mcnallyjackson:

“I wish,” you whisper to yourself, as you fish around under your desk for that other pungent sneaker “George Saunders would write about archaeologists. In French.”

Fear not, oh sweaty-toed self-talker, Eric Chevillard’s Prehistoric Times is out in July, and is strange and hilarious in just that Saundersian measure.

mcnallyjackson:

The strangest thing just happened. The Gray Lady just ran a profile on the gentleman above, Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose incredible unforgettable work, [his brilliant novel A Time for Everything is here and the first book of his recently translated more-or-less-a-memoir My Struggle is here] has been the cause of many of my excitable spittle-spraying rants of late.

This means, of course, that now I’ll feel free to assume you know the guy. “Oh you know, this reminds me of that one passage from Karl Ove,” I’ll say. “Right, the one with the lustful teenaged fumbling!” you’ll answer.

Or, “Oh hey, see that seagull over there?” I’ll ask. “And you’ll rub your chin in feigned pensiveness and say “Oh yes. You know, seagulls never gave me weird oedipal shame/rage issues until I read … .” And then we’ll look at each other and squeal “K.O.K!” and high five and laugh and then think about how much we resent our children, just like Karl Ove would.

This photo, by the way? From some Norwegian tourism site. Because when one of the most beautiful men alive is writing indelible books about your country, you damn well put his photo everywhere.

penamerican:

How much is too much?

Norwegian writing sensation Karl Ove Knausgård has been meticulously documenting his life for years. His acquaintances flock to bookstores to find out if they have been included in his latest volume. Knausgård works closely with a lawyer to avoid legal entanglements, but isn’t afraid to stoke controversy. The title of his book deliberately references Adolf Hitler’s screed Mein Kampf, a work censored until recently in Germany, in a challenge for readers to think for themselves.

Knausgård’s My Struggle is a 3,600-page work in six volumes that focuses intensely on his personal life—from his father’s alcoholism and death to his own failed marriage—and raises compelling questions about ethics and surveillance in literature today. He participated in the 2012 PEN World Voices Festival.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Photo ©Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center

vintageanchor:

“Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.”
― W.H. Auden, New Year Letter

penamerican:

“For the heart, life is simple: it beats for as long as it can. Then it stops.”

(via Karl Ove Knausgård: My Struggle: Book One – PEN.org)

vintageanchor:

“A piece of writing is a dangerous thing,” he said. “It can change your life.”
―Tobias Wolff (born today in 1945)