The Other Name: Septology I-II
ABOUT
THE BOOK
The Other Name follows the lives of two men living close to each other on the west coast of Norway. The year is coming to a close and Asle, an aging painter and widower, is reminiscing about his life. He lives alone, his only friends being his neighbor, Åsleik, a bachelor and traditional Norwegian fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in Bjørgvin, a couple hours’ drive south of Dylgja, where he lives. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter. He and the narrator are doppelgangers—two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life.Written in hypnotic prose that shifts between the first and third person, The Other Name calls into question concrete notions around subjectivity and the self. What makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another?
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Damion
Searls
Damion Searls has translated more than fifty books of classic modern literature, most recently Thomas Mann’s New Selected Stories, Jon Fosse’s Septology, and Bambi. His own writing includes fiction, poetry, criticism, The Inkblots—a history of the Rorschach Test and biography of its creator, Hermann Rorschach—and The Philosophy of Translation, forthcoming.
Damion Searls has translated more than fifty books of classic modern literature, most recently Thomas Mann’s New Selected Stories, Jon Fosse’s Septology, and Bambi. His own writing includes fiction, poetry, criticism, The Inkblots—a history of the Rorschach Test and biography of its creator, Hermann Rorschach—and The Philosophy of Translation, forthcoming.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
In true Fosse fashion this book is almost set in our world, but not quite. We follow two artists with the same name, one is successful, and one is drinking himself to death. There is no real timeline, and time and space doesn’t seem to follow the normal set of rules. It’s fascinating and beautiful and annoying and completely unique. We can’t wait for the nest five parts of this brick.
Sølvberget Library and Culture Center, Norway