Inadvertent by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Author:Karl Ove Knausgaard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2018-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

After I wrote this, I took a break and scrolled through the newspapers on my phone, and in one of them, the British daily The Guardian, there was a headline about one of my books. I never read reviews, not this one either, but the headline was enough to give me the general idea. It said “Sentimental, cliché, repetition.” I had no time to shield myself, it felt like a slap in the face. I fetched the children from school, picked up some takeaway for dinner, slept for an hour to clear my mind of recent events so I could start writing afresh, flipped through the news on my phone again, this time only the Norwegian news, thinking all was well, but there the review in England had already made the news, suddenly a headline flashed before me, “Knausgaard trashed by English critics: The book is a load of rubbish.”

I mention it because it confirms how I myself view my writing, though I always push the thought aside, for if I make room for it, it paralyzes my writing, my self-confidence evaporates, and the only way to get it back is by writing something unquestionably good and thoroughly thought out, which in turn ensures that nothing can reveal itself, it can only be revealed. The experience also casts a different light on everything I wrote earlier. With what right do I mention Munch and van Gogh? How stupid I was to compare hedgehogs to writing novels! Why should anyone listen to me talking about why I write when what I write is worthless?

But I mention it also because the way my books are received, how they are interpreted and discussed in the public sphere, is of course a decisive part of my identity as a writer, whether the reception is positive or negative, and thus becomes not only one of several factors influencing what it is possible to write but also an important part of my motivation for writing. It isn’t easy to talk about, for these are not honorable motives, on the contrary they are unworthy, even base—I’m thinking of revenge, of retaliation, of self-assertion, thirst for honor and rewards. But if I am to answer the question honestly, I have to include it.

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