Jim Nail
asked:
Does anybody really know why Karl Ove Knausgaard gave his book(s) the same title as Hitler's infamous volume? I just started Volume 2 and really digging it, but every now and then he throws in something about some people from another culture looking oddly out of place in the crowd, and it makes me nervous. His work seems much more personal than political, and these references would probably otherwise go unnoticed.
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My Struggle: Book Two,
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Stella
I have just started The Struggle 2, reading in the bus on my way to work and suddenly I read the following line:
"the life around me was not meaningful. I always longed to be away from it, and always had done. So the life I led was not my own. I tried to make it mine, this was my struggle, because of course I wanted it, but I failed, the longing for something else undermined all my efforts"
So, in my opinion this is the reason for the title of his books. It is his struggle in order to find the meaning of his own life.
"the life around me was not meaningful. I always longed to be away from it, and always had done. So the life I led was not my own. I tried to make it mine, this was my struggle, because of course I wanted it, but I failed, the longing for something else undermined all my efforts"
So, in my opinion this is the reason for the title of his books. It is his struggle in order to find the meaning of his own life.
Glenn
I think Knausgaard is trying to reclaim an expression which has been tainted by association with Hitler's Magnum Dopus. Whereas Hitler viewed "Mein Kampf" as a Wagnerian Opera viewed through the prism of a egomaniac, Knausgaard is more like a Norwegian Leopold Bloom, finding meaning in his daily struggles.
And what's wrong with being honest and saying people from other cultures may look out of place? If you note, Knausgaard is definitely not a 'modern man' (he describes many of the contemporary Swedish fathers with disgust).
And what's wrong with being honest and saying people from other cultures may look out of place? If you note, Knausgaard is definitely not a 'modern man' (he describes many of the contemporary Swedish fathers with disgust).
Sorobai
Well, I'm reading the second volume so far. I think the reason of the title is a little scarcastic joke. He's refering to his personal strugle with his own life problems and chalanges and joking with hitlers title as to say his personal strugle is compared with hitlers much stronger and full of meaning.
Jayar La Fontaine
I think the definitive meaning of the title comes in the passage from the second book in which Karl Ove is sitting on the balcony of his apartment and smoking after having coming back from the birthday party with Vanja.
Sara Alexandra
That's a very interesting point. However, after reading the interview, I truly believe that Karl Ove is referring to his fight only in personal terms. No doubt. I don't see a reason to over read the parts where he refers to people from another culture. He is the first one living in another culture, and I sympathize with that feeling of alienation, since I am currently living in the same situation.
Ell Bradshaw
There's a lot of discussion on book 1 on a similar question, but he also talks about it in several interviews, such as this one: http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
Amanda
In the Brazilian Portuguese edition of the first book the quote that is repeated by his grandmother "“Life's a pitch, as the old woman said. She couldn't pronounce her 'b's.” is translated to:
"-A vida é uma luda, como dizia aquela velha que não conseguia pronunciar o tê”.
Which actually translates to:
"Life is a struggle (the same as the title!)"
I´ve read a couple of reviews in Portuguese that justified the book´s title through the badly translated quote. Not sure how intentional was the translation to "mask" that issue.
"-A vida é uma luda, como dizia aquela velha que não conseguia pronunciar o tê”.
Which actually translates to:
"Life is a struggle (the same as the title!)"
I´ve read a couple of reviews in Portuguese that justified the book´s title through the badly translated quote. Not sure how intentional was the translation to "mask" that issue.
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