Karl Ove Knausgård on Literary Freedom | Conversations with Tyler

What is Karl Ove Knausgård’s struggle, exactly? The answer is simple: achieving total freedom in his writing. “It’s a space where I can be free in every sense, where I can say whatever, go wherever I want to. And for me, literature is almost the only place you could think that that is a possibility.”
Knausgård’s literary freedom paves the way for this conversation with Tyler, which starts with a discussion of mimesis and ends with an explanation of why we live in the world of Munch’s The Scream. Along the way there is much more, including what he learned from reading Ingmar Bergman’s workbooks, the worst thing about living in London, how having children increased his productivity, whether he sees himself in a pietistic tradition, thoughts on Bible stories, angels, Knut Hamsun, Elena Ferrante, the best short story (“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”), the best poet (Paul Celan), the best movie (Scenes from a Marriage), and what his punctual arrival says about his attachment to bourgeois values.
Transcript and links: conversationsw...
Recorded March 15th, 2019
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[@nmaurok]

What a brilliant interview. Thank you.

[@rekanagy4609]

Loved that you have challenged him with interesting questions ❤ this way we as readers can have an even better understanding of how Karl Ove functions

[@cathdonn8957]

Thank you Karl Ove. I so needed to hear him communicate. He actually digests each question live and intelligently, which is hard to do. Then he helped me realize I have to write myself out of my paper bag.

[@mvricks90]

he did really well considering this is not his native language. Even though he is more of a reserved type it's also amazing how he can sort his thoughts and speak so freely on quite complicated subjects.