How important is the one, unbroken sentence to the story as a whole? Would it work just as well with normal sentences? I'm aware of other books that do this, like Bohumil Hrabal's "Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age" and Lucy Ellmann's "Ducks, Newburyport." And no, I haven't read them, because the idea sounds gimmicky to me, and once you start writing your book this way, you're committed - you're stuck on that high wire to the end. ("Ducks" BTW uses the phrase "the fact that" more than 19,000 times to keep the sentence going over 1000 pages.)
I think his use of the one sentence isn’t gimmicky. I thought it might be at first, but I think it’s effective as it allows the language to just sort of envelop you while reading. I think the key is that Fosse doesn’t worry about grammar. I read an excerpt of “Ducks, Newburyport” and the thing with “the fact that” didn’t really work for me—it seems like Ellmann is too concerned with making it grammatically correct. There’s also dialogue in Fosse to break things up (but still no periods).
This is a good question. I wonder if Fosse did away with the period more for himself than than for how it might influence the reader's experience. Maybe this formal constraint (or indulgence) was his way into the story (other works by him I've read have normal sentences). For me, I found the one long sentence and the constant use of the word "and" (like, over and over) had a disarming effect. It let me slide into the "dizzying vortex" Derek mentions.
more than 19,000 times? that is 19 “the fact that”s per page. I have not read Ducks but I suspect it is a total of 19,000 occurrences of “fact” and “that”, no?
Oh man, this makes me want to revisit Septology… even the mention of Asleik has me nostalgic or something, like he’s a friend I used to hang out with. Your take on the book so far is really enlightening. I like the bit about Fosse resisting language, resisting the urge to define/enclose. That’s totally what’s going on and I’m not sure I caught that while I read it. And it’s true that this book seems to be searching for something—it’s definitely, for me, in search of that intangible quality (sometimes I call it a frequency) that feels totally circumstantial, like, in a way, you only arrive at this particular or profound feeling or experience because the stars of your life have lined up in just the right way, it’s something almost cosmic and maybe impossible to name. But what’s amazing is I think the book does well to recreate this experience, which is probably why so many people connect with it, so it really does seem like quite the feat.
Ya, well I have to credit you as well because your recommendation turned me on to it and really made me want to read it. I’m done the third book as well now. It is actually
like visiting an old friend, it’s gonna be sad when I finish it, although I did see Fosse has a new book, maybe a trilogy I think, about “a guy in rural Norway” so…pretty much the same thing? It’s good to know there’s more out there after this one. I sort of have it in mind to write something about parts 2 and 3 as well, but about some other aspect of it.
Glad to hear it. Yeah, I miss hearing about Bragi and the roast duck or lamb I think it is?
Anyway, I hope you do write about each one, I really enjoyed this piece. It would be cool to see how the different parts play out for you as you read them.
How important is the one, unbroken sentence to the story as a whole? Would it work just as well with normal sentences? I'm aware of other books that do this, like Bohumil Hrabal's "Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age" and Lucy Ellmann's "Ducks, Newburyport." And no, I haven't read them, because the idea sounds gimmicky to me, and once you start writing your book this way, you're committed - you're stuck on that high wire to the end. ("Ducks" BTW uses the phrase "the fact that" more than 19,000 times to keep the sentence going over 1000 pages.)
I think his use of the one sentence isn’t gimmicky. I thought it might be at first, but I think it’s effective as it allows the language to just sort of envelop you while reading. I think the key is that Fosse doesn’t worry about grammar. I read an excerpt of “Ducks, Newburyport” and the thing with “the fact that” didn’t really work for me—it seems like Ellmann is too concerned with making it grammatically correct. There’s also dialogue in Fosse to break things up (but still no periods).
This is a good question. I wonder if Fosse did away with the period more for himself than than for how it might influence the reader's experience. Maybe this formal constraint (or indulgence) was his way into the story (other works by him I've read have normal sentences). For me, I found the one long sentence and the constant use of the word "and" (like, over and over) had a disarming effect. It let me slide into the "dizzying vortex" Derek mentions.
more than 19,000 times? that is 19 “the fact that”s per page. I have not read Ducks but I suspect it is a total of 19,000 occurrences of “fact” and “that”, no?
I've read bits of it, and it wouldn't surprise me if 19K times is the correct number.
wow
Your note about Substack Notes, as opposed to Posts, brought be to your essay. I don't dsagree about what you say about Fosse's spirituality, but I don't think it makes for great fiction; you may want to look at an opposing viewpoint. https://open.substack.com/pub/jameselkins/p/why-jon-fosse-is-not-a-major-writer
good work
Oh man, this makes me want to revisit Septology… even the mention of Asleik has me nostalgic or something, like he’s a friend I used to hang out with. Your take on the book so far is really enlightening. I like the bit about Fosse resisting language, resisting the urge to define/enclose. That’s totally what’s going on and I’m not sure I caught that while I read it. And it’s true that this book seems to be searching for something—it’s definitely, for me, in search of that intangible quality (sometimes I call it a frequency) that feels totally circumstantial, like, in a way, you only arrive at this particular or profound feeling or experience because the stars of your life have lined up in just the right way, it’s something almost cosmic and maybe impossible to name. But what’s amazing is I think the book does well to recreate this experience, which is probably why so many people connect with it, so it really does seem like quite the feat.
Ya, well I have to credit you as well because your recommendation turned me on to it and really made me want to read it. I’m done the third book as well now. It is actually
like visiting an old friend, it’s gonna be sad when I finish it, although I did see Fosse has a new book, maybe a trilogy I think, about “a guy in rural Norway” so…pretty much the same thing? It’s good to know there’s more out there after this one. I sort of have it in mind to write something about parts 2 and 3 as well, but about some other aspect of it.
Glad to hear it. Yeah, I miss hearing about Bragi and the roast duck or lamb I think it is?
Anyway, I hope you do write about each one, I really enjoyed this piece. It would be cool to see how the different parts play out for you as you read them.