Karl Ove Knausgård

The America of the Soul. Essays 1996-2013

Sjelens Amerika. Tekster 1996-2013

Across 17 essays that span the author’s career to date, Karl Ove Knausgård meditates on themes familiar from his fiction – where the conscious and unconscious meet, the limits on privacy, his intense and intensely personal reading of literature, philosophy, and art history, and the gulf between and overlap of creative and daily lives.

As much as they impress for the enormity of their ambition, enterprise and their remarkable erudition, the essays in The America of the Soul demonstrate Knausgård’s trademark energetic self-scrutiny, and his deep longing – so familiar from My Struggle – fearlessly to experience the authentic reality of the world.

‘Knausgård’s essayistic capabilities are now world-famous, but it was only this year that his first collection of essays saw the light. … Staggering.’

Morgenbladet
Photo: Asbjørn Jensen

Karl Ove Knausgård published his first novel, Ute av verden, in 1998; it was the first debut novel ever to win The Norwegian Critics’ Prize. His second novel, En tid for alt (2004) was also a great critical success, published in English in 2009 and longlisted for the 2010 International
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

The autobiographical novel cycle Min kamp (2009-2011) – named ‘Scandinavia’s greatest literary event’ by Helsingin Sanomat – comprises six novels, the first of which was awarded the prestigious 2009 Brage Award. In 2011, the author received the Gyldendalprisen for his work.
Karl Ove Knausgård lives in Sweden.