Two Languages

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Alex Marshall, “Jon Fosse Wants to Say the Unsayable”, The New York Times, 7 December 2023

The perspective he gained in the moment of his accident, Fosse explained, made its way into his writing: “I often say that there are two languages: The words that I wrote, the words you can understand, and behind that, there’s a silent language.” And it’s in that “silent language,” he added, that the real meaning may lie.

In a lecture in Stockholm on Thursday, a ritual that all Nobel laureates observe before getting their awards, Fosse expanded a little on the idea of a silent language. “It is only in the silence that you can hear God’s voice,” he said. “Maybe.”

Essential Reading!

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Lee Rourke on Instagram, November 2023:

“It’s always an honour to have your work critically evaluated in print but when it’s written by Andrew Gallix it’s an honour like no other. This book is essential reading: its scope is astonishing. If you think seriously about the potential of literature and writing then this wonderful collection of essays is a must.”

 

Making Silence Speak

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Jon Fosse, The Observer, interview by Chris Power, 28 October 2023

Playwriting allowed Fosse to employ silence in a way he couldn’t in prose. ‘I could use the word “pause” a lot, and “he or she breaks off”, and somehow make the silence speak and establish a second silent language behind the spoken language.’ …’I think basically writing resembles drinking to me. When you drink you become someone a bit different, and you get rid of your normal self. And to me writing … it’s not to express myself, it’s to get rid of myself.’