Norwegian author Jon Fosse takes the ‘just one more page’ feeling to a whole new level in The Other Name: Septology I-II.
Location: set in Norway
The Other Name: Septology I-II synopsis
The Other Name: Septology I-II, a major new work by Jon Fosse, one of Europe’s most celebrated writers, follows the lives of two men living close to each other on the west coast of Norway. The year is coming to a close and Asle, an ageing painter and widower, is reminiscing about his life. He lives alone, his only friends being his neighbour, Åsleik, a bachelor and traditional Norwegian fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in Bjørgvin, a couple hours’ drive south of Dylgja, where he lives. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter. He and the narrator are doppelgangers – two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life.
Written in hypnotic prose that shifts between the first and third person, The Other Name calls into question concrete notions around subjectivity and the self. What makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another? With The Other Name, the first volume in a trilogy of novels, Fosse presents us with an indelible and poignant exploration of the human condition that will endure as his masterpiece.
Book review
What is it about a book-long sentence that makes you keep reading without stopping? Before I knew it I was on page 40 of Asle’s monologue about life, revisiting the same scenes over and over again with Waiting for Godot-like dialogues. Through Asle’s eyes, we read about Christianity, alcohol, and loneliness, while he muses about his painting featuring the St. Andrews Cross that symbolizes the two intersecting lives of him and the other Asle. As long as I am reading, the narrator keeps thinking, repeatedly mentioning he’s driving north while I am getting to know him and the other Asle better.
There are no sentence breaks in The Other Name: Septology I-II, just commas, and question marks. While reading I am longing for a break and looking forward to the dialogues providing respite from the neverending sentence. I almost wrote my review like that as well, but that might have been unpleasant to read, though Jon Fosse manages to write smoothly without sentence breaks. It is easy to keep track of the narrator’s thoughts, but the moment you put the book down you feel like you have to start over.
As you are reading someone’s fleeting thoughts, they don’t stay with you. With every page I turn, my memory refreshes itself and every time stop reading to get a drink my memory gets a hard reset. What stays with me is the thought of driving north, towards the spot where the two lines of the St Andrews Cross intersect.
The narrator’s thoughts absorbed mine, I think, because he keeps telling me “I think”. I’m longing for a break but he won’t let me go, just like you can’t easily stop thinking by wishing it. The narrator considers helping the other Asle but keeps driving north instead because he can’t stand to see him suffer. “I should’ve stopped and then taken him with me out into life, yes, so he could live a little, yes, but instead I kept driving north like I wasn’t worried about him, like I was in such a hurry to get away from him, because I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t see Asle lying there”.
As the narrator blends with and separates from the other Asle, we follow along. When his thoughts clear, ours do too and we gasp for air pretending there is a pause somewhere. Jon Fosse’s skill to make us part of the story and put us where he wants us to be is impressive, yet somewhat exhausting. His writing style brings Vaseline Buddha by Jung Young-moon to mind. I won’t be picking up another book without sentence breaks anytime soon, as I don’t find it very pleasant to read, in fact, I find it more tiresome than illustrative. The story told in The Other Name: Septology I-II would have been just as strong with regular interpunction.
I didn’t find this book entertaining and wouldn’t recommend it. If I hadn’t read the same type of book before I might have appreciated The Other Name: Septology I-II more instead of constantly thinking not this again, please don’t do this for 200 pages. If it had only been a 40 pages story I would have rated it with 4 stars. I settled for three because of the concept and story. Two stars for the experience though.
Translated from Norwegian by Damion Searls.
Interested?
You can get your copy of The Other Name: Septology I-II from Amazon.
Dear Kim,
”I didn’t find this book entertaining and wouldn’t recommend it”
I do not believe the word review is right for this blogpost stating your opinion. I was curious why you would rate this book three stars, instead I read ”I am longing for a break” and ”it wasn’t entertaining”. Do you have any foundation for your rating besides this? Perhaps something about the book itself? Any form of critical theory?
Next to that it is quite obvious that the synopsis is a poorly-copied rewrite of the blurb of the book.
A pity
Hi N,
My reviews are first and foremost a reflection of my reading experience, meaning an opinion. How would you rate a book that you don’t enjoy reading yet is not badly written and even does some things that you do appreciate?
My synopses are always copies of blurbs; why would I try to write my own when the publisher’s synopsis is much better at selling the book?
Kind regards, Kim