STOCKHOLM: The Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse was awarded by Swedish Academy with Nobel literature prize on Thursday, whose plays are among the most widely staged of any contemporary playwright in Europe.
Swedish Academy said that Jon Fosse was honoured for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.
The writing of Fosse is defined more by form than content, where what is not said is often more expressing than what is.
Often compared to Samuel Beckett, the writer’s work is minimalistic, relying on simple language which presents its message through melody, rhythm, and silence, according to AFP.
His major works include “Boathouse” (1989), which was well-discussed by critics, and “Melancholy” I and II (1995-1996).
Jon Fosse, 64, had been discussed widely in Nobel speculation for many years.
The jury said that Foose’s immense oeuvre written in Norwegian Nynorsk and spanning a variety of genres consists of a wealth of novels, poetry collections, plays, essays, children’s books and translations.
It said that while he is today one of the most widely performed playwrights, Jon fosse has also become increasingly recognised for his prose.”’
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize comes with a medal and a prize sum of eleven million Swedish kronor (about 1 million dollars).
In 2022, the award went to French feminist icon Annie Ernaux, best-known for her deceptively simple novels drawing on personal experience of gender and class.
The Swedish Academy has long been criticised for the overrepresentation of Western white male authors among its picks.
It has undergone major reforms since a devastating #MeToo scandal in 2018, promising a more global and gender-equal literature prize.
Since the scandal, it has honoured three females — US poet Louise Gluck, Annie Ernaux, and Poland’s Olga Tokarczuk — and three males — Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, Austrian author Peter Handke, and Fosse.
Fosse will receive the Nobel from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist Alfred Nobel.
