After several years of decline in the standard of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Swedish Academy in Stockholm surprised literature lovers this year with a heavyweight name in modern literature, the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse (1959), two of whose novels had previously been presented by The New Arab; His seventies, “The Other Name,” and “Trilogy,” which were published by “Dar Al-Karma,” translated by Sherine Abdel Wahab and Amal Rawash (all of his works were translated into Arabic, in addition to his novel “Morning and Evening,” by the same publisher and signed by the same translators). The two articles shed light on what distinguishes his writing from the way he narrates, his use of the technique of multiple voices, and the importance of his flowing narrative. There is no doubt that Yon Fossa’s victory will restore some of the luster that it lost to the award, especially in recent years, with singer Bob Dylan winning the award in 2016.
As for what the Academy statement indicated that the motivation behind awarding him the award was “his innovative plays and prose that gives voice to what cannot be said,” the matter seems somewhat exaggerated, and this is due to several reasons. It is certain that Jon Fosse has a unique and special literary voice, but history is almost non-existent in his works, whether modern or ancient Norwegian history, and as for his high human treatment, it can be said that it is not critical in the political sense, unlike the Austrian writer of Dutch origin Thomas Bernhard ( 1931 – 1989) for example, and Fosse himself transferred some of his works to Norwegian, especially since the human composition in Fosse’s works is primarily artistic, and does not enjoy political or social criticism, but rather remains artistically sentimental.
The sublime humanistic treatments in his literature are uncritical in the political sense
It cannot be denied that Fosse’s writing is extremely innovative. I read his most important works, such as “The Seven,” “The Trilogy,” “Morning and Evening,” “Melancholy,” “Alice in Hell,” and “The First Volume of the Plays,” and I admit that I enjoyed reading them very much, and it is of course important and serious writing, but “ He gives a voice to what cannot be said.” This is a saying that needs a little reconsideration. He is not Henry Miller, for example, who actually said what cannot be said, and gave an actual voice to what cannot be said, and was “a thorn in America’s side.”
Fosse wiped away the accumulated dust from the image of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and restored to it some of its luster, which was awarded to the most important writers of our time such as García Márquez, Faulkner, and Thomas Mann, and it is also the prize that was not awarded to the most important writers such as William Gaddis, Thomas Bernhardt, and Borges. These are inevitable drawbacks, especially since the award cannot always be fair like all awards in the world, especially since it is mostly confined to European countries, as we only see a winner from Africa or the Far East once every two decades.
* A writer from Palestine
