VICE Meets 'My Struggle' Author Karl Ove Knausgaard
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- čas přidán 29. 07. 2024
- Karl-Ove Knausgaard is an unlikely literary celebrity. The Norwegian novelist is the author of the bestselling, six-volume novelized memoir My Struggle-Min Kamp in Norwegian, a title deliberately borrowed from Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf. As Knausgaard readily acknowledges, they are books without much of a plot, where quotidian events are described with exacting-and sometimes exhausting-detail. In Norway, a country of 5 million people, My Struggle has sold 450,000 copies. English-language critics regularly compare him to Proust, and await the translation of each new volume with child-like anticipation. We met Karl-Ove in New York, days before the release of My Struggle: Book Four.
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"Book 8: My Struggle with Fucking Hipster Vice"
LOL
It is so frustrating how the interviewer interrupts and finishes Karl's sentences over and over again. Let Karl speak.
Agreed.
Owen Burgess thank you!! I knew I wasn t the only one being annoyed by his insufferable interruptions. quite unprofessional..
he can't help it, he is a homosexual after all.
I literally scrolled down to the comments just to see if anyone else was annoyed by this guy. How can he have absolutely no respect for the person he is interviewing?
thank you, he interrupts way too much...
Why do all of Vice's interviewers seem like rejected art students?
Vaal Hue seem like?
mean
This is pretty funny
@@brandonholgersen4440 jaj xD
Because they are real human beings unlike the plastic vacuous idiots that get wide msm coverage with almost no struggle no education no insights and nothing interesting to say.....
can't wait for Knausgård to write about this interview and in his usual style exhaustingly analyse the interviewer and how he made him feel. hopefully he will make a parallel between him and that toilet seat.
Vassiliki Sin 😂😂😂 oh yes!!!
That masturbation scene tho!
That was exactly what I was thinking too! :D
That author is a chill dude
Cale Iten I like his attitude, he's a lonely man.
iZuqoo didn't he say that he has kids?
Cale Iten I kinda expected a pretentious prick, but i was disproven really quick
Golden Glazed he did, but still he said he is introverted. his bodylaungauge says no to talking while he still wants to talk
Sansori Most introverts loves to talk about something they love, to someone. Just not to a group.
After just finishing the fifth book, I can't help but wonder how Karl Ove would narrate the experience of this interview
That's the only relevant comment.
This intereiewe is terrible.
He doesn't let talk the author.
He wants to challenge him.
And he fails misarebly.
It's like the clash of the real individual vs. the american poor surface level self lies.
You don't have to be special and mesmerizing to be great. You have to be honest. And that's what Karl Ove Knausgard can do, but most of the people can not.
@@olivertakacs932 you don't have to be honest to be great, there's no formula for greatness. the interviewer was being his honest self as he knows it, unfortunately it didn't land. when it comes to being great you either have it or you don't
@@activeone As if an honest self is anything great. Like a wildly out of tune instrument shouting in an orchestra.
@olivertakacs932 But Karl-Ove Knausgaard was a bad interviewer too when he was young he did not remember the conversation...
When the interview says at 9:10 “I’ll never achieve anything like that, how do you think that makes me feel” I honestly couldn’t believe it. It became clear he’s sat there across the table from perhaps the greatest living writer thinking about himself.
This is not a conventional interview. It's supposed to be two people hanging out, having a conversation
Makes way more sense when you consider that he is a libertarian working for Vice, worst of both worlds
Exactly right! The interviewer reveals himself in 'i like having written' 4:19 - he is only ego, as Knausgaard has Geir put it in one of the conversations with him in Book 2 of Min Kamp, that Knausgaard is pure backstage, pure inner and cannot deal with the simulations and artifices of the front-stage. Geir has made a pragmatic bargain to straddle both. This interviewer is pure front-stage. He must not have read much Knausgaard to act like this and to know so little about him. It shouldn't be shocking to an interviewer that Knausgaard struggles in this way.
Yeah this guy radiates shittiness. A real serpent type of vibe. like at 1:34 where he makes a little pithy comment about "you can't just be giving money out lol" just mocking the idea of helping the poor. Then the fact that he's chewing gum, and pats Knausgaard on the back at the beginning, just trying so hard to be like Whoa, look at me, I'm coooool, we're Vice, hey heyyY! What a depressing watch lol couldn't get through it.
Loved hearing Karl. Interviewer- take a deep breath, a chill pill, and listen.
As awkward as it is to watch, it's still as much enjoyable in a strange way. I would have liked it more if Karl Ove had the chance to say what he wants to say without being interrupted every single time.
Dude, right? Take a beat, sheesh.
"That's because I am a novelist" was the only answer to that idiotic question.
Why did you write that book lol
The interviewer is a pseudo intellectual. Knausgaard is supremely honest.
what is a pseudo intellectual
If you're familiar with the English language you will understand what a pseudo intellectual is.
