Mar
4
Knausgaard: Oversharing?
March 4, 2015 | 2 Comments
As someone who labored through the first volume and a half of “My Struggle” by Karl Ove Knausgaard over the course of about six weeks this summer, I’m simultaneously thankful that this wasn’t included on our syllabus—so many pages!—and curious about the discussion we could have about this project and oversharing.
For those who aren’t familiar, Knausgaard is a Norwegian novelist who’s written a six-volume book (though only the first three volumes have been translated into English) that describes his life in minute detail. This New York Times piece is a great primer on the writer and his work.
In a way that connects Knausgaard to Sheila Heti’s book, which we will read later this semester, Salon published a piece about women writers and perceived oversharing that they tweeted in response to Knausgaard’s growing notoriety. While his work is intensely, excruciatingly personal, it is rarely labeled as oversharing. Heti’s book, as well as the work of Emily Gould (which I recently mentioned in connection with Destry’s paper ideas), frequently is labeled as such.
I think this gets at an interesting power dynamic that lies in oversharing, one that is rooted in gender, class, race, and identity. I’m really excited to further explore this in future weeks. And curious to see if anyone else has read Knausgaard and whether or not they think he’s an oversharer!
–Kathy
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Just a note: I was reminded of Knausgaard in general because he has an apparently enormous essay forthcoming in this weekend’s edition of the New York Times magazine. While it apparently clocks in at around 10k words and mostly describes sitting in a Hampton Inn in Canada, it might be a great entry point for people curious about Knausgaard who don’t want to commit to “My Struggle.”
Knausgaard is pretty daunting! That Salon article is amazing…I hope everyone in the class takes a look….