Knausgaard, Karl Ove

Entry updated 13 January 2025. Tagged: Author.

(1968- ) Norwegian author, who does not normally use the Norwegian spelling of his surname, Knausgård, for translated works; best-known for the sustained, multi-volume, dedicatedly nonfantastic, autofictional Min kamp ["My Struggle", echoing Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf (1925)] sequence beginning with Om høsten (2015; trans Martin Aitken as Autumn 2017) [the sequence is not included in Checklist below]. His first novel, Ute av verden ["Out of the World"] (1998; trans Martin Aitkin as Out of the World 2023), incorporates an extended narrative, explainable in sf terms but possibly delusional (or simply a dream) in the frame of the overall tale: in an Alternate World whose Jonbar Point is the survival of the Library at Alexandria, the protagonist of Out of the World, who may suffer from Amnesia, explores an environment whose central feature, a vast tower rising out of the ocean, has some purpose beyond the dreamer's grasp. In En Tid For Alt (2004; trans James Anderson as A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven 2008; vt A Time for Everything 2009), a young boy treks destructively Into the Woods until he is transformed by an encounter with Angels, who inspire him as an adult to rewrite world history to account for their shaping influence [for Angels and Into the Woods see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below].

Of more sustained sf interest may be the continuing Morning Star sequence beginning with Morgenstjernen (2020; trans Martin Aitken as The Morning Star 2021), in which an array of characters look up from their individual lives to see a sudden star in the sky, which seems to open the world to preternatural happenings, while at the same time it ignites a terrible heatwave (see Climate Change); it is soon universally understood to betoken the coming End of the World. The second volume, Ulvene fra evighetens skog ["The Wolves from the Forest of Eternity"] (2021; trans Martin Aitken as The Wolves of Eternity 2023), supplies backstory, beginning with the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl in 1986, and extending to speculative encounters in contemporary Russia. Det Tredje Riket (2022; trans Martin Aitkin as The Third Realm 2024) intensifies an Equipoisal sense that the star, which seems to have ended death, may be signalling a Transcendental outcome for the human species; an increasing pattern of references to Music, particularly to black-metal rock as a megaphone for occult messages, points to a sense that the overall tale may be a rendering of the music of the spheres. The series continues with Nattskolen ["The Night School"] (2023) and Arendal ["Eagle Valley"] (2024). [JC]

Karl Ove Knausgård

born Oslo, Norway: 6 December 1968

works (highly selected)

series

Morning Star

Morgenstjernen (Oslo, Norway: Oktober Forlag, 2020) [Morning Star: hb/]
- The Morning Star (New York: Penguin Press, 2021) [trans by Martin Aitken of the above: Morning Star: hb/Stephanie Ross]
Ulvene fra evighetens skog ["The Wolves from the Forest of Eternity"] (Oslo, Norway: Oktober Forlag, 2021) [Morning Star: hb/]
- The Wolves of Eternity (New York: Penguin Press, 2023) [trans by Martin Aitken of the above: Morning Star: hb/Stephanie Ross]
Det Tredje Riket (Oslo, Norway: Oktober Forlag, 2022) [Morning Star: hb/]
- The Third Realm (New York: Penguin Press, 2024) [trans by Martin Aitken of the above: Morning Star: hb/]
Nattskolen ["The Night School"] (Oslo, Norway: Oktober Forlag, 2023) [Morning Star: hb/]

individual titles

Ute av verden ["Out of the World"] (Oslo, Norway: Tiden Norsk Forlag, 1998) [binding unknown/]
- Out of the World (New York: Archipelago Books, 2023) [trans by Martin Aitkin of the above: hb/]
En Tid For Alt (Oslo, Norway: Forlaget, 2004) [binding unknown/]
- A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven (London: Portobello Books, 2008) [trans by James Anderson of the above: hb/from Giotto di Bondone, "The Dream of Joachim"]
  - A Time for Everything (New York: Archipelago, 2009) [vt of the above translation: pb/]

links

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