The 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Norwegian playwright and author Jon Fosse (born 1959) "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable". He is the fourth Norwegian recipient of the prize.
Jon Fosse was born in 1959 in Haugesund on the west coast of Norway. His bibliography includes plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children's literature and translations.
Fosse's plays Namnet (1995; The Name, 2002), Natta syng sine songar (1998; Nightsongs, 2002), Draum om hausten (1999; Dream of Autumn, 2004), and Dødsvariasjonar (2002; Death Variations, 2004) explore the existential themes of human emotion, paradox, experience of divinity, and vulnerability with language and modernist artistic techniques. [Fosse] cites Vesaas, Beckett, Bernhard and Trakl as influences for his work. He is regarded as the most performed Norwegian playwright after Henrik Ibsen.
According to the site Nicer Odds, who compile odds from various betting sites, the favourites to be awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature were the Chinese author Can Xue and Jon Fosse. Other top betting favourites included Australian Gerald Murnane, Canadians Anne Carson and Margaret Atwood, Russian Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Kenyan Ngugi Wa ThiongâÂÂo, Romanian Mircea CÃÂrtÃÂrescu, American Thomas Pynchon, Indian-born British-American Salman Rushdie, Japanese Haruki Murakami, Argentinian César Aira, Chilean Raúl Zurita, Korean Ko Un, French Michel Houellebecq and Pierre Michon, Antigua-American Jamaica Kincaid and French-Guadeloupe Maryse Condé.
Minutes after the prize announcement, Carin Klaesson interviewed Nobel Committee chairman Anders Olsson. Asked as to why Fosse was selected as the 2023 laureate in Literature, he explained:
"I am overwhelmed, and somewhat frightened. I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations" was Fosse's first reaction. Fosse told NRK that he was "surprised but also not" to have won the prize "I've been part of the discussion for 10 years and have more and less tentatively prepared myself that this could happen".
Interviewed by Manisha Lalloo, a correspondent of the Nobel Prize's Outreach, Fosse expressed that he was greatly surprised when he won the prize even though he was used to being on the betting list speculations. Fosse was driving at the time on his way to Frekhaug, a village on Norway's west coast near the city of Bergen, when permanent secretary Mats Malm called him to inform he was this year's Nobel laureate. Malm told him that if he did not believe it he could watch the television and watch the announcement.
Asked as to how he spent his first day as a laureate, he responded: Fosse made mention of one particular reader, a Greek woman, who wrote a very touching email to him saying that his play Dødsvariasjonar (Death Variations) was "the reason she was still alive otherwise she would have already parted." He also gave advice to aspiring writers, saying:
Jon Fosse was one of the favourites to win the prize in 2023, and had been tipped to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for the last ten years. The choice was generally well received. "He is an exceptional writer, who has managed to find a totally unique way of writing fiction", publisher Jacques Testard said. "A rather introverted and tricky writer," Swedish literary critic Per Wirtén commented on SVT, "...I think it's a great choice."
Egyptian-Sudanese novelist Tarek Eltayeb posted on Facebook about Fosse's victory, expressing his happiness "to get acquainted with a name worthy of attention." While jeering Fosse as a writer of "domestic literature", Iraqi writer Azher Jerjis also critiqued, saying
King Harald V of Norway sent a personal message heartily congratulating Fosse for being awarded the Nobel Prize. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre also wrote a message to Fosse on X (formerly Twitter): "A great recognition of outstanding authorship that makes an impression and touches people all over the world. All of Norway offers congratulations and is proud today!"
On 18 October 2023, Pope Francis sent a personal letter to Fosse, expressing salutations and his appreciation on his "ability to evoke Almighty God's gifts of grace, peace, and love in our often darkened world will surely enrich the lives of those who share the pilgrimage of faith." Concluding with the assurance of the Pope's prayers and a blessing, the Pope also added that Fosse's "gentle testimony of faith and committed literary voice will now reach a wide-ranging audience."
Being a convert to Catholicism, Catholics in Norway celebrated Fosse's Nobel Prize, hoping the honor could bring a recognition to the Catholic faith in an entirely Protestant country. Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig of Oslo said in a statement that honoring Fosse was the best news for Norway's Catholics, adding that he was pleased the writer, while not "seeing himself as an apologist," was "bearing witness to his faith." Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim said
Norwegian Academy president, Nils Kristian Heyerdahl, also a Catholic convert, said Fosse has been a well established writer before becoming a Catholic, but had always included a religious dimension in his work â "not in the form of intrusive opinions, but as a mysterious presence in the language." Gregory Wolfe, publisher and editor of Slant Books, commented of Fosse's victory, saying:
Fosse became the second Norwegian Catholic author to win the Nobel Prize after Sigrid Undset in 1928.
Jon Fosse delivered his Nobel lecture on 7 December 2023 at the Swedish Academy. Entitled The Silent Language, he spoke about the difference between spoken language and written language and the use and effect of silence in his works.
At the award ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, Anders Olsson, chair of the Swedish Academy's Nobel committee said:
The Swedish Academy's 2023 Nobel Committee is composed of the following members: