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Melancholy Paperback – November 1, 2006

by Jon Fosse (Author), Grethe Kvernes (Translator), Damion Searls (Translator)

3.8 13 ratings

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Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2023

"Melancholy" takes us deep inside a painter's fragile consciousness, vulnerable to everything but therefore uniquely able to see its beauty and its light.

Print length

284 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Dalkey Archive Press
Publication date

November 1, 2006
Dimensions

5.58 x 0.85 x 8.54 inches
ISBN-10

1564784517
ISBN-13

978-1564784513
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nineteenth-century Norwegian artist Lars Hertervig painted luminous landscapes, suffered mental illness and died poor in 1902. In this wild stream-of-consciousness narrative, Fosse delves into Hertervig's mind as the events of one day precipitate his mental breakdown. A student of Hans Gude at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, Germany, Hertervig is paralyzed by anxieties about his talent and is overcome with love for Helene Winckelmann, his landlady's 15-year-old daughter. Marked by inspiring lyrical flights of passion ("I walked into her light") and enraged sexual delusions, Hertervig's fixation on Helene persuades her family that he must leave. Oppressed by hallucinations and with nowhere to go, Hertervig shuttles between a cafe, where he endures the mockery of his more sophisticated classmates, and the Winckelmann's apartment, which he desperately tries to re-enter. The novel's second section finds Hertervig lost in madness and planning an escape from Gausted Asylum in Norway; a brief and less satisfying coda reveals the life-transforming consequences of Hertervig's art for a late–20th-century writer named Vidme. Fosse's prose, which often affects a childlike quality, might put off some readers, but many gorgeous passages and Fosse's pursuit of the "glimmer of the divine" in art make this a powerful book. (Nov.)
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About the Author

Called the new Ibsen in the German press, and heralded throughout Western Europe, Jon Fosse is one of contemporary Norwegian literature s most important writers. In 2000, his novel Melancholy won the Melsom Prize, and Fosse was awarded a lifetime stipend from the Norwegian government for his future literary efforts.

Damion Searls is a writer in English and translator from German, French, Dutch, and Norwegian. Searls has translated writers including Ingeborg Bachmann, Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke, Christa Wolf; his translation of Hans Keilson's "Comedy in a Minor Key"was a New York Times Notable Book of 2010 and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist in Fiction.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dalkey Archive Press; Translation edition (November 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 284 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1564784517
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1564784513
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.58 x 0.85 x 8.54 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,366,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25,988 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #90,400 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.8 13 ratings

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Jon Fosse
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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.
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Damion Searls
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Damion Searls is the author of "The Inkblots": a scientific and cultural history of the Rorschach test and the first biography ever of its creator, Hermann Rorschach. He has also written fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; translated thirty books from German, French, Norwegian, and Dutch; and produced an abridged edition of Thoreau's "Journal" and an experimental edition of Melville's "Moby Dick." www.damionsearls.com
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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5

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Sir Gearhart

Great Pick for Those Looking For A Change of Pace

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2020

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This book was highly atmospheric in a way very few English-speaking authors can produce. Some might feel that the prose is repetitive, but each sentence is like a brushstroke on a painting. It might seem like the movement of the stroke is exactly the same in movement and color, but it adds texture and minuscule differences in shade. So with Melancholy, each sentences builds on the last one to create the final picture.

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2023

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You really have to be into Fosse to get through this book (which I didn't do). I prefer Knausgard any day.

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Andrew Daubigny

Style in lieu of substance

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2023

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That anyone considers this good writing or a good book astonishes me. Even if by reading only every fourth or fifth sentence one reduces the numbing repetitions (eliminate all and book disappears) , what’s left are microscopically thin characters and plot: a not so interesting short story inflated through repetition into a “novel.” If that’s not inflation enough, the author has expanded his meager goods into a trilogy. Yikes! To you who say this is great literature I say: no, it is nothing but an hyper-extended mannerism, which I suspect characterizes the author’s entire oeuvre.

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Steven N. Good

do not ignore this title

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2008

I don't want to spend my time writing this review. But I have to counter, the negative review. the book was patient, beautifully vague, and insightful.

8 people found this helpful

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The Big Al

Norwegian God Writes Luminous Stream of Consciousness Prose

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2019

Fosse is a god in Norway. He has a lifetime sinecure and lifelong housing. Start with Scenes from a Childhood, which is more accessible than his stream of consciousness narratives, and make your way, after Trilogy, to this one. It's luminous but deeply interior. You'll thank the Norse gods and goddesses if you acquaint yourself with his poetic prose and his plays, Damian Searls does a good job translating the Norwegian into English.

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Jose Toledo

Poor rendition of an interesting story

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2008

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If you want to read repetitive prose that is witty, rhythmic and intelligent pick up any of Gertrude Stein's books. If you want to know what the stream-of-consciousness style is all about refer to Virginia Woolf or James Joyce. This book is a poor and annoying imitation of them. If you take out all the unnecessary, page-filling, repetitions this "novel" would become a pamphlet illustrating the workings of an obsesive, possibly deranged, mind; of interest, perhaps, to pop psychology enthusiasts. The story of Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter of beautifully luminous landscapes, is lost somewhere in the mind of the author. The "glimmer of light" does not shine through!

3 people found this helpful

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Melancholy Paperback – November 1, 2006

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Jon Fosse

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