@@DenianArcoleo or you could just not be the ponytail guy from Good Will Hunting and explain..
@@kittylikescharlotte "Pseudo" is a prefix of Greek origin meaning "false". In English, we call someone a "pseudo-intellectual" when they pretend to be smarter than they are. I find it hilarious how people use uncommon terms, then scold people for their forgivable ignorance. Your behavior beseems pseudo-intellectualism, no?
@@gotterdammerung6088 Pseudo-intellectualism is actually one of the more common accusations used on the internet. Not as common as vocab snobism, perhaps, but common.
Love how the Vice interviewer is sitting across from one of the greatest living writers in the world today and in addition to holding a cigarette like a 1950's starlet, constantly wants to pretend he's on the same level with Knausgaard. I half expected him to end the interview with, "Well, ya know, I'm a writer too. So If you could give my manuscript here a glance, that would be great. You don't have to but yeah, that would... just be super terrific."
He's a libertarian, what do you expect lmao
Melhor comentário 😂😂😂
It's crazy how much the interviewer cuts Karl Ove off when he is in mid-sentence.
There are so many journalists that are self-obsessed and unprofessional.
He’s the Pre-Andrew Schultz
9:46
"How happy are you?"
"I wake up every morning unhappy."
"Every morning??"
"Yeah, with this feeling of......"
"WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WOKE UP FEELING A LITTLE HAPPY?=!!?!"+?="
Thank you for that terrible interruption.
Almost seems like the interviewer was trying to counsel the author. For someone like me who is unfamiliar with the writer, I would've liked to hear him speak more. Sometimes it's good to just ask a question and allow the person to pause and then answer. I find that many journalists fear that dead silence for some reason but it usually adds tension and intrigue to an interview.
this is the third interview. i would have liked the author to speak more too. but, i appreciated the chill atmosphere.
23 minute interview, 10 of which is spoken by the noted guest, and 13 of which is the unskilled interviewer. Sad.
the interviewer is slightly annoying
More than slightly. He's a nut. No clue. Has he even read a book?
He looks like 50 year old Kurt Cobain
+John Zoidberg all of you are wrong
+John Zoidberg i cant say i agree
+John Zoidberg 100 % accurate
He is
No
I like to look at Karl as a real life The Dude.
for real he is
I was wondering who this awful interviewer was, and lo and behold: it's Michael Moynihan. Not content with merely being a talking head for Bank of America - Michael has set his sights on ruining Vice's more artistic-oriented pieces by constantly choking on his own phlegm every 8 seconds, and repeatedly interrupting the subject of his interview like a desperate amateur.
Keep up the great work, Michael. Oh and Shane, great pick up for your brand.
Dan Gorry spot on assessment. his interviewing abilities are bloody dire..
Dan Gorry I'm fairly sure neither Shane or Michael have anything to do with the hiring process anymore. They are both two very busy people. With the staggering growth of Vice especially through CZcams, and now HBO the brand is a growing media powerhouse. It's why we see Shane as the face of Vice vs. hitting the road. Introducing segments instead of being out in the field.
JoesGLI I never said Michael had anything to do with the hiring process.... And could you shill more for Vice in a single comment? What are you, a summer intern? I'm sorry Shane makes you work on Saturdays, plus the fact that even if they promote you from intern to staff, Vice will still pay you a wage below the poverty line - even though they decry the poverty wages imposed by other private entities.
Dan Gorry Bitter much, thanks for your hugely unfounded assumptions though. Goes to show how much of an idiot you truly are. Talking about the poverty line like you know it all to well. Enjoy sucker.
Sick burn, kiddo. Hey, do me a favor and say hi to Vikram Gandhi for me - if you ever see him in the office. He's my favorite. He seems like a good enough dude to even acknowledge your internly existence.
finally something interesting and not "DUUDEEE WEEEED 420 "
you could say subbing to vice is a leap of faith? ;))))
Worst interviewer in the history of interviewers
Edit: *4 years later I still agree with myself*
This was an interesting piece. But the interviewer interrupted Knausgaard far too often, which detracted from it. The host needed to concern himself less with jumping to his next question, and more with listening to Knausgaard's response to the one he had already asked.
Jesus christ this interviewer is something. Find a non-annoying, non-interrupting, non-vocal fry loving man for the next interview pls
Wish the Yank would let him speak and stop interrupting him.
I so agree. You can just see the guy getting cut off again and again. I live in the USA and see this everyday in every conversation. Never noticed it until going to another country.
I like Karl's politeness. He even said "I'm sorry" to the hobo in the begining of the video
As many have already said, this interviewer is so bad, self-absorbed, constantly interrupting. That said, Knausgaard's humanity and supreme sensitivity shines thru.
