Scenes from a Childhood

by Jon Fosse, Damion Searle (Translator)

Scenes from a Childhood is the latest collection of stories by Jon Fosse, one of Norway’s most celebrated authors and playwrights, famed for the minimalist and unsettling quality of his writing. In the title work, a loosely autobiographical narrative covers infancy to awkward adolescence, unearthing the moments of childhood that linger longest in the imagination. In ‘And Then My Dog Will Come Back To Me’, a haunting and dream-like novella, a dispute between neighbours escalates to an inexorable climax. Taken from various sources, the texts gathered here together for the first time demonstrate that the short story is one of the recurrent modes of Fosse’s imagination, and occasions some of his greatest works.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Nobel Prize, Literary Fiction, Literature, Contemporary, Scandinavian Literature

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Jon Olav Fosse was born in Haugesund, Norway and currently lives in Bergen. He debuted in 1983 with the novel Raudt, svart (Red, black). His first play, Og aldri skal vi skiljast, was performed and published in 1994. Jon Fosse has written novels, short stories, poetry, children's books, essays and plays. His works have been translated into more than forty languages. He is widely considered as one of the world's greatest contemporary playwrights. Fosse was made a chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite of France in 2007. Fosse also has been ranked number 83 on the list of the Top 100 living geniuses by The Daily Telegraph.

He was awarded The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable".

Since 2011, Fosse has been granted the Grotten, an honorary residence owned by the Norwegian state and located on the premises of the Royal Palace in the city centre of Oslo. The Grotten is given as a permanent residence to a person specifically bestowed this honour by the King of Norway for their contributions to Norwegian arts and culture.

Reviews

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jon Fosse is a leading Norwegian writer and often tipped as a potential winner of his home country’s Nobel Prize - which 5 years after I wrote this he has just won (not I think it is fair to say for this effort).

Fitzcarraldo (the rightly renowned small press, and the recent winner of the 2018 Man Booker International Prize with “Flights”) have published this selection of some of Fosse’s shorter work Ahead of its publication (in three volumes) of the translation of his latest novel.

Now it a cliché when viewing modern art to say “my child could have painted that” – one I often feel but avoid saying as I don’t pretend to be anything other than a Philistine in modern art.

I perhaps flatter myself that I have reasonably sophisticated tastes in literature (albeit with a liking for Neal Stephenson and George RR Martin). I was after all a judge on the Republic of Consciousness Prize whose short list was described as “more radical” than the Goldsmith prize by the Guardian.

The first part of the book is “Scenes from a Childhood”- which contains a number of short, disconnected, narrative pieces which are partly fictionalised versions of his childhood memory.

Here is one such example in full.

ASLE WANTS A DOG OF HIS OWN

On Sundays when he was little Asle and his parents used to go for walks. They used to walk past a little house and the man who lived there had a little white dog with black spots. Whenever they walked past the house the dog leaped over Asle, who patted it and talked to it. Asle wants a dog for himself so badly but his mother says he can’t have one. Asle wants a dog of his own.

Now I don’t think I am exaggerating to say that this would be quite a reasonable effort for my 8 year old.

In case though there is any doubt of Fosse’s dark Nordic credentials a number of the stories feature either copious bleeding or a sudden death. This actually becomes so predictable as to be laughable – for example I started a short 1.5 page story about Fosse’s memories of his grandparents and thought I wonder if his grandfather will die or his grandmother accidentally cut off her leg. Sure enough at the book’s end we are told he finds his grandmother crying because his grandfather is dead – I actually, I am afraid, laughed out loud.

The collection finishes with what is to be fair to Fosse a children’s story (“Little Story”), although one which is extremely simple and I could only imagine reading to a very young child, and even then it is without the clever rhythm or rhyme which distinguishes the best stories for that age group.

Interestingly though it’s clear that Fosse has incorporated many of the elements of Scenes from a Childhood – so I realised perhaps I was being unfair and Scenes from a Childhood was more simple working notes (albeit I have no idea why anyone would choose to publish them).

