How to begin reading Karl Ove Knausgaard

Adam Dalva, president of the National Book Critics Circle, has written a New York Times guide to the books of the Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard and suggests where readers might start in his sprawling body of work. Dalva notes that Knausgaard, born in Oslo in 1968, first became a sensation in Norway when his debut novel Out of the World won the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1998.

His work began appearing in English translation in the United States in 2009 and reached a peak of attention with the 3,600-page My Struggle sequence; its third volume appeared in 2014 and the series title consciously echoes Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Dalva writes. Dalva also describes Knausgaard’s style as discursive and autofictional and says he has been accused of violating the privacy of his loved ones, several of whom have publicly denounced him.

The guide highlights key entry points: My Struggle: Book 1 as a beginning, The Morning Star (2021) for a speculative and sinister turn, My Struggle: Book 2 for his most beautiful writing, the Seasons quartet (starting with Autumn, 2017) for short essayistic work, Spring (2018) as a shorter autofictional novella, and My Struggle: Book 4 as a more conventional and accessible novel.

Dalva notes Knausgaard has published 17 books in English in 17 years, with more forthcoming, and credits translators Don Bartlett, Martin Aitken, James Anderson and Ingvild Burkey; he adds that Knausgaard wrote My Struggle: Book 5 in eight weeks.

Key Topics

Culture, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Adam Dalva, My Struggle, Seasons Quartet, Oslo