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I find it shocking that more people haven't commented on the title. I have searched through articles, and while they mention the obvious connection to Hitler, none of them ask about it in detail. WHY would he call it that, and what point is he trying to make? I can't bring myself to read the book, brilliant though it may be, because the title is too horrifying for me to move past.
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My Struggle, Book 1,
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Afonso
It is unfair of you to consider not to read the book due to it's title. It has nothing to do with anti-semism, it simply refers to Karl's own personal fight, hence "min kamp". While I do agree that the choice of title seems to be a way to deliver some degree of shock, I don't believe you can make a complete and instant association with "Mein Kampf", let alone allow a biased, unfundamented opinion based on your ideals of political correctness keep you from reading the book or any other book for that matter.
Marcus
Hitler's book can be read by anyone. You won't go to hell if you do. It's probably essential reading if you want to understand what motivated him.
Not wanting to read Knausgård's book because the title is similar to Hitler's is just plain silly. I mean, why even read books then, if they might contain dangerous ideas?
Not wanting to read Knausgård's book because the title is similar to Hitler's is just plain silly. I mean, why even read books then, if they might contain dangerous ideas?
Dramatika
He talkes about it in his interview to Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peo...
I've just started to read the book, it is brilliant! Just very enjoyable reading, don't worry, no antisemitic staff here. My take on that is that the author struggle consist of everyday mundane staff, by which he makes fun of such a pompous book title.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peo...
I've just started to read the book, it is brilliant! Just very enjoyable reading, don't worry, no antisemitic staff here. My take on that is that the author struggle consist of everyday mundane staff, by which he makes fun of such a pompous book title.
Sara
As everybody else in these comments said already: the title as nothing to do with Hitler and it is unfair to judge a book and an author like that. I find shocking that one assumes that an author has a relation with nazism because of his choice of words in the title. He called it that because he is free to do so. He is writing about his life and about his own struggle. I am not telling you anything a 2 minute research on google wouldn't. You are missing a really good read.
Manny
There is a good reason why the book has this title, but it only becomes fully apparent in the last volume. And yes, it's meant to be horrifying.
Malia
I have been wondering about this since I first read about the book. I am German, so I kept thinking, what it will be called in that language. These interviews are definitely interesting to learn about Knausegaard. Reading My Struggle, though, I think it becomes clear that he in no way associates his very personal story with Hitler's disgusting book.
When you read the book, the title does seem very apt, because he really highlights and dissects all the areas in his life that are rife with struggles.
When you read the book, the title does seem very apt, because he really highlights and dissects all the areas in his life that are rife with struggles.
Colton McClain
GO online and look up interviews with Karl Ove Knausgaard and you will find that you are very well horrified for no reason at all. Interviews in which he discusses the topic are bbc news night, vice, book clubs and reviews, stephen grosz, charlie rose, Andrew O hagan, Edinburgh national book club, at home with the author. Its probably wise for him to explain than me. You will have to watch a hour or so long interviews to get to the nitty gritty as articles and writing don't explain it very well.
http://wn.com/interview_with_karl_ove...
http://wn.com/interview_with_karl_ove...
Gary Knapton
I'm afraid your prejudice is robbing you of both Karl Ove and Adolf Hitler's contribution to literature, although I admire your honesty. Both are excellent reads. Judging a book by its cover, you surely know, is bereft of intellect and worth. If you read The Coming of The Third Reich by Richard Evans alongside Hitler's main book you may be able to see that your prejudice has been shaped by your local media and is much more damaging than a denial of Sykes-Picot and the Treaty of Versailles. Ignorance begets prejudice. You have it.
Micklemas
If more people, such as yourself, pick up this book and read it, the title might become more synonymous with Karl Ove than a genocidal maniac. I hear your point, but you have to fight past that.
Santiago Ortiz
It's HIS struggle, he couldn't care less if there's another book with same title however that book is well known or associated with atrocities. He's not responsible of that, he won't change the title of his book because of a contingency, he gives a shit, that's the point.
Melanie Gous
The real struggle is trying to read it. It was seriously painful and I was miserable the whole time. Don't go there. Honestly the worst, most overrated book I've ever attempted to read.
Mona
Everyone has there own struggle in life - which is what Knausgaard was playing at. Of course after the Third Reich you can't just use that title innocently. It only starts making some sence when you've read trough all of the volumes. Personally I think he must have felt a little self-important when he chose the title. Nonetheless is important to reclaim what the Nazis polluted with their hatred and war crimes.
Michael Wong
To all the comments about that there's no connection to "Main Kampf": There's no way he couldn't have known everyone on Earth would see the shared title. Why he kept it anyways is unclear to me.
These books are groundbreaking. I'm midway through #3. They are unlike anything I've ever read.
They are not enjoyable to read. Knausgaard seems like a jerk. He's seems massively self-centered, mildly racist, blatantly sexist, arbitrarily conservative and arrogantly spiritual.
And yet while he clearly is aware that all of the above would be easily perceived and garner unfavorable reactions, he neither changed the narrative to hide it or justify it, but simply and eloquently related his life experience without journalistic embellishment while still maintaining novelist prose style.
