The acclaimed Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard will be in the US for the release of 'My Struggle. Book One', the first novel in a cycle of six. Also, Knausgaard have been invited to partake in the PEN World Voices Festival (April 30-May 6), the largest celebration of international literature in the United States.
The six novels of the My Struggle cycle can be read independently or as one hugely ambitious project. This breathtaking cycle has been the greatest literary sensation in Norway in decades, and the total print run has passed 400.000 copies for the first 5 volumes. The books have spurred a heated literary debate about the use of autobiographical elements in fiction, and about literary criticism in general. In addition to amazing reviews and several awards and nominations, this fascinating literary experiment has generated an enormous interest among journalists, critics and readers, resulting in hundreds of articles, commentaries, essays, blog posts and discussions.
Pen World Voices Festival, 2012
Writers from around the world convene in New York City to celebrate the written word in action. Engage with literature in bold and unexpected ways and discover how words can be amplified through music, theater, puppetry, film, and much more. Marking PEN American Center’s 90th anniversary, this year’s festival features performances, discussions, one-on-one conversations, and readings.
Events on PEN World Voices 2012 with Karl O. Knausgaard:
Messiah in Brooklyn
When: Saturday, May 5th
Where: Invisible Dog, 51 Bergen St., Brooklyn
What time: 8–9:30 p.m.
This event ties into Distorting (A Messiah Project, 13C), an art installation created by R. Justin Stewart and curated by Risa Shoup at The Invisible Dog Art Center. Writers will interact with a sculpture as they read about what we as humans are (or are not) perpetually waiting for. Teju Cole, Karl O. Knausgaard, Riikka Pulkkinen, and others will be reading.
A Literary Safari
When: Friday, May 4th
Where: Westbeth Center for the Arts, Westbeth Gallery, 57 Bethune or 155 Bank, New York City
What time: check-in begins at 6:30 p.m.; readings from 6.30–9 p.m.
Take an expedition to observe artists in their natural habitat as we take a rare peek inside Westbeth Center for the Arts Housing, the city’s oldest and largest artist community. Wander the hallways of this converted industrial space, map in hand, to find an entire evening’s worth of literary events. Enjoy intimate readings by Festival participants inside the homes of famous Westbeth residents and end the night hobnobbing over cocktails with your favorite authors at the event’s closing party inside Westbeth’s legendary gallery.
The New Censorship
When: Thursday May 3rd
Where: Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery St., New York City
What time: 6–7:30 p.m.
Is the aim of anti-piracy legislation tantamount to censorship? As corporations move to the forefront in the quest for control over information and its flow, the battle over censorship has changed, and its newest champions are found not in the statehouse, but in the boardroom. After a public outcry against industry-backed copyright and anti-piracy bills in both the House and Senate, PEN invites a panel of authors to discuss their perspective as creative writers and published authors.
More on 'My Struggle. Book One':
A Norwegian Marcel Proust. This nerve-striking, addictive piece of hyper-realism, by the Norwegian Critics' Prize-winning author of A Time For Everything, has created a phenomenon throughout Scandinavia.
Almost ten years have passed since Karl O. Knausgaard's father drank himself to death. He is now embarking on his third novel while haunted by self-doubt. Knausgaard breaks his own life story down to its elementary particles, often recreating memories in real time, blending recollections of pain and family moments with profound questions in a devastating way. Written as though his very life were at stake, Knausgaard probes into his past, dissecting struggles (immense and small) with great candor and vitality. He strikes nerves. Articulating universal dilemmas, this masterpiece opens a window into one of the most original minds writing today.
"Painful, touching, honest, and full of insight... It's like Knausgaard turns himself inside out and shows that side of himself that no man ever shows to anyone."—Zin Magazine (Netherlands)
"This autobiographical novel sneaks up on you and gets under your skin. The 43-year-old Norwegian describes his inner battles in a unique and painfully accurate way. What a beautiful novel."—Esta (Netherlands)
"Karl Ove Knausgaard achieved a huge success with his autobiographical series of novels."—De Morgen (Netherlands)
"A literary rock star... An unprecedented literary project."—HP/DeTijd (Netherlands)
"Knausgaard hits bull's eye with his autobiographical novel, My Struggle."—Trouw (Netherlands)
"Certainly, Knuasgaard's strength lies in his detailed descriptions of nature and the human psyche. But it is the gravity and truth occurring between the lines that makes this text authentic and necessary."—WUZ (Italy)
"Knausgaard has thrown himself into an insane project, with a disdain for conventions that only true geniuses are able to obtain... My Struggle is a literary victory."—Affari italiani (Italy)
"This is a deeply touching book, free of taboos, its evocative descriptions bombarding the reader with questions."—NDR Kultur (Germany)
"Karl Ove Knausgaard's sentences have a magical pull that is difficult to escape."—NDR 90.3 (Germany)
"In his rendering of factual events, Knausgaard is a consistently realistic narrator. His reflectins, on the other hand, are of seething intelligence and have an almost hypnotic effect."—WDR 5 (Germany)
