[backfilled on or after 25MAY01]
Autumn, by Knausgaard, is a lovely book of carefully noted observations and connections made from memories, personal experiences, social order, and nature. It could not be more perfect for me and my writing right now. I am working on many of the same problems, such as how to develop an idea or experience without it becoming predictably formulaic. The short pieces are excellent examples of sharing an idea, a connection, a memory, a spiral of thought. One way to look at the essays is as many varied solutions to the challenge of maintaining diverse and interesting writing: starting from a general subject before moving to a specific experience of it, or beginning in a particular memory and then turning more generally to the subject and finishing again on some specific memory or precise detail. Of course Knausgaard is more than just these structural forms; mood and tone and register are all varied too. That’s just a taste, the short essay richly rewards closer reading. There are so many pieces that I enjoyed, plus I get an extra scoop when I go back to study those other non-narrative elements, the other textures of the writing. The short essay format is no hindrance to being profound or astonishing. It’s like I am not reading them but living them as he lived them. There is a lot of art to making it so effortless yet still feeling authentic and natural; it never feels like he’s playing a trick on me. Kudos to both Karl and the translator, Ingvild Burkey!
I can’t wait to read the remaining three in the quartet.
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Posted: in Reading.
Other categories: book-notes; notes.
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Tags that connect: [[Autumn]] The Mixed Diversions 50; [[Karl Ove Knausgaard]] The Mixed Diversions 50.
Tags only on this post: Knausgaard.