Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, a master of spare Nordic literature in a sprawling oeuvre that includes plays, novels and children’s books, won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for works that “give voice to the unsayable.”
Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel literature committee, said Fosse’s impressive output is rooted “in the language and nature of his Norwegian background.”
One of his country’s most-performed dramatists, Fosse said he had “cautiously prepared” himself for a decade to receive the news that he had won.
“I was surprised when they called, yet at the same time not,” Fosse, 64, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. “It was a great joy for me to get the phone call.”
The author of 40 plays as well as novels, short stories, children’s books, poetry and essays, Fosse was honored “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable,” according to the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize.
Fosse has cited the bleak, enigmatic work of Irish writer Samuel Beckett — the 1969 Nobel literature laureate — as an influence on his minimalist style.