However I then moved on to his more conventional work – for example a short story Dreamt on Stone. Here is an excerpt:

And then you say. And then there was someone who said something to me and I tried to get up but I couldn’t ,and then there was someone who said something to me and I tried to get up. And then I stood there. And then I opened a door. And then I went in the door and shut it behind me. And then, you say. And I say that I don’t remember anything and then I remember that I woke up and I was lying inside on the floor. I got up. I was standing. I walked. And then? you say. I thought I had to go lie down.

Now I can imagine one of my children writing this – I cannot imagine them actually giving it to their teacher as I would simply tell them to rewrite it.

Hopefully Fosse’s novels are very different to this book – and it is best regarded as the literary equivalent of one of those compilations of outakes, B-sides and experimental songs by famous artists which are sometimes published (although I think one that would have best been published after a translation of his more refined work).

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something about Jon Fosse that I can’t seem to get out of my head? Mystical? Spiritual? Repetitive? Mesmerizing? Simple and yet, oh so deep? Disturbing and oddly different? Maybe it’s that French word, délicieux? Delightful, divine, supremely good, superb, wonderful.

Whatever it is you can find all these attributes in these five short stories published here. “Scenes from a Childhood” is a reflection of Fosse’s own childhood, but it’s novelized. Factual and story blends together. If you have read Septology then it’s all here, just told “differently.” They are scenes, like a movie or a play, we get just enough information as the story unfolds.

The masterpiece in my mind is “And then my dog will come back to me.” This horror story tells the story of a person, who dog is allegedly killed by a creepy neighbour down the street. Revenge with a capital “R” unfolds in that hypnotic manner. We almost side with the narrator but our better judgment holds us back.

The other three stories, “How it started,” “Dreamt in stone,” and “Little sister” all complete his ideology and views. Great snippets on his writing style.

If you haven’t read Fosse, this is a good starter piece. If you have read his masterpiece Septology, then this is a reminder that the Nobel committee made the right choice.

[Ringa Sruogienė · Rating 3 out of 5]

Labai trumpi sakinukai. Kapoti. Su pasikartojimais. Kapotais pasikartojimais. Pasikartojimais sakinukuose. Labai trumpuose sakinukuose. Labai trumpuose.
arba kaip tik labai ilgi sakiniai, kurių pradžiose nėra didžiosios raidės, ir kur tiek daug kablelių, tiek daug kablelių, kiek ir pasikartojimų daug tuose ilguose sakiniuose, kuriuose daug kablelių, sakiniuose, kurių pradžiose nėra didžiosios raidės, bet yra pasikartojimų.
Nesužavėta... Priminė vaikystėje skaitytą knygą apie kažkokį Gustą, kur tas sugalvoja rašyti kino scenarijų, pasiima lapą, žiūri pro langą, nieko nevyksta, nieko parašyti nepavyksta.

[Hugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading The Other Name: Septology I-II was one of my personal highlights of this year's Booker International longlist. This short collection seems rather slight by comparison, but it is still an interesting read, and is to some extent complementary. For me the most impressive piece, and also the darkest, is the novella "And then my dog will come back to me".

[Miglė · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nobelio literatūros premija reikalinga tam, kad plačioji visuomenė paskaitytų biškį kitokių knygų, negu būna leidyklų topuose, o skaitydami galvotų: "Ale už ką čia tas Nobelis?.."
Change my mind.

O jei rimtai, knygos pavadinimas tiksliai atitinka jos pirmąją, ir man labiausiai patikusią, dalį.
LABAI LABAI paprasti ir paprasta kalba surašyti vaikystės / paauglystės vaizdeliai, skaitant beveik kelia abejonę "tai kur čia literatūra?", bet man kaip tik patiko tas maksimalus apvalymas nuo literatūriškumo, autentikos ieškojimas kiek priminė kitą nobelistę Annie Ernaux, tik Ernaux labiau spaudžia ir reflektuoja, o Fosse lieka tik aprašymo lygmenyje, kas tas situacijas paverčia lyg ir atpažįstamomis.

