I is Another: Septology III-V
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Asle is an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway. His only friends are his neighbour, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers – two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life, both grappling with existential questions. In this second instalment of Jon Fosse’s Septology, the two Asles meet for the first time in their youth. They look strangely alike, dress identically, and both want to be painters. At art school in Bjørgvin, Asle meets and falls in love with his future wife, Ales.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
A beautiful, meditative and cyclic story about an artist in western Norway. When we try to describe the book, it sounds like a pretentious heap, but it’s very accessible and moving. Solvberget Library and Culture Centre