These books are groundbreaking. I'm midway through #3. They are unlike anything I've ever read.
They are not enjoyable to read. Knausgaard seems like a jerk. He's seems massively self-centered, mildly racist, blatantly sexist, arbitrarily conservative and arrogantly spiritual.
And yet while he clearly is aware that all of the above would be easily perceived and garner unfavorable reactions, he neither changed the narrative to hide it or justify it, but simply and eloquently related his life experience without journalistic embellishment while still maintaining novelist prose style.
David Absalom
I feel sorry for you. You must be a very narrow-minded person and a millennial. He ranks with Henry Miller from what I've read so far.
Gabriel
Wow Molly, grow some balls, will you?
Christopher
Stop clutching your pearls and go watch some prestige TV.
James Igoe
I think it is like satire, it that can have a double meaning, a differentiation from the original. While in one, Hitler "outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany", the other has Knausgard describing the "banalities and humiliations of his life." It is in fact a mock of Hitler. As for his point, that is the question that you need to answer, since literature is rarely so cut-and-dried as to plainly state its meaning, but provides one via interpretation.
This is the quote regarding Hitler's Mein Kamp from the article that Dramatika links:
Yes. It is very fascinating and interesting but it is a very boring book by a very indignant man. It's only interesting in light of what happened. In itself it's almost worthless. The strange thing and the thing you can't understand is the hatred towards the Jews. It's so extremely intense. Also, his recollection of his upbringing and his father and his mother is as untrue as it can be. I was interested in this as a representation of the self – that's what I was writing about.
This is the quote regarding Hitler's Mein Kamp from the article that Dramatika links:
Yes. It is very fascinating and interesting but it is a very boring book by a very indignant man. It's only interesting in light of what happened. In itself it's almost worthless. The strange thing and the thing you can't understand is the hatred towards the Jews. It's so extremely intense. Also, his recollection of his upbringing and his father and his mother is as untrue as it can be. I was interested in this as a representation of the self – that's what I was writing about.
Carly-Jay
Perhaps it's attributed to the quote 'Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle, Old Age a regret' by Benjamin Disraeli?
Aquilegia
In some other languages the title is : 'Father' or 'Starving' . Maybe done for the first association with the Norwegian title.
Cervio Martini
??? Dont be a puppet.
Asutterisch
That's what Book 6 is about. Don't knock it 'til you try it.
Santiago Mellet Iglesias
Hi, I'm asking cause someday it may be useful to me aswell, how do you manage to live in a bubble? Also: what is your level of privilege that a word causes this reaction in you, can we exchange lives?
~☆~Autumn
I often don't read books just because the covers are ugly and the title is even more important. A friend told me that I must read Mein Kampf but I couldn't do it. I did try! I am glad someone mentioned this as I didn't even notice it when I was first reading reviews about this book. We are all different.
Therese
It seemed to me just from reading the first volume, that perhaps he meant to reclaim the title from Hitler - to take it back to the realm of ordinary language? At the same time, I get the sense he has a kind of attraction to the potential for controversy ... he writes about how he chose a photograph for the cover of an earlier novel by a photographer who was controversial for his suspected associations with child pornography, because it was the perfect image for the book - he knew about the potential for an upsetting association, but stuck by his choice. I wonder if he didn't choose the title of this work in a similar spirit ... a kind of outsized self-confidence in his own moral outlook being able to shine through and undermine the past evil?
Adina Cappell
I can't believe the people who say that the title was just an unrelated coincidence, as if the author was completely unaware of the name of Hitler's infamous book. Plausible deniability doesn't really work in this situation. It's not like he called the book "My Autobiography," and someone then argues that it is unrelated to Mussolini's title. It is so on the nose, and I agree with your comment.
Chris
This book is brilliant. For me using this title was a way of reclaiming a great title from the hands of a sociopathic dictator. Read the book if you can, I think everyone in life can relate to 'My Struggle'
Georg
as long as he refrains from the beard...
Matt
This is amazing beautiful literature. Why are you so scared of words?
You haven't searched through any articles. There is zero connection to Hitler. The author is Norwegian. Hitler was German. Norwegian is a derivation of German.
You haven't searched through any articles. There is zero connection to Hitler. The author is Norwegian. Hitler was German. Norwegian is a derivation of German.
Jess Davies
I like the title, as a practising visual artist, when I am struggling, I feel like writing and the title that always springs to mind is, my struggle but I do think of Hitler so I avoid and dismiss the idea. All in all , my struggle is a good title for a book and it is just a shame it is tide to the evil doings of a dictator.
Pierre Fortier
nonsense auto-censure
Babul
why should the words "min kamp" suffer?
Sarah Feinman
Don't judge a book by the title.
Heidi
I have just read the book and am sure the title refers to his grandmothers saying "Livet er en gamp, sagde kællingen, hun kunne ikke sige K" ["Life is a Truggle, said the old bitch, she couldn't say S"] which appears 3 times in the book... So maybe just a tribute to his grandmother... I think you should read it and don't worry about the title :)
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