The Other Name

Septology I-II

By: Jon Fosse, Damion Searls - translator

Narrated by: Kyle Snyder

Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The Other Name follows the lives of two men living close to each other on the west coast of Norway. The year is coming to a close and Asle, an aging painter and widower, is reminiscing about his life. He lives alone, his only friends being his neighbor, Åsleik, a bachelor and traditional Norwegian fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in Bjørgvin, a couple hours drive south of Dylgja, where he lives. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter. He and the narrator are doppelgangers—two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life.

Written in hypnotic prose that shifts between the first and third person, The Other Name calls into question concrete notions around subjectivity and the self. What makes us who we are? And why do we lead one life and not another? Through flashbacks, Fosse deftly explores the convergences and divergences in the lives of both Asles, slowly building towards a decisive encounter between them both. A writer at the zenith of his career, with The Other Name, the first two volumes in his Septology, Fosse presents us with an indelible and poignant exploration of the human condition that will endure as his masterpiece.

©2019 Jon Fosse; Translation copyright 2019 by Damion Searls (P)2022 Tantor

Wonderful!

This is a stunning story and production. I am blown away by the craftsmanship on so many levels. Bravo to author and narrator!

Remarkable and New

Unlike anything else I have ever read. To some degree it reminds me of Joseph Conrad and Henry James in its quest to penetrate human psychology, but it’s something completely different something from the 21st-century. 

A new and mesmerizing writing style.

Wonderful river of a novel! Nothing like anything you have ever read before. It grabs you and holds you tight.

Clear and simple

Flows and made me feel good. Unique in its style. Looking forward to reading the other books in the collection.

Like a song, long, but mesmerizing song

It took me a while to warm up to the style of The Other Name, the first 2 volumes of Jon Fossés Septology. But it grew on me like a song that evokes complex emotions and imagery, the more we listen to it. The prose seems too simple and repetitive at first, but soon, we live in the author’s mind where time travel seems possible and many potential futures can be contemplated. A simple painting with two lines becomes in turn the passionate embrace of 2 soulmates or throw us in a profound existential reflection on the nature of the divine and the meaning of life. The repetitions act as the chorus that delineates the verses. I listened to all 7 volumes in a few days, with as much enthusiasm.

Thought provoking and hypnotic

Septology is a fascinating float along life’s journey as the soul of another. I found it utterly and in some ways inexplicably engrossing.

Roman Catholicism Anyone?

I was thrilled as I began listening to the incredibly fresh and wonderful style of fiction, the rhythmic prose and song like verses then the masterful doubling of characters and events, the play of reality and illusion, even (at first), the philosophical wanderings. But then, in crept the grandest CLICHE of all Western Art, Christianity, with all its Dark Age superstition and falsehoods, then actual Roman Catholic mysticism, complete with the language of Rome itself, which I at first thought was satire but no! This author sincerely offers up Roman Catholicism as the Deus ex Machina in the otherwise brilliant masterpiece.

Ear worms galore

Terrible book as audio. Too much repetition. The word “think” must comprise half the words in it. Reader read fast over parts that weren’t repetition and seemed to emphasize THINK. Waste of a credit.

A very weird book. I think...

Let me start by saying that if I hear the phrase "I think" one more time, I'm liable to scream. I think... Read or listen to the book. You'll know what I mean. I think...

I should know by now that I just don't like weird books, no matter how highly they are reviewed by the experts. Of course the experts don't warn us that it's a weird book. I think it takes a literary afficionado to appreciate this kind of literature, and I am not one of those. I think... It's like music critics who love atonal compositions because they appreciate the technical expertise of the composer and the skill of those who bring the music to life, rather than whether the music sounds good. There are those in the field of art who seem to think that if it appeals to the masses, then it's just not real art. I disagree. And I digress. I think...

More power to you if you appreciate and enjoy this kind of literature. I didn't, and I don't. I won't presume to tell you what to do, but I can tell you what I wish I didn't do. No, I'll let you guess. I think...