Jon Fosse’s English translator on the author’s evocation of peacefulness Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB / AFP / Getty October 5, 2023, 6:01 PM ET Jon Fosse, the Norwegian winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2023, was better known in the English-speaking world on announcement morning than many past winners have been. Last year saw the U.S. publication of the final volume of his Septology, which was shortlisted for several major awards and has attracted more and more readers by word of mouth. But Fosse has long been famous and beloved outside of England and America—in the rest of the world he is first and foremost a playwright. His plays have been translated into 50 languages and have been performed around the world; he is often called the most-produced playwright alive today. In this sense, he is the exact opposite of avant-garde or inaccessible—his work speaks to everyone. The first fiction by Fosse I read, more than 20 years ago, was a German translation of the novel Melancholy, and I found an American publisher …