How To Academy Podcast Karl Ove Knausgaard – The School of Night
Dec 5, 2025
Karl Ove Knausgaard, the acclaimed Norwegian novelist known for his impactful autobiographical series, explores the complexities of art and fame. He discusses creating an unempathetic protagonist in his new novel, The School of Night, and the choices behind setting it in 1980s Deptford. Knausgaard reflects on the Faustian pacts artists make for success, revealing his own struggles with fame and loss of privacy. With wit and depth, he shares insights on the writing process and the influences that shape his compelling narratives.
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Presence Generates Sympathy Even For Unpleasant Characters
- Writing an unempathetic protagonist forced Knausgaard to access his own suppressed, antisocial thoughts for authenticity.
- He argues that fiction invites readers into uncomfortable mental spaces where sympathy still arises through presence.
Historical Layers Make Faust Feel Immediate
- Knausgaard ties the Faust myth and Christopher Marlowe's life to Deptford's layered history to anchor his novel's moral stakes.
- He uses geographical continuity to make historical literary myths feel present and haunting in modern London.
Mythic Echoes Appear Unintentionally
- Knausgaard discovered pre-Marlowe Faust motifs (Urfaust) that echoed earlier plot elements he'd written unconsciously.
- He treats such literary resonances as evidence of how myths can shape fiction without deliberate planning.
