It is difficult to hear the name of Karl Ove Knausgård (Oslo, 1968) and not associate it with My struggle. Those six autobiographical volumes became one of the literary phenomena of the 21st century. Of course, exposing in detail both his daily and private life and that of some of his closest circle earned him various legal complaints. Now, he returns to literature with a very different proposal, The Morning Star (Anagram), a novel in which the lives of its protagonists take a turn when a glow illuminates the sky on a summer night.
It has taken him nine years to return to fiction.
To write a novel you have to feel that you are ready and I, after finishing the volumes of My Struggle, was not. During this time I have been writing stories, the occasional essay and even a book on football. But starting with a novel was a task that I did not see myself with the heart to do. Because right now? I have felt the call, I imagine.
So exhausted did you let him write those autobiographical novels?
If I had known the repercussion they were going to have, I would not have written them. I wanted to do a small experiment and I thought that nobody would be interested in it. But everything was amplified to enormous proportions and that was the problem.
People close to him withdrew the word.
The hardest part was writing about other people. But, finally, I already did it. Of course, I do not want to repeat it. It was too painful. Fiction is kinder.
But he has not just detached himself from reality. Readers who know her will be able to see traits in some characters that correspond to her life.
I think this is something that happens to most writers. We impregnate our experiences in what we write. And what is most interesting to me about all this is to see how the characters that I have created myself digest my feelings in a very different way. Of course, some have cost me more to create than others.
For example?
Solveig. She is the nicest woman I will ever meet. She had been writing about myself for a long time and putting myself in the shoes of a nurse who radiates kindness was quite a challenge. It is not easy to give a voice to someone other than yourself and on top of another gender.
It is quite a challenge.
Of course. Although my biggest challenge has always been patience. I don’t have too much. And it’s a problem because to write and commit to a novel you need a lot.
But he did it.
What a remedy. I don’t know how to live without writing.
What was your inspiration? Both the mysterious star and the plagues that occur throughout the book have something biblical.
I will not deny that there is some note from the Bible. In fact, one of the stories drinks from Abraham and Isaac. But then I was also inspired by a book from the 15th or 16th century that talks about phenomena that have ever been observed: red skies that look like blood or hundreds of birds circling aimlessly. I thought it was a good idea to include these very visual ideas and for which we still cannot find an explanation.
Some time ago he said that he was writing a book about the devil. Was he referring to this one?
This book is part of a series. I have finished three and am writing the fourth. Everyone talks to a greater or lesser extent about the devil and little by little I am getting closer to that concept.
Death is also present in most stories.
It is something that unites us all. We are going to die at some point. There are no exceptions of age, class, race or gender. What we don’t know is when. This book and the ones that follow encourage the reader to ask some questions. What would happen if there was no death and we were immortal? There are many researchers who, with technology, try to find the magic formula for not aging and living longer. But would that be better for humanity and the planet? It is a debate that interests me a lot.
Is it something you think about often?
The truth is that no. Thinking about death all the time would drive us all crazy. But I was interested in addressing this idea from writing and trying to make the reader reflect.
Do you plan a long-term essay on this topic, beyond the one already included in the novel?
I think that for the next few years I will only think about making novels. Autofiction and essays have brought me a lot of headaches and I am already a 54-year-old man. I’m not for jogging.
