Karl Ove Knausgård on Literary Freedom

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2019

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What is Karl Ove Knausgård’s struggle, exactly? The answer is simple: achieving total freedom in his writing. “It’s a space where I can be free in every sense, where I can say whatever, go wherever I want to. And for me, literature is almost the only place you could think that that is a possibility.”

Knausgård’s literary freedom paves the way for this conversation with Tyler, which starts with a discussion of mimesis and ends with an explanation of why we live in the world of Munch’s The Scream. Along the way there is much more, including what he learned from reading Ingmar Bergman’s workbooks, the worst thing about living in London, how having children increased his productivity, whether he sees himself in a pietistic tradition, thoughts on Bible stories, angels, Knut Hamsun, Elena Ferrante, the best short story (“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”), the best poet (Paul Celan), the best movie (Scenes from a Marriage), and what his punctual arrival says about his attachment to bourgeois values.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded March 15th, 2019

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:08.4	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
0:12.6	Learn more at mercatis.org.
0:15.2	And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit
0:20.4	ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.
0:28.2	Hello, I'm here today with Karl Uwe-Kanalz-Kordt, one of the great writers of our civilization,
0:34.5	and he also has a new book coming out, which I enjoyed very much, called So Much Longing
0:39.3	and So Little Space, the art of Edvard Munge.
0:43.2	Karl, thank you for coming.
0:45.0	Thank you for inviting me.
0:46.9	You know, in book six of my struggle, you mentioned René Girard and that Memeces is a useful
0:52.2	concept for understanding human behavior.
0:54.9	How do you think about who or what you're trying to copy?
0:58.2	Who I am trying to copy?
0:59.2	Yes, if you believe in Memeces.
1:01.2	Hmm.
1:02.2	There was a tough first question I have to say.
1:06.3	How can I hook onto that?
1:08.3	I think, to several levels, you could just reply that, you know, that question.
1:15.6	First level would be whatever is related to literature, to the art of fiction, how to
1:21.1	tell a story, which is something you learn through reading, and you have to have that
1:28.0	for writing.
	...

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