“I try to write about small insignificant things. I try to find out if it’s possible to say anything about them. And I almost always do if I sit down and write about something. There is something in that thing that I can write about. It’s very much like a rehearsal. An exercise, in a way.” IfsWayWritingTryingI CanExerciseDown AndSay AnythingInsignificantRehearsalInsignificant Things Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“If you are disappearing from yourself, but you're still writing, then there is a kind of activity of thinking going on, which in my world is similar to what's going on in music.” IfsThinkingWorldWritingKindStillsActivityDisappear Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“I never read the translation before publication. The most important things for me is that the emotion is captured in such a way that the feelings that are in the original are there, much more than the details, if they are right or wrong.” IfsWayImportantFeelingsEmotionOriginalsImportant ThingsDetailsTranslationsCapturedPublication Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“A problem with my novels is that they, from the start, have been infantile and incredibly childish. There are childishness, stupidity, lack of wisdom, fantasies. At the same time, that's where my creativity can be found. If I tried to control it and make it more mature, it wouldn't be good at all. It'd be uninteresting, without any vivacity.” IfsHas BeensProblemFoundCreativityFantasyNovelStupidityBe GoodMatureInfantileChildishnessVivacity Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“Shameless actually good since it gives a kind of freedom. We consider the old, functionless shame destructive. Today, if you have a strong sense of shame you also have a strong desire to overcome it. And that's when you can write.” IfsGivingWritingKindTodayDesireStrongOvercomingShameDestructiveShamelessStrong Desire Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“Shame tells you when you've gone too far. Then you try if it's okay to go too far. And it might be so that shame was right. You can never, never know that.” IfsKnowsTryingMightGoneOkayShame Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“I've always been a fast reader. Now I had to do it slowly, discussing each sentence. And every time I wanted to change something I had to come up with an intelligent defense I could be pretty sure that they would turn my suggestion down, as they had so many aspects to keep in mind. However, if I argued well, I could have a chance. I had to think of every comma, every word.” IfsThinkingMindWellsWantedTurnsChanceReaderAspectIntelligentCome UpSentencesDefenseSuggestionsDiscussing Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“The tree was so old, and stood there so alone, that his childish heart had been filled with compassion; if no one else on the farm gave it a thought, he would at least do his best to, even though he suspected that his child's words and child's deeds didn't make much difference. It had stood there before he was born, and would be standing there after he was dead, but perhaps, even so, it was pleased that he stroked its bark every time he passed, and sometimes, when he was sure he wasn't observed, even pressed his cheek against it.” IfsHeartChildrenSometimesWould BeBornDifferencesCompassionTreeStandingFilledDeedsFarmsCheeksBarkStanding There Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
“And it's a disquieting thought that not even the past is done with, even that continues to change, as if in reality there is only one time, for everything, one time for every purpose under heaven. One single second, one single landscape, in which what happens activates and deactivates what has already happened in endless chain reactions, like the processes that take place in the brain, perhaps, where cells suddenly bloom and die away, all according to the way the winds of consciousness are blowing.” IfsWayDoneRealityHappensPastPurposeDiesHeavenProcessBrainConsciousnessHappenedWindEndlessReactionsChainsCellsLandscapeOne TimeActivateChain Reactions Author:Karl Ove Knausgard
