Emil’s itemsofmemorabiliaseemed like
precious, yellowing relics, but in factdated fromas
recentlyas the late 1970s–when Iwasdoingmany
of thesame thingsasKarlOve, likedrinking too
muchand listening toEchoand theBunnymen.As
manycriticshavenoted, this isonewriterwhose life
story tellsyouagreatdeal aboutyourown
Asweheadedback towardsKristiansand, the
tourcame toasurreal climaxwithanothercrucial
location from
ADeath in theFamily
– theshopping
centre inHaneswhereKarlOve’sband, formed
ofvariousschoolmates, playedafirst, only, and
disastrousgig in 1984.Of the twoshopsstill open for
business, onewasnowa tanningsalon. I tookseveral
photosof the tiny, basicconcourse–nothing like
thegiantmallsof today– feeling thatmyobsessive
fandomhadpossibly reached its limithere.
Therewas justonemorestop tomake. Since Iwas
in thevicinity, itmadesense tovisitTromøya,where
the familypitchedup fromOslowhenKarlOvewas
littlemore thanababe inarms.A 16km-long island
hugging thesouthcoastbeside the townofArendal,
Tromøya is thescenario for
Boyhood Island
, themost
winninglyevocativeof
MyStruggle
’ssixvolumes
andmany readers’ favourite.
»
From top
⁄
Thewaterfall by
the school-bus
stop; the family
home; and road
signs, all in the
suburbof Tveit
Continued frompage57
2009
First (and second
and third) volume
of his
MinKamp
(
My
Struggle
) seriesof
autobiographical
novels ispublished in
Norwegian.
Despitecontroversy
over its titleand
subjectmatter, the
booksquicklybecome
ahit.
2010
Starts
a small
independent
press, Pelikanen, with
hisbrother Yngve
Knausgårdand friend
Asbjørn Jensen.
2011
Sixth volumepublished,
bringing thecomplete
epic toover 3,500
pages. Knausgårdclaims
hewill neverwrite
another novel again.
2012
First part of
MyStruggle
published inEnglish. As
a result, he isdescribed
as a “genius” (FT.com),
an “alchemist of the
ordinary” (Intelligence
Squared), and thework
as a “pure, uncut high”
(
TorontoStar
).
2016
Thismonth, the fifth
part of
MyStruggle
–
SomeRainMustFall
– is
published inEnglishby
Harvill Secker.
n
/059