Antra dalis apie sesutę kiek žodingesnė, irgi faina, nors mane kiek suglumino, kad atsikartoja pirmoje dalyje minėtos situacijos.

Trečia dalis sugadino nuotaiką. "Paprastiems kaimo žmonėms" gimsta vaikas, ir žodžiai, žodžiai, ir sakiniai nesibaigiantys, ir puodas verda, ir vaikas papo ieško, o dabar iš kūdikio perspektyvos pažiūrėkime, o tėvas štai galvoja, kaip dukterį reikia parsiplukdyti, vat ir į to žmogaus pasaulį reikia įsijausti, ir į ano, ir grįžta ta "literatūra", kurios nebuvimas taip džiugiai nuteikė pirmoje dalyje.

[Edita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jaučiasi toks vienas. [...] jaučiasi toks vienui vienas. Ir jis visada liks toks vienas, pagalvoja ir priglaudžia galvą prie sesutės peties, o ši uždeda ranką jam ant pilvo. Jis visada bus vienišas, galvoja ir klausosi sesutės alsavimo, kaip ji įkvepia Ir iškvepia, kaip jos alsavimas vilnija it bangos, it žolės stiebeliai vėjyje, pirmyn ir atgal, viskas siūbuoja pirmyn atgal kaip bangos, vienišai kaip bangos.
*
Jaučiu, kad gyvenime, koks jis yra dabar, trūksta kažko labai svarbaus.
*
[...] bet jis niekada ir nesuprasdavo tų moterų, mat jos žino kažką, ko jis niekada nesupras, kažką, ko jos nepasakys ir tikriausiai negali pasakyti, nes tai neišsakoma žodžiais.

[Ugnė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man labai patinka istorijos, kuriose gali būti nepaminėtas nei vienas jausmą įvardinantis žodis, tačiau jį lengva pajausti iš visos atmosferos. Toks pasakojimo būdas šiek tiek primena dokumentiką, tačiau tik iš pažiūros atrodo, kad faktai čia svarbiausi:

Kirvis

Vieną dieną, kai jį aprėkia tėvas, jis nueina į malkinę ir paima ten didžiausią kirvį, atneša į svetainę, atremia į tėvo krėslą ir paprašo tėvo nusižudyti. Kaip ir galima tikėtis, tėvas įsiunta dar labiau.

Visgi čia knyga ne kiekvienam, nes atrodo, kad nėra jokios intrigos ir gal tada ir jokio tikslo, ir kam iš viso tą rašyti reikėjo. Tačiau leidus sau įsijausti ir susitapatinti, galima nukeliauti ir savo asmeninių istorijų keliais, nes Norvegijoj ar Lietuvoj, kaime ar mieste, mes visi buvom vaikai ir paaugliai su savo norais, baimėm ir jausmais.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023-jų metų literatūros Nobelio nugalėtojo apsakymų ir apysakų rinkinys.
Kai kurie apsakymai/vaizdeliai priminė Lietuvos rašytojų M. Martinaičio biografinius užrašus, R. Lankausko istorines noveles. Štai ši pirmoji knygos pusė man labai tiko ir patiko. Parašyti apsakymai paprastu, bet ne prastu stiliumi, gal tik „Sesutėje“ ir "Taip viskas prasidėjo" man pritrūko mozaikos dalių.

O štai apysakoje „Rytas ir vakaras“ jau jaučiamas autoriaus modernesnis ateities stilius. Skaičiau jo garsiosios septologijos pirmąją knygą („The Other Name“), kuri man ir buvo labiausiai apie stilių.
Ir kad ir kaip man būtų įdomi „Ryto ir vakaro“ stilistika, bet mirimo/ kėlimosi iš vieno pasaulio į kitą tema man atrodo aprašyta iš pradžių visai žaviai, link pabaigos išsikvėpė ir pati pabaiga man buvo banaloka.

