The entirety of Jon Fosse prolific career as a playwright has been collected by his Norwegian publisher Samlaget in five volumes, Plays 1-5. Plays 1 is an excellent introduction to Jon Fosse’s unique linguistic style. He writing is at once poetic and naturalistic, emphasising the love and pain of ordinary people seeking to live their lives.
Someone is Going to Come (written in 1992)
And We’ll Never Be Parted (written in 1993)
The Name (written in 1994)
The Child (written in 1995)
Mother and Child (written in 1996)
The Son (written in 1996)
Nightsongs (written in 1997)
Jon Fosse
Tove Breistein
Jon Fosse is widely considered one of the world’s most important living writers, with an ability to touch readers across time and place. Born in 1959 in Strandebarm, a small village in the western part of Norway, he lives today in the Grotten, an honorary residence in Oslo bestowed for life by the King of Norway, as well as in Hainburg, Austria, and Frekhaug, Norway. Fosse is an unusually prolific writer. He debuted in 1983, and has since published novels, volumes of poetry, essay collections, and children’s books. His work has now been translated into more than 40 languages and his plays performed more than a thousand times around the world. In whatever genre he is writing in, Fosse’s language is poetic and existential, rhythmic and lyrical.
