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Scenes from a Childhood — WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

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( 1,145 ratings, 197 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Scenes from a Childhood by Jon Fosse gently unfolds the life of a young boy growing up in rural Norway, highlighting moments that beautifully capture the innocence and introspection of youth. The narrative flows with poetic elegance, exploring themes of memory, family, and the passage of time, all set against the serene backdrop of the Norwegian landscape. Fosse's masterful storytelling provides a poignant and reflective look at how childhood experiences shape the fabric of our lives.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy evocative narratives that explore the nuances of childhood with lyrical prose and profound introspection. Jon Fosse, celebrated for his mastery in conveying emotion and atmosphere, invites readers to reflect deeply on memory, identity, and the passage of time. If you appreciate literature that combines poetic beauty with universal themes, this book might resonate with you.

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Scenes from a Childhood is the latest collection of stories by Jon Fosse, one of Norway's most celebrated authors and playwrights, famed for the minimalist and unsettling quality of his writing.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2023

In the title work, a loosely autobiographical narrative covers infancy to awkward adolescence, unearthing the moments of childhood that linger longest in the imagination.

In And Then My Dog Will Come Back To Me, a haunting and dream-like novella, a dispute between neighbours escalates to an inexorable climax. Taken from various sources, the texts gathered here together for the first time demonstrate that the short story is one of the recurrent modes of Fosse's imagination, and occasions some of his greatest works.

'Fosse has been compared to Ibsen and to Beckett, and it is easy to see his work as Ibsen stripped down to its emotional essentials. But it is much more. For one thing, it has a fierce poetic simplicity.' - New York Times

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Scenes from a Childhood by Jon Fosse receives praise for its poetic intensity and minimalist style, drawing comparisons to literary giants like Beckett and Pinter. Critics commend Fosse's ability to evoke deep emotional resonance with sparse prose, capturing the essence of childhood and the Norwegian landscape. The work is celebrated for its nuanced portrayal of a child's perspective, merging lyrical beauty with profound insight into human consciousness.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781910695531

Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 25 April 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Fitzcarraldo Editions

Contributors:

  • Translated by Damion Searls
  • Translated by Damion Searls

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 125.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 160

About the Author

Jon Fosse was born in 1959 on the west coast of Norway and is the recipient of countless prestigious prizes, both in his native Norway and abroad. Since his 1983 fiction debut, Raudt, svart [Red, Black], Fosse has written prose, poetry, essays, short stories, children's books, and over forty plays, with more than a thousand productions performed and translations into fifty languages. A New Name, the final volume in Septology, his latest prose work, will be published in 2021 by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

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    'If there's any metaphor I would use for the act of writing, it would have to be listening,' says Jon Fosse in A Silent Language, the lecture he delivered after being awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. When he writes, Fosse explains, he listens for texts that exist somewhere outside of himself in order to transcribe them before they...
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