Glenn answers “Does anybody really know why Karl Ove...”

Jim Nail asked this question about My Struggle: Book Two:

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.

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 Ka…moreI 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). (less)

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Tom He's also feeling out of place himself, he constantly tells us how he had wished a different life for himself and this is part of his struggle. The ti ...more
Jan 10, 2021 05:27AM · flag

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