[Fantastiškų KŽL · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://knyguziurkes.wordpress.com/20...

[Matthew Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

141st book of 2023.

2.5. Really worth it for the short novella, And Then My Dog Will Come Back to Me, which is a feverish, running sentence like his Septology that feels in the vein of Crime and Punishment. The fragments or 'scenes' from childhood were mostly bad. For example,

BICYCLE AND GUITAR CASE
Asle was riding around on the roads on his mother's old bicycle, he'd repainted it blue. He almost always had a guitar case in his hand. s he rode the bike his long hair fluttered behind him.

That's it. Or,

I ALWAYS AGREE WITH THOSE WHO DISAGREE
I understand that some of what matters, most is missing from our lives. So there needs to be a revolution.

That's also it. Fosse was apparently trying to capture childhood and its essence. I guess he was going for simplicity. It didn't pay off. It's only a three-star because of the novella.

[امیرمحمد حیدری · Rating 5 out of 5]

بی���نظیر بود، واقعاً یکی از بهترین داستان‌هایی که تا به‌حال خواندم. متن فوسه، یک سرگیجه، یک اکو، یک مارپیچ وحشتناک داشت که تک‌تک احساسات کاراکتر اصلی را تا عمق وجود به آدم فرو می‌کند و چاره‌ای جز احساس‌کردن‌شان نداری. تکرار لغات، تکرار افکار و جملات، هیچ‌کدام حوصله‌سربر یا اذیت‌کننده نیستند، بلکه کاملاً در جهت القای آن دیوانگی خاصی‌ست که کل کتاب را در بر گرفته.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jon Fosse is one of Norway's leading writers, often cited as a Nobel Prize contender (if that prize is ever awarded again) and while perhaps best known as a playwright is prolific and praised across many mediums: poetry, children's books, novels and short stories.

Norwegian literature is perhaps, per capita, my favourite in the world, and Damion Searls, the translator of this book, who learned Norwegian to read Fosse in the original, set some of the greats in context in an article in The Paris Review:

I think of the four elder statesmen of Norwegian letters as a bit like the Beatles: Per Petterson is the solid, always dependable Ringo; Dag Solstad is John, the experimentalist, the ideas man; Karl Ove Knausgård is Paul, the cute one; and Fosse is George, the quiet one, mystical, spiritual, probably the best craftsman of them all.

That is a bit harsh on Per Petterson (and perhaps also on Ringo) and it did make me wonder who would represent The Rolling Stones: Lars Saabye Christensen, Jan Kjærstad, maybe Roy Jacobsen)

The wonderful Fitzcarraldo Editions - Britain's finest publisher? - will present Fosse's latest work Septology in three volumes, starting in 2019, but in the meantime, Scenes from a Childhood is a good introduction to the writer's shorter works.

It consists of 5 pieces originally written between 1987 and 2013.

The first in this volume, Scenes from a Childhood (1994) perhaps seems the least typical. Fosse explained in an interview in 2017:

In writing Scenes from a Childhood, my goal was to write about my own childhood, what actually happened. That turned out to be impossible for me. What I wrote was similar to my own experience in some ways, but not a single one of these pieces ended up being entirely accurate. I cannot help writing fiction.

I also decided that if the book were published, the texts would appear as written, without revising or reordering the pieces, or removing any of them.

The resulting 57 page work consists of individual pieces mapping episodes from the narrator's childhood, for example:

POTATOES AND ONIONS

I am sitting in the living room with my grandmother. Since she’s recently got a new radio, I sit and turn the dial from station to station, and on one of the stations there’s usually music you can’t hear anywhere else, slow music with long dark guitar solos, no singing, no big fuss, music that just is, and between these slow dark guitar solos someone speaks a language I don’t know, in any case it’s not English, I can understand a little English and it’s a language I don’t like.

