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The Functions of Autoreception Karl Ove Knausgård as Author-Critic and Rewriter Ida Hummel Vøllo Submitted for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature The University of Edinburgh 2019 Declaration This is to certify that the work contained within has been composed by me and is entirely my own work. No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. Signed: _______________________________ Ida Hummel Vøllo Abstract Karl Ove Knausgård made his entry into the literary field as a critic in the 1990s, and he has since 1998 made his mark as a novelist and essayist. The six-volume autobiographical work Min kamp (2009-2011) is in essence about what it means for him to be an author. This thesis investigates Knausgård’s strategies as a critic, essayist, and as the author of Min kamp to position himself and his poetics within the literary field and a literary tradition. Specifically, it examines the functions of autoreception, i.e. self-criticism, implicit in Knausgård’s role as an author-critic, an author who writes literary criticism, and as a rewriter, an author who rewrites his own texts and the context and poetic intentions of his previous texts. Thus, this thesis aims to answer the question what are the functions of criticism and of rewriting for Karl Ove Knausgård as an author? Part I outlines a new framework of autoreception devised for examining the functions of criticism and rewriting. The proposed common denominator is that both function to establish, position, and validate an author-image. Ultimately, a new understanding of the narration in Min kamp as autoreceptive is offered. Part II examines a largely unexplored area of Knausgård’s work, namely the strategies of Knausgård as a critic prior to publishing his first novel, and how Knausgård rewrites himself during this period in Min kamp. Part III focuses on Knausgård’s rewriting of the period between writing his second novel and up until he begins writing Min kamp. It investigates the strategic functions of the narrative structure, the functions of the essayistic and critical passages, and the functions of the distance and unity between past and present author-images that Knausgård creates in his rewriting. This thesis thus aims to contribute to the scholarship regarding Karl Ove Knausgård by conducting an author-study that examines the relationship between criticism and poetics. In addition, it aims to contribute to a broader field of research by offering a theoretical and methodological framework of autoreception, which works across the boundaries of critical, essayistic, and literary texts. Lay Summary Karl Ove Knausgård began his literary career as a critic in the 1990s, and he has since 1998 made his mark as a novelist and essayist. The autobiographical work Min kamp (2009-2011) is in essence about what it means for him to be an author. In this thesis, I examine Knausgård’s work as a critic, essayist, and as the author of Min kamp. I focus specifically on the strategies he uses to position himself as an author and his own views on literature within the literary field and a literary tradition. In order to analyse these strategies, I develop a framework of autoreception, i.e. tools to analyse how the author is self-critical of his own work in the texts that he writes, and how the author implicitly highlights what is of literary value in his own writing. My interest lies in how writing criticism on other authors and how rewriting his own texts and the context of writing them functions to establish and validate Knausgård as an author. I illustrate, by analysing the strategies that Knausgård used as a critic before publishing his first novel, how Knausgård writes about this period in Min kamp, and how Knausgård writes about the period between writing his second novel and beginning to write Min kamp. With this thesis, I contribute to the scholarship on Karl Ove Knausgård with an in-depth analysis of how his views on literature develop over time, and I provide a broader field of literary research with a framework for analysing the functions of self- criticism. Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables ............................................................................................................... xi Notes on References and Translations ........................................................................................ xii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ xiii INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1 Two Forms of Autoreception ..................................................................................................... 7 Delimitations: Reception and Autoreception ........................................................................... 9 Thesis Aims and Outline: A Focus on Functions ................................................................. 14 I A FRAMEWORK OF AUTORECEPTION 1 THE AUTHOR-CRITIC AND REWRITER ..................................................................... 19 Authorial Strategies ..................................................................................................................... 20 Criticism as an Entry Point and as Self-Canonisation ...................................................... 25 Rewriting Criticism: A Methodological Example .............................................................. 29 2 AUTORECEPTIVE NARRATION ................................................................................. 37 Significance of Diegetic Time ................................................................................................... 37 Knausgård and Karl Ove ...................................................................................................... 41 From Autonarration to Autoreceptive Narration .................................................................. 45 Rewriting Author-Images ...................................................................................................... 49 Rewriting the Author-Critic .................................................................................................. 52 II BECOMING AN AUTHOR-CRITIC Introductory Remarks to Part II ............................................................................................... 59 Condemned to Criticism ....................................................................................................... 61 3 KNAUSGÅRD AS STUDENT-CRITIC ........................................................................... 67 Demonstrations of Literary Knowledge .................................................................................. 67 Imitating a Literary Tradition ............................................................................................... 75 Karl Ove as Critic: An Inferior Parasite ............................................................................. 79 Killing Idols: The Ten Most Overrated Authors ................................................................... 83 Knausgård for Morgenbladet ........................................................................................................ 91 To Depend on Authorities.................................................................................................... 92 Competitive Exclusion .......................................................................................................... 96 Criticism as the Glass Wall ........................................................................................................ 98 The Struggles of a Student-Critic ........................................................................................... 102 ix 4 TOWARDS AUTHOR-CRITIC .....................................................................................103 Knausgård for Klassekampen ..................................................................................................... 104 Criticism of Debutants Revisited ....................................................................................... 107 Defending Criticism ............................................................................................................. 110 Breaking the Glass Wall............................................................................................................ 116 A Call for the New .................................................................................................................... 120 The Triumph and Upcoming Struggles ................................................................................