New Delhi: The 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Norwegian author Jon Fosse on Thursday. Jon Fosse has been awarded the Nobel Prize “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”, the Swedish Academy announced.
“His immense oeuvre written in Norwegian Nynorsk and spanning a variety of genres consists of a wealth of plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books and translations. While he is today one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world, he has also become increasingly recognised for his prose," an official statement read.
“While he is today one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world, he has also become increasingly recognized for his prose. His debut novel Raudt, svart 1983, as rebellious as it was emotionally raw, broached the theme of suicide and, in many ways, set the tone for his later work,” The Swedish Academy statement added.
The 64-year-old author, who writes in the least common of two official versions of Norwegian, said he regarded the award as a recognition of the language.
"I am overwhelmed, and somewhat frightened. 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.
It is to be noted that Fosse's version of the language is known as "new Norwegian" and is used by only 10 per cent of the country’s population. The base of the language was the country’s rural dialects and was developed in the 19th century.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to author Annie Ernaux, for her autobiographical books examining memory and social inequality. She became the first French woman to win the world's most prestigious literary award.