I find the station where they play those long dark guitar solos, and I sit in front of the radio and listen. My grandmother, who I love, is sitting in the armchair where she usually sits, she’s looking out the window, I don’t know at what, but she’s sitting there looking out at the fjord, I think, anyway I always look at the fjord when I sit in that chair. I’m listening to the slow dark guitars. My grandmother sits looking out at the fjord.

Are you hungry? my grandmother asks.

I nod and my grandmother says that since it’s Saturday she can make what they used to make on Saturday evenings when she was little, then she goes to the kitchen. I listen to the slow black guitar music. I hear the fat start to sizzle in the frying pan. I lean against the kitchen door and see my grandmother standing in front of the kitchen sink chopping onions.

Bacon and eggs, potatoes and onions, my grandmother says.

I go back into the living room. I sit down in the chair in front of the window and look out at the fjord. I hear the sizzling from the frying pan and the slow guitars.

(from an excerpt at Asymptote Journal)

The prose here is relatively simple. The following, much shorter, piece How it Started (1987), while again a coming of age story, is less episodic and the prose more involved. And in the third, Dreamt on Stone (2013), the text is almost hypnotic, Krasznahorkaiesque (if I can be permitted a neologism):

Shards of stone, these stones too, small stones, shining in the grey fog. They shone weakly but they shone, and then the light gathered and I saw that I was lying on a sofa. I stood up. I went out a door. I shut a door behind me. I walked. I stood waiting for a bus. It was hard to stand. And then it fell apart again. I was lying on a sidewalk. I suddenly knew I was lying on a sidewalk. Somebody came running. He helped me up. I was standing. I tried to get on a bus but another man came running and said that I couldn’t go by bus, this was not a bus for someone like me, the man said. I asked if I couldn’t just sit down on the bus, but no, no, this wasn’t a bus for someone like me, he said. I asked the driver, it was a woman, and she smiled and shook her head. She said nothing, or maybe she said no. And then, I think it happened like this if I’m not misremembering, the man who had helped me to my feet came and took me to a car, a taxi. He put me in the taxi and I sat down and the driver and I drove off. The man driving said that he often thought about nothing, how nothingness is in everything. Nothingness is in everything, the taxi driver said.

(from an earlier translation Searl did for Granta)

And Then My Dog Will Come Back to Me (1991) is a 57-page novella telling in deliberately repetitive and breathless prose the first person account of a violent dispute between two neighbours, and, in contrast, the last Little Sister (2000) was originally published as a children’s book, a limited third-person narrative from the perspective of an overly adventurous 4 year-old boy.

Overall, the work was an interesting introduction to Jon Fosse, and one that has left me looking forward to his coming work, but this particular collection, rather like the title story, was perhaps too fragmentary.

3.5 stars

[Tommi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it says something about my reading experience that I put the book down when I had 10 pages left and only picked it up now some three months later in order to demolish the currently-reading pile that’s been staring at me all this time. Feeling good now. Oh right, the book. The short stories in Scenes from a Childhood demonstrate a variety of writing styles, from very short and simple pieces (chiefly in the “slice-of-life” tradition) to e.g. one in which a feverish paragraph goes on for nearly 20 pages. In general, Fosse’s sentences are really short and to the point with no subclauses whatsoever.

Ultimately nothing quite struck me, and there was an overall feeling of an author trying quite hard to emulate different kinds of prose styles established by other authors. I could obviously be wrong. I am willing to give Fosse (and his translator Damion Searls) another chance and look forward to his upcoming Septology, the first parts of which Fitzcarraldo will publish later this year.

[Loki · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories capture the disturbing aspects of love and childhood very precisely. The dog story in particular is fantastic; the character's odd state of mind is conveyed right from the beginning, with the seamless repetition and circularity being exceptionally effective. Every story is good, though, and Fosse obviously relives his life in each.

