Norwegian Playwright Jon Fosse Wins Nobel Literature Prize

Stockholm, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2023) The Swedish academy on Thursday awarded the Nobel Literature prize to Norway's Jon Fosse, whose plays are among the most widely staged of any contemporary playwright in the world.

He was honoured "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable", the Swedish Academy said.

"I am overwhelmed and grateful. I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations," Fosse said in a statement immediately after the announcement.

The chairman of the Nobel committee, Anders Olsson, told reporters Fosse had "come to be regarded as an innovator" through his "ability to evoke ... loss of orientation, and how this paradoxically can provide access to a deeper experience, close to divinity".

Fosse's writing is defined more by form than content, where what is not said is often more revealing than what is.

Often compared to Samuel Beckett, his work is minimalistic, relying on simple language which delivers its message through rhythm, melody and silence.

His major works include "Boathouse" (1989), which was well-received by critics, and "Melancholy" I and II (1995-1996).

Fosse, 64, had featured widely in Nobel speculation for several years.

"I've just spoken to Jon Fosse on the phone. It's not always that I'm believed when I call people up this way but he was prepared to trust me," Mats Malm, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, told reporters.