"Knausgaard's thinking is magnificently unbridled."—Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)
"The personal material is a rope around the neck, a knife in the heart. Nevertheless, the book is so full of magic... My Struggle is fierce and clever, and a fiercely clever read."—Kristeligt Dagblad (Denmark)
"Knausgaard is a remarkable storyteller, who in flashes of memory staurated in emotion, breathes life into the traumas of the past... A shockingly good book."—Ekstra bladet (Denmark)
"The further into this work you get... the more it strikes you what a thought-through and devious work this is."—Weekendavisen (Denmark)
"The Norwegian public have fallen on their knees in awe for this ambitious author, and with good reason... Knausgaard's realism and literary skills are... raw and fearless."—Information (Denmark)
"Knausgaard's sharp pen cuts deeply. However we, those who are not involved, can be nothing but delighted by how masterfully Knausgaard succeeds in creating a work of art out of what is personal and private."—Berlingske Tidende (Denmark)
"Knausgaard's novel is a pure delight to read... We are talking here of literature: essays, reminiscences and fiction of the finest kind."—Politiken (Denmark)
"One can say with quiet confidence that Knausgaard's third novel, My Struggle, is an historic novel... Like other reviewers before me, I shower it with superlatives and award six stars after reading the first installment."—Jyllands-Posten (Denmark)
"Knausgaard is huge, not only in the number of pages, but as a writer and a researcher of mood."—Politiken (Denmark)
"Knausgaard's hypnotic flow has such haunting qualities... is so consumed by its ambition to reach the core of existence through writing, that I absolutely have to read the [rest]."—Expressen (Sweden)
"The vast majority of novels are competently written. Then there are a number that are really good. And finally there are a few that are unnerving, completely engrossing, artistic experiences. Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle is in the final category."—Goteborgs-Posten (Sweden)
"A very promising struggle... You are not many pages into the first volume before the narrator hooks you in—without you even really noticing it."—Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)
"Autobiographical or not, Knausgaard depicts his upbringing and human understanding with great literary qualities."—Mari Nymoen Nilsen, VG (Norway)
"Knausgaard's crazy six-volume project begins in the best possible way."—Morten Abrahamsen, VG (Norway)
"An absolutely unique reading experience, written with intensity and ambition."—Guri Hjeltnes, VG (Norway)
"A fantastic, trailblazing literary project!"—Ingvar Ambjorsen, VG (Norway)"An obsessive reading experience surpassing most others in its ambition and execution."—Ane Farsethas, Dagens Naeringsliv (Norway)
"The obvious Norwegian number one of the year will, with his definitive 'masterpiece of reality', make a deeper impressin than most others this decade."—Per Kristian Bjorkeng, Afenposten (Norway)
"Brilliant start to a giant autobiographical novel cycle.... The whole concept is horrendously risky, but on the page Knausgaard transforms this risk into tension of the most outstanding character."—Ingunn Okland, Afenposten (Norway)
"Many people have read My Struggle in the same way as we watch television series: insatiable, in continuous fresh helpings, imprinted on our own daily lives day by day, month by month... There are still new ways for literature to exist in the world."—Trygve Riiser Gunderson, Dagbladet (Norway)
"Neither surpassed nor equaled... Beautiful prose and profound humanity."—Kaare Bulie, The Critics' Favorites of 2009, Dagbladet (Norway)
"My Struggle is an immensely comprehensive, well written exposure of the author's personal life and an existential literary experiment without parallel in Norwegian literature... Knausgaard writes about the contemporary collective repression of death, and he succeeds exceptionally well."—Klassekampen (Norway)
"[My Struggle] is simultaneously so painful and of such sensationally high literary quality that it further illustrates what an unrivalled positions Knausgaard occupies in contemporary Norwegian literature."—Kulturtips, Dagbladet (Norway)
"Knausgaard takes a chance and succeeds in writing about his subject matter as though he is the very first person to write about it... An author with such colossal ambitions, and such great talent to live up to them."—Morgenbladet (Norway)
"Knausgaard's intense, hungry prose propels the reader forward... A fantastic novel... I cannot say anything other than that I am looking forward desperately to the rest of it."—Dagsavisen (Norway)
"The most important question is: after reading the first 450 pages of Karl Ove Knausgaard's 2,700-page novel based on his own life, do you want more? The answer: YES!"—Dagbladet (Norway)
"A relentless book, that embellishes nothing, but also a sincere quest, which proves that raw life, if told well, can yield a beautiful story."—de Volkskrant (Netherlands)
"Knausgaard writes enormously well. He writes with intensity and presence … The author has a remarkable ability to make seemingly trivial and boring matters glow."—Hufvudstadsbladet (Sweden)
"Between Proust and the woods — allow yourselves to be seduced by a Norwegian life […] Like granite; precise and forceful. More real than reality."—La Repubblica (Italy)
"I can't stop, I want to stop, I can't stop, just one more page, then I will cook dinner, just one more page..."—Vasterbottens-kuriren, Sweden"A tremendous piece of literature."—Politiken (Denmark)
"A rare achievement. No one in his generation equals Knausgaard's combination of talent, style, observational skills, and original thinking."—Dagens Naeringsliv
"Complex, abundant, shocking."—Aftenposten