I watched this while stoned for a second time and actually think that the interviewer was a really smart choice in order push a lot of conversation no matter how much you want to cringe when you watch it as a 3rd party, it was sloppy but all the pieces that come together are worth it
You interview a writer, whose art is the expression of ideas through words, and can't find it in yourself to just listen to the whole thought before addressing it? It's like reading a long, elaborate, complex sentence and stopping halfway through to infer how it finishes and move on to the next because you are unwilling and/or incapable of following along with a long, elaborate, complex thought.
I couldn't bear the interviewer and had to end the video after 7 minutes. The only thing that made me stay till then was Karl; he is such a gem! The nincompoop of an interviewer spoiled the interaction
Why is this interviewer trying to answer the man's questions before he even asks them? Very weird. Also very smug.
he's so Scandinavian it hurts
funny
I'd be way too self conscious interviewing him, in his books he notices every little thing about people and is highly perceptive.
Love that literally everybody is hating on this interviewer
As a Norwegian this is quite interesting, seeing that he is quite the recluse when it comes to talking with the Norwegian media.
Excellent author. I have only read the first book of My Struggle and I was very much moved by it. I have recently started reading his other work "A Time for Everything" and it is also intriguing and beautifully written. The only unfortunate thing is to see that he smokes so much.
+mindstormd One would've thought you had learned that he smokes a lot from reading My Struggle ;)
+PJ True. best of luck to his lungs. ;-)
How to ask leading questions that ruin an interview: do exactly what this guy does for the first 5 minutes
l feel like the author is honest and you can kind of sense his built in crap detector and his trying to express his truth in a world that would have him conform to what makes them comfortable.
He seems like an interesting guy
am i the only one who thought the interviewer was fine? i mean he interrupts sometimes but he leads the conversation to interesting places, asking pretty much overall good questions. also did a good job of keeping it the mood casual.
1:30 aw he won respect from me when he said sorry :)
If you put enough effort and time into researching any person on this planet, you'll find reasons to understand how they went about their life and the decisions they made within it.
This guy seems to be so much like an artist, rather than some commercial writer (of which there are many of). He's a breath of fresh air to watch and I am going to enjoy finding and reading his novels.
SansSkeleton Yeah it's definitley a breath of fresh air! I wrote the books, which are out now in my country and believe me it's a fucking bless.
I wrote a speech about "school life" and called it "my struggle" for my english assessment, didn't know about mein kampf till someone said so. It's just such a good title for a book!
It seems to me that the intention here was just to have a "chat" with Knausgard in a very unpretentious way, but aside from that the interviewer is a good example of how most of contemporary society handles conversations today. Terrible that Knausgard had to endure it, even if he's probably used to it by now. Also, awkward atmosphere (mostly because of how the interviewer handled it).
Nah, he enjoyed it. No worries 😉
@@larsheihei3683 Yeah, I probably agree. Would not have made this rude comment nowadays. It's fine to be awkward. Thanks for the reply though. :)
Wish the interviewer had given Karl time to complete his thoughts and not interrupt.
I get a sense that time is running out during the interview, as if they were expecting a speeding train to come crashing through the door at any minute ...
At 17.28 when the so called interviewer laughs giggling at Karl Ove's honest answer about not remembering every word he wrote in his massive masterpiece. And I though to myself, OK, maybe he will have the decency to stop, but no man, he followed through with But they're yours, right? The embarassement transcends the screen.
The interviewer is so much younger and He is not aware yet how our memory fades with age. I didn’t think of that as an insult, but an honest age gap. We forget things we said, we wrote, we did …eventually our own lives. C’est la vie!
The vice documentaries are usually based around fascinating subjects, with incredible people behind the stories... But... they are so often spoilt by the amateur nature of some of the interviewers and some of their appalling body language...
Nothing against this guy, but his interviewing technique is horrible. It highlights the difference between those people that get the really important interviews and those that do not... His body language can be over bearing and oppressive even as a viewer, let alone as the individual on the receiving end.
Anyway, great little piece, spoilt only slightly by some cringeworthy moments on the part of the interviewer...
2:47 C-walk homie?
Guess Vice's recruitment process is primarily paying the local record/ used book store a visit and picking up as many Crispin Glover impersonators as possible lol Is he dehydrated? Put the water bottle away for a few minutes.
Hahaha
Hahahah
The "unintelligible dialogue" at 1:45 is Jantelov - the law of Jante.
This one made me laugh while watching as well :)
the interviewer speaks more than the writer
Great interview, he sounds like a smart, troubled man.
3:41 The annoying ass interviewer asked why Karl published his novel and his answer "...because im a novelist. Its what i do.." made me laugh so fucking hard.