I have now resolved to learn Norwegian, because his work can only be better in the original.

[Ilona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mažos jaukios istorijos. Ir kiekvienoje - po aštrų žeidžiantį akmenėlį.

[Juan Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primer libro de relatos que leo del autor; no todos los cuentos me gustaron, pero los que sí son maravillosos. Rescato particularmente "El cabello de Line" y "Ya puede venir el perro".

[Katinas Čiobrelis | knygos, kelionės ir kiti įdomūs dalykai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Idomi, tokia savotiska knyga, grynai skandinaviska. Nezinau ar del to, kad skaiciau su pertrauka ar kaip, bet pirmos dalies vargiai beatsimenu, nors patiko kazkiek, norejau deti vienoki ivertinima, bet paskutinis apsakymas viska istempe i aukstesni ivertinima.

[Mohaaaamin]

چقدر استاده این آقای یون فوسه!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why not? he thinks, and he looks over at the tall grass, all the long blades of grass, green and pointy, and he walks over to the grass and the grass is taller than he is, maybe he should walk into the grass? he thinks, yes, he could do that, he thinks, and he steps between the first blades of grass and they hang over his head, green and pointy, and he walks further into the grass and in some places the grass is so high it towers far above his head, and then, when he's in the middle of it, he stops and looks through the blades and all he can see are blades of grass, nothing else, as far as his eyes can reach only blades of grass, green blades, and then he sits down and up above him the green grass waves back and forth, it's like he has a roof up there, a green roof over his head, he thinks, and he lies down and he lies there and he looks up at the sky; it is not a bright blue, it's a soft and yet dark blue, that's what it looks like, and far, far up above is a soft cloud, almost not even a cloud anymore, just a few wisps of cloud moving up above his head the whole time and divided into lots of parts by the blades of grass above his head, and the blades of grass move gently

(grassy transcription for Molly & Caleb)

[Alex O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving this one another shot!

Update. So glad I gave this one another shot. The micro fiction wasn’t the strongest of Fosse that I’ve read by any means, but I really enjoyed the rest of it. Some very touching and visceral stories.

[verda neverda · Rating 4 out of 5]

baigiau šįryt ir tariausi garsiai, bus gera diena.
ką ten bus - jau.
nuostabus Rytas ir vakaras, vos blankesni (bet ne blankūs, viešpatie!) kiti apsakymai, gražūs trumpukai iš vaikystės.
tikrai, kažkas tarp mirties ir vaikystės, tai kas, kad kartojuos - kartočiau ir dar, rytą ir vakarą.

[Meysam]

نگارش یون فوسه در این نوولا نمونه‌ای از سبک مینیمالیسم رادیکال (radical minimalism) اوست که با انتخاب آگاهانه و دقیق واژگان، به خلق فضایی منحصربه‌فرد و تأثیرگذار دست می‌یابد. جملات کوتاه و غالباً تکرارشونده، فراتر از یک انتخاب صرفاً زیبایی‌شناختی، به‌عنوان ابزاری روایی عمل می‌کنند که ضرب‌آهنگ (rhythm) متن را شکل داده و خواننده را به عمق جریان سیال ذهن شخصیت اصلی فرو می‌برند. این ساختار زبانی، با تکرارهای وسواس‌گونه، نه‌تنها بازتاب‌دهنده‌ی حالات روانی راوی -گرفتار در چرخه‌ای از اندوه، خشم و میل سوزان به انتقام- است، بلکه با ایجازی هوشمندانه، هرگونه پیچیدگی زبانی غیرضروری را حذف می‌کند تا خواننده روی شدت احساسات شخصیت متمرکز بماند.
فوسه با این تکنیک، موسیقی خاصی به متن می‌بخشد که نه‌تنها کشمکش درونی شخصیت را تقویت می‌کند، بلکه خواننده را به‌گونه‌ای درگیر روایت می‌سازد که گویی خود در گردباد عاطفی داستان گرفتار شده است. این رویکرد، که امضای سبک فوسه را تشکیل می‌دهد، گواهی بر توانایی او در تبدیل سادگی ظاهری به ابزاری قدرتمند برای کاوش در پیچیدگی‌های روان انسان است.

