Damion Searls
Beowulf Sheehan
Damion Searls has translated several books and a libretto by Jon Fosse—Septology, Melancholy (co-translated with Grethe Kvernes), Aliss at the Fire, Morning and Evening (novel and libretto), and Scenes from a Childhood—and books by many other classic modern writers, including Proust, Rilke, Nietzsche, Walser, Bachmann, Jelinek, Modiano, and Uwe Johnson. His own books include What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going, The Inkblots, and The Philosophy of Translation.
Searls’s translation of A New Name by Jon Fosse was a finalist for the 2022 International Booker Prize.
Titles translated by Damion Searls
JON FOSSE
Translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
New York Times Editors’ Choice
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL TRANSLATION AWARD
Septology named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times
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.
JON FOSSE
Translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
New York Times Editors’ Choice
Septology named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times
Asle is an aging painter and widower who lives alone on the west coast of Norway. His only friends are his neighbor, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers—two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life.
In this second installment of Jon Fosse’s Septology, “a major work of Scandinavian fiction” (Hari Kunzru), the two Asles meet for the first time in their youth. They look strangely alike, dress identically, and both want to be painters. At art school in Bjørgvin, Asle meets and falls in love with his future wife, Ales. Written in melodious and hypnotic “slow prose,” I is Another: Septology III-V is an exquisite metaphysical novel about love, art, God, friendship, and the passage of time.
JON FOSSE
Translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
2022 International Booker Prize, Finalist
2022 National Book Award, Finalist
New York Times Editors’ Choice
Septology named one of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times
Asle is an aging painter and widower who lives alone on the west coast of Norway. His only friends are his neighbor, Åsleik, a traditional fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist who lives in the city. There, in Bjørgvin, lives another Asle, also a painter but lonely and consumed by alcohol. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers—two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life.
In this final installment of Jon Fosse’s Septology, “a major work of Scandinavian fiction” (Hari Kunzru), we follow the lives of the two Asles as younger adults in flashbacks: the narrator meets his lifelong love, Ales; joins the Catholic Church; and makes a living by trying to paint away all the pictures stuck in his mind. A New Name: Septology VI-VII is a transcendent exploration of the human condition, and a radically other reading experience—incantatory, hypnotic, and utterly unique.
JON FOSSE
Translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls
WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE'
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF 2025
By Nobel Laureate in Literature Jon Fosse, Vaim begins a trilogy of novels set in a remote Norwegian fishing village.
Jatgeir travels from the fishing village of Vaim to the city in search of a needle and thread. Cheated twice, he returns to his boat, where he falls asleep as waves rock the hull. Soon he is awakened by a voice: a woman is calling his name from the quay. There stands Eline, the secret love of his youth—and the namesake of his boat—with a packed suitcase. Eline pleads to come aboard. In what follows, this single encounter reverberates across three stories: three narrators, three deaths.
The first new work from Jon Fosse since he was awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature, Vaim is a spectral novel that wanders and watches, imbued with things half-seen, perhaps not of this world yet still caught in its rhythms. The first in a trilogy of novels, it continues his investigation into the human condition: the subtle encounters that come to define our lives and our deaths, and what lies in the threshold between what is and what is longed for.