Nobel week in December,” he added.
Great variety of genres
“His immense body of work written in Norwegian Nynorsk (one of Norway’s written linguistic forms) and spanning a wide variety of genres consists of a large number of plays, novels, poems, essays, children’s books and translations,” stated the jury.
“Although today he is one of the most represented playwrights in the world, he is also increasingly recognized for his prose,” he added.
His works have been translated into around 50 languages.
According to his Norwegian publishing house Samlaget, his works have been performed more than 1,000 times around the world.
“My books are not read for the plots,” he told the Financial Times in 2018.
“I don’t write about characters in the traditional sense of the word. I write about humanity,” Fosse also told the French newspaper Le Monde in 2003.