بعد سگم برمی‌گردد پیشم، متنی است که در لایه‌های گوناگون فلسفی، روان‌شناختی و ادبی می‌توان به آن نزدیک شد. محور داستان در ظاهر ساده است: قتل یک سگ و انتقام صاحبش. اما پشت این طرح مینیمال، دنیایی پیچیده از معنا، فقدان و شکنندگی روانی نهفته است.

تراژدی اصلی نه در خودِ عمل قتل، بلکه در تجربه‌ی انزوای رادیکال راوی قرار دارد. سگ برای او تنها یک حیوان خانگی نیست، بلکه همان «دیگری» (the Other) است که حضورش زندگی را معنادار می‌سازد. با مرگ سگ، جهان معنادار فرو می‌ریزد و راوی در خلأ پوچی و تهی‌بودگی گرفتار می‌شود. در چنین شرایطی، انتقام نه صرفاً واکنشی احساسی، بلکه نوعی «طغیان اگزیستانسیال» (existential revolt) است؛ تلاشی تراژیک برای بازپس‌گیری عاملیت (agency) در جهانی بی‌اعتنا. قتل همسایه، به‌مثابه «انتخاب در دل پوچی» (choice in absurdity)، بازتاب این آزادی پارادوکسیکال است: انسان حتی در تاریک‌ترین لحظات نیز محکوم به انتخاب است.

از منظر روان‌شناسی، رابطه‌ی راوی با سگش بازتابی از وابستگی ناایمن (insecure attachment) و جابجایی عاطفی (emotional displacement) است. سگ در این روایت نه یک همراه ساده، بلکه ابژه‌ی انتقالی (transitional object) و تکیه‌گاه عاطفی (emotional anchor) است که جای خالی پیوندهای انسانی را پر می‌کند. مرگ ناگهانی او ضربه‌ای روانی است که ساختار دفاعی راوی را در هم می‌شکند و به فروپاشی جهان روانی (psychological world collapse) منجر می‌شود. انتقام در این بستر، نه حاصل خشونت ذاتی، بلکه نتیجه‌ی یک فروپاشی روانی است؛ واکنشی تکانشی (impulsive reaction) و ریشه‌دار در سوگ پیچیده (complicated grief) و میل ناخودآگاه به بازگرداندن حس کنترل.

نوولای فوسه فراتر از یک روایت جنایی یا تراژیک است. سگ در این میان نماد همان پیوند گمشده‌ی انسانی است که نبودش جهان فرد را ویران می‌کند. بنابراین، داستان نه درباره‌ی قتل همسایه، بلکه درباره‌ی شکنندگی روان انسان در برابر فقدان و تلاش نومیدانه‌ی او برای یافتن معنایی هرچند تراژیک در دل پوچی است.

فوسه با زبانی ساده و روایتی موجز، ما را به مواجهه‌ای عریان با پرسش‌های بنیادین وجودی می‌کشاند: چگونه فقدان می‌تواند جهان ما را متلاشی کند؟ چگونه انسان، حتی در تاریکی‌ترین لحظات، به انتخاب دست می‌زند؟ و آیا انتقام، هرچند ویرانگر، می‌تواند نوعی مقاومت در برابر بی‌عدالتی هستی باشد؟

* این متن توسط هوش مصنوعی نوشته شده است‌.

