Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023, shared his reflections on the act of writing before a packed hall at the FÓLIO - International Literary Festival of Óbidos. Fosse confessed to having a peculiar "gift": "I have a strange feeling that everything is written somewhere and I just have to take note," he stated, explaining that he "simply start and let it flow."
The author, with over 70 books published, revealed that his works, such as the "Trilogy," emerge spontaneously. "I didn't prepare what was going to happen," he said, adding that "I made the human, real question shine through, but when they asked me who the characters were and where they came from, I didn't know." Fosse explained that when he starts writing, he needs to "find my way" and that "another language emerges" to address "the unsayable."
A childhood accident at the age of seven marked Fosse's desire to become an artist, which he described as an "almost death experience." "I saw myself outside my body," he recounted, noting that "in certain parts of ‘Trilogy,’ I see myself like that." For the writer, "literature is transcendence, it is reaching another level, it is greater than life," and "I don't write to express myself, but to escape myself."
Fosse described writing as a refuge, something that protects him since he started at age 12. "It's a safe harbor within me, where I take refuge," he explained. Although he experimented with alcohol to overcome creative blocks, he found that "to write truly well I have to be sober," as his writing "requires precision" that is lost after a glass of red wine.
The Nordic author emphasized that "writing is a journey towards the unknown, but we have to feel free to go in any direction." He mentioned that, despite periods of fear of getting lost, writing "is bringing something that didn't exist before." Fosse, who converted from the Lutheran Church to Catholicism, concluded that "it's all a mystery. We have to accept that."
