Dante is a witness, who sees and feels on behalf of the reader Karl Ove Knausgaard, “At the Bottom of the Universe,” 152
Tag: Karl Ove Knausgård
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Schoenberg on Art
Arnold Schoenberg reportedly said: If it is art it is not for all, and if it is for all it is not art. This comment seems to call into question Karl Ove Knausgård’s link between challenging art and Protestantism, not because Schoenberg doesn’t agree that art is difficult but because Schoenberg clearly didn’t link art […]
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A Meaningless Photo
Karl Ove Knausgård is suspicious of photographs, or any art really, that he likes for primarily aesthetic reasons. A profound Protestantism, he thinks, rejects anything that comes too easily, that doesn’t require effort and work. He worries that he must contemplate a photograph in order to discern its meaning and therefore its significance. Only such […]
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Protestantism and Art
Whenever I see a new picture I immediately seem to like and find aesthetically pleasing, I am suspicious. This cannot possibly be good, I think to myself. This cannot possibly be art. It feels like the spontaneous pleasure, the immediate sense of aesthetic satisfaction I derive in such instances is too easy and too shallow […]
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Reading is Tactile
Knausgaard’s collection of essays is a joy to read. While the essays in Autumn are all quite good, the real pleasure comes from the physicality of the book. The coarse texture to the dusk jacket. The pages are a smooth, heavy paper that has a sensuous feel. The illustrations and the printed words look better […]