Jon Fosse, the 2023 Nobel laureate, delivers a masterclass in existential minimalism with “A Shining,” a novella that glimmers with metaphysical unease.
Translated from Norwegian by Damion Searls, this brief but resonant work lingers like a half-remembered dream, inviting readers to grapple with its haunting ambiguity.
An unnamed man drives into a remote forest, seeking isolation. When his car stalls, he abandons it, lured deeper into the trees by an enigmatic light. What begins as a quest for solitude spirals into a disorienting confrontation with the unknown.
Strange encounters — a flickering figure, disembodied voices, a persistent glow — blur the boundaries of reality. Is the “shining” a divine sign, a mental rupture, or something beyond comprehension? Fosse offers no easy answers.
Fosse’s sparse, rhythmic prose mirrors the protagonist’s fractured psyche. Sentences loop and stutter, mimicking the repetitive chatter of a mind unraveling (“I walked, I walked, I walked”).
Yet, within this austerity lies startling beauty: Descriptions of moss, shadows and cold air ground the surreal in the realm of the sensory.
The novella probes humanity’s existential contradictions, particularly the tension between our desire for solitude and our terror of abandonment.
It lays bare the futility of seeking meaning in a universe indifferent to human struggles, while questioning how much we can trust our perceptions.
Are the protagonist’s encounters real, or projections of a mind teetering on the brink of collapse? Fosse leaves readers suspended in that uncertainty.
Fosse refuses to cater to conventional narrative appetites. There are no villains or heroic arcs, only a man wrestling with the void within.
Fans of Franz Kafka’s existential labyrinths or Samuel Beckett’s bleak humor will find kinship here.
“A Shining” is not for readers craving action or closure. It is a quiet storm of a book, best absorbed in one sitting under dim light.
Perfect for lovers of philosophical fiction, poetry devotees, and anyone who has ever stared into darkness and wondered what stared back.
