In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Så tæt på livet som muligt: Perspektiver på Karl Ove Knausgårds Min kamp ed. by Claus Elholm Andersen
  • Olivia Noble Gunn
Så tæt på livet som muligt: Perspektiver på Karl Ove Knausgårds Min kamp. Ed. Claus Elholm Andersen. Hellerup: Forlaget Spring, 2017. Pp. ix + 287.

Så tæt på livet som muligt: Perspektiver på Karl Ove Knausgård’s Min kamp (As Close to Life as Possible: Perspectives on Karl Ove Knausgård’s My Struggle) is the first anthology of literary criticism on Knausgård’s six-volume novel. The anthology’s editor, Claus Elholm Andersen, notes that several of the essays were first presented at a symposium at Helsingfors University in November 2015. He adds that additional essays, especially by non-Nordic authors, serve to broaden the discussion beyond the more familiar Nordic context. Every essay, however, is either written in or has been translated to a Scandinavian language. Andersen writes, “Den nordiske sprogpluralisme er med til at understrege, at Knausgård som forfatter er et fællesnordisk anliggende på en helt annen måde end andre nutidige forfattere” (p. 16) [Nordic language-pluralism is employed to emphasize that Knausgård as an author is a common Nordic concern in a totally different way than other contemporary authors].

In his editor’s foreword, Andersen insists that the anthology represents a collection of differing perspectives rather than a particular approach to Knausgård’s monumental novel: “Det er ikke ét bestemt synspunkt, der forfægtes i antologien. I stedet præsenteres en række forskjellige og til tider endda uforenelige synspunkter side om side” (p. 12) [The anthology [End Page 293] does not defend one definite perspective. Rather, a series of different and at times irreconcilable perspectives are presented side by side]. A reviewer for the Copenhagen daily Politiken insists that the anthology is not “helt vellykket” [entirely successful], specifically because it does not live up to Andersen’s claim for diverse and diverging perspectives (Mikkel Krause Frantzen, “Bogen om Knausgårds ‘Min kamp’ går fra det kloge til det forvrøvlede,” Politiken, https://politiken.dk/kultur/boger/art6019539/Bogen-om-Knausg%C3%A5rds-Min-kamp-g%C3%A5r-fra-det-kloge-til-detforvr%C3%B8vlede, accessed February 27, 2018). Many of the essays, Krause Frantzen asserts, are dominated by the concept of autofiction and refer to internal debates; thus, they are too “tidstypiske” (Frantzen, “Bogen om Knausgårds ‘Min kamp’”) [typical of the times]. Finally, then, Politiken’s reviewer wishes that the book were something other than what it is: “Hvor ville det have været tiltrængt med lidt mere intern uenighed på kryds og tværs” (Frantzen, “Bogen om Knausgårds ‘Min kamp’”) [What a relief it would have been with a little more internal disagreement in all directions].

This reviewer prefers to focus on what the book is and can do, rather than on what it is not. The quality of being tidstypisk is not necessarily a weakness. In fact, in this case, it can be a definite strength, especially in terms of usefulness. That is, the reader who makes her way through the essays in Så tæt på livet som muligt will have an excellent understanding of the debates, points of fascination and inspiration, and scholarly certainties and bewilderments that have constituted the initial academic reception of Knausgård’s Min kamp. Andersen includes a brief summary of the general subject matter of all thirteen essays in his foreword. For the sake of length, interest, and specificity, I focus here on just four essays. Some Knausgård fans consider Min kamp to be a game changer, which demands that we take another look at what we thought constituted fiction and the novel. Although I consider myself a fan, I admit to not being convinced that Min kamp represents a major paradigm shift. The four essays that I discuss below are examples of research on Knausgård that do not dwell at length on the formalist characteristics of autofiction or make claims for radical innovation (Knausgård as post-postmodern breakthrough). Instead, they explore Min kamp as an identifiable work of fiction within the lineages of Western...

pdf

Share