[Ian Carpenter · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a repetitive, absurdist spell to many of the stories in this book. Beckett’s plays (I still haven’t got to his novels) came to mind often. My favorite, and the longest, dealt with a man building up to killing a man and the eventual fallout of that - Fosse’s looping thoughts there felt so real, so delusional for health’s sake. I’m really glad to have read him - he’s so very unique - but I doubt I’ll read more.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little under 4 stars, rounded up.
For some reason I do not know, going in I thought I was going to enjoy the first section (the titular "Scenes") more than the remaining slightly longer stories in the collection, but what actually stood out the most to me is the longest of them all, "And Then My Dog Will Come Back To Me" (arguably a novella). Got hit by that one quite severely and suddenly in fact. The rest are all fine with a unique simple sentence style, some better than others, but that story in particular elevates the collection and my rating. I'm super interested to see how his writing feels in Norwegian and how I perceive this style compared to English.

[cafejuntoalibros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fosse nos abre su baúl de las memorias: "lo místico de lo cotidiano", proyectando eventos, la mayoría "oscuros" y con ese aura de misterio en dónde expresa las emociones humanas más intensas de ansiedad e impotencia en situaciones del día a día, lo que permite al lector, no solo vivir esa intensidad, sino también a escarbar en nuestra memoria y reflexionar sobre nuestros propios eventos.

[Aung Sett Kyaw Min · Rating 2 out of 5]

Primitive, stripped down, pastoral
above all, there is a certain sinister quality to the way Jon Fosse employs the device of repetition

favorites: How It Started, And Then My Dog Will Come Back to Me

[Amir Guberstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreamt in Stone killed me. Prime Fosse.

[.☆°lukne°☆. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prieš pradėdama skaityt, tikėjausi kažko nostalgiško ir galimai nelabai man artimo ar įtraukiančio, nes įvertinimai buvo gan įvairūs. Likau maloniai nustebinta, ypač paskutinė istorija (Rytas ir Vakaras) sugniaužė širdį. Autoriaus rašymo stilius taip pat patiko: tie kelis puslapius nesibaigiantys sakiniai (beveik stream of consciousnes, bet ir šiek tiek savičiau), besikartojančios veikėjų mintys (lyg iš tiesų būtum veikėjo galvoje ir iš šono stebėtum), gyvenimiškai kartais monotoniški, kartais spontaniški dialogai. Tačiau ir pilnai suprantu, kodėl skatytoją, kurio istorija nelabai įtraukė, tai gali varginti ir nervinti.

[Baz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brings together a selection of Fosse’s stories—the earliest was published in 1987, the latest in 2013. I like them all, but the title story Scenes from a Childhood is a clear favourite.

I enjoyed Fosse’s rhythmic prose and quiet tone, the almost ethereal atmosphere, and the minimalism of the stories. There’s not much else to say. Nothing hit hard, these stories didn’t do for me what Morning and Evening, Aliss at the Fire, and A Shining all did, but Fosse has become one of those authors whose voices I just simply like, and that’s enough. That distinctive Fosse vibe was what I wanted, and I got it, so I’m happy.

[Lukáš Palán · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bom dia,

Jon Bon Fosse to opět dokázal. Myslím si, že už jsem připraven mít s ním homosexuální styk výměnou za nějaké nepublikované texty.

V této knize, stejně jako ve všech ostatních, valí svůj styl "tak já ti to teda zopakuju kámo," což rozehrává do dokonalosti v druhé části, povídce A pak se ke mě můj čokl vrátí. To vám literární rodino klidně přiznám, že jsem u toho kaděl nervama a radostí celou dobu. Asi nejlepší věc, co jsem kdy četl. Tak sugestivní a intenzivní věc jsem ještě nežral. Když nepočítám quritto z KFC, když jsou čtyři ráno a hvězdy jsou na nebi v klasickém rozestavení Jagger-meister.

První část jsou malé vzpomínky z dětství, kde opět po seversku kombinuje nicotné detaily s život měnícími momenty. Slušná valba. Poslední část, Malá sestra, byla asi nejslabší, ale stejně pořád 9/10. Tam se mohlo ještě trošku přidat a měnil bych plenky znovu.

10/10