In Which Karl Ove Knausgaard Hangs Out in His Car, Talking
On Life, Children, and Not Really Caring What America Thinks
Paul Holdengraber catches up with Karl Ove Knausgaard while the author of My Struggle (book five out now) drives his young daughter home. One assumes he is using a handsfree phone as the conversation drifts from parenthood to fame, the difficulty of writing about toothbrushes, and phenomenology, obviously. Bonus feature: shout-outs to Francis Ponge and Ivan Turgenev!
Karl Ove Knausgaard on how many children we should have…
At first I had three, because I think we need to be outnumbered. It’s good for them. That was my plan when I had three children.
Karl Ove Knausgaard on his new book…
Each book is different so I never know what kind of reaction it will get. This book is more of a page-turner than the others, somehow. I have left the book you now—I do that when I publish. And I’m not waiting for something to happen. It’s there, I’ve done it. It is what it is. I’m happy if people like it, if they don’t…
Karl Ove Knausgaard on what he’s working on now…
It’s part of a quartet. I’ll publish one book in autumn, one in winter, and one in spring, and then one summer. So it’s four books. The first two have been text, one page, one thing, one page about objects in the world, everything you can imagine really, cars, water, vomit, all kinds of things.
Karl Ove Knausgaard on his new favorite book…
Turgenev’s A Hunter’s Sketches… It was such a wonderful book. The absolute… one of the best I’ve read, ever. It’s completely unambitious. There’s no plot or project, just him wandering around. Writing about the people he meets and nature, and that’s it.
