Jon Fosse: Writing as prayer - Honor in Cologne for the Nobel Prize winner

The Norwegian Nobel Prize for Literature Jon Fosse will be awarded the renowned Ludwig-Mülheims Theater Prize in Cologne on March 6, 2025. This honor, which is endowed with 25,000 euros, recognizes his unique life's work, which treats existential issues such as love, loss and faith in a minimalist language. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki praised Fosses open confession to faith and described his works as impressive and touching.

During his speech as part of Ash Wednesday The artist in Cologne explained that writing was a kind of prayer for him: "Literature means praying." It is reminiscent of his early relationship to faith that began at a young age. Despite his conversion to Catholicism in 2013, he always addressed the interaction of faith and literature. "This made headlines in Norway," he reported when he once said he was writing to God. Such clear creeds are rare in today's world, according to Woelki.

The spiritual relationship to the letter

In an interview, Fosse continued that writing would have made him a religious person. In his new novel "A Lights" he shows how he is inspired by his encounter with the silence of God. "If you want to hear the voice of God, you have to listen to the silence," he quotes the mystic Thomas Merton. Writing enables him to dive into this silence and find access to something larger, which inspires his creative work. He describes the creative process in such a way that at some point he has the feeling that what he is writing already exists and influence it.

The encounter of church and art is promoted at events such as the Ash Wednesday of the artists. This tradition has its roots in France after the Second World War, where Catholic writer Paul Claudel took the initiative to promote a spiritual fresh start for Europe. Cologne cathedral, a place deep prayer, inspired Fosse very much, which has brought him to his opinion that writing and praying are similar, connecting movements.

For further information about Jon Fosse and his views on belief and literature, read more on href = "https://www.domradio.de/artikel/jon-fosse-hat-ueber-das-schrei-glauben-fiden"> domradio.de .