Mystik und Whisky

Jon Fosse is the mystic among writers. What lies behind things? What fundamentally defines a person? Such questions preoccupy the Norwegian, who was born in 1959 in the coastal town of Haugesund. His plays and novels create a hypnotic pull—this is also due to the fact that silence, the unspoken, is always as present in his work as the words themselves. With the Nobel Prize, Fosse has reached the pinnacle of literature. However, he previously experienced existential crises: a serious accident confronted him with death as a child, and as an adult, he fell into alcoholism. After a spiritual odyssey, he ultimately found his metaphysical refuge in Catholicism. Today, Fosse says, "Everything I write is a kind of prayer." Just before Christmas 2022, Martina Läubli and Linus Schöpfer met the writer for the first time in Oslo to discuss his writing, his faith, and his life. Following his Nobel Prize win, further meetings took place at Fosse's second residence in Austria. These conversations come together to form an impressive intellectual portrait.