VICE sits down for a chat with the Norwegian author of the six-volume, novelized memoir, _My Struggle_.
bonne a petit
VICE You misspelled his name :O It´s: "Karl Ove Knausgård"
TitanGaming yup, with an å!
on another note! nice seeing him here. I read the first three parts in his my struggle series in Swedish some years ago and I really enjoyed them!!
TitanGaming When you don't have access to the letter Å you usually wright AA, like you would write AE as a substitute to Ä and Å to OE.
Alfmat It´s very easy to copy/paste unicode characters.
Ha! That was awesome that they kept the clip of the beggar asking for money. Karl was like...."I don't have any money....otherwise I would have given." Fantastic stuff there.
Contains spoiler about the 6th book (if you don't already know). I so love that he doesn't remember writing something because he writes so much and goes to another place as he's writing. How wonderful. What freedom.
This interviewer just felt nervous and intimidated which are bad premises for a good interview, he sounded like a fanboy at a book signing. Even Eddie Moretti would have done a better job. This was awkward and superficial.
What an amazing man. Would love to learn more so books here I come!
Well done Vice, fantastic choice. Please keep interviewing authors
I just have to say the shot at 11:23 of Karl lighting that cigarette was pretty epic. :) I can't believe I don't know of this guy, and I live in Norway. :S
what a truthful man.
As a non-native English speaker, when I do talk English I weigh the choice of words a lot not only for the meaning but also for the pronunciation. The interviewer I think doesn't understand that the pauses are time the author needs to look for the proper word instead of just spilling the first one that comes to his mind inappropriately. I am not saying I do speak or write good English, or the author, but just how sometimes mechanics work if you speak your non-native language.
I don't find the interviewer as much annoying as talking too much about his opinion and about himself, something quite common in Vice and I guess it's their style, but after the interview, I felt that a lot of the topics Knausgaard wanted to go into depth were interrupted by whatever the interviewer had to say and I couldn't care less.
The interviewer is engaged and excited so much that it distracts. He talks too much. I'm fairly convinced that he is on some kind of stimulant.
You know you're a New Yorker if your jaw dropped when they cut to him smoking a cigarette inside a bar... How'd he get away with that???
+Lavache Beadsman And you think he is allowed to do that in native Norway or home Sweden? ;)
Ok, you wrote that 8 yrs ago, but there are (thankfully!) more and more bars allowing smoking now in big cities. You need to know where to go😉
the thumbnail is so artsy, i just can't even bare the hipster-ness from it.
As an author (pen name) I completely understand his anxiety and the need for solitude.
I've read the first two books. I was really surprised when i saw that vice met him. :)
That was pretty interesting, not that I've read his work but the undesirable wanting to be desired concept is clear. Rambling a bit but to be able to sort through your thoughts without some sort of consequence either way. Though the books sound like a Scarlet Letter to me.
nice video, whys it so dark?
***** Because they're trying to be edgy.
***** Camera operator doesnt know his/her camera and/or colourist working without knowledge
Jakob Paulik Or don't try to think so hard and maybe its simply about a dark man..
***** Vice Filter
Imagine if the interviewer didn’t know the word ‘yeah.’ Drink a shot of whiskey for every “yeah” and die a Dylan Thomas death.
The interviewer needs to talk less and listen more.
holy shit it's geralt from the witcher
Geralt of Rivia never ceases to amaze.
I thought Marcel Proust already exists
I know this comparison already abounds.
He kinda looks like Gandalf
btw when Knausgaard says "shit" he might have used the norwegian conotation as we say it all the time since it is not a bad/curse word. I said shit when i was 5 in norway and i did not know it would be bad in any other country.
Really wish he would have let knausgard set the pace. His questions were interesting and half of the time interesting because they revealed how far away the concept of honesty as motivation is for himself and, of course, lots of people. We are obsessed with the ulterior. Even if the interviewer is a writer he had some walls broken in for him. It speaks to the motives of most artists in any medium- gains beyond that of the art. What would one do if completely isolated indefinitely? What would one have self sustaining energy for? As nervous as the interviewer's interruptions were I still think Knausgard unknowingly brought it out of him- exercised the core distractions that make his work a refreshing light. The clash made for a good interview in the end. This all written after I definitely yelled at the screen "Let Him Speak for fuck's sake!"
Excellent interview...
Watching this interviewer do this interview reminds me of the scene from the Simpsons where Moe says to Reinier Wolfcastle, "Is it true that if I kill you, I become you?"
“Skip ahead to the last book, you have a two hundred page digression, it’s talking about mein kampf” it’s literally a 490 page section. This guy didn’t read the book. He skimmed it at best, whilst thinking about how he could emulate the success
I cant wait until i get to read knausgard's version of this interview 😂😂😂😂 i wonder what he has to say about the interviewer 😖
I enjoyed that talk, have no clue at all about his writing style or his work but I'm interested now.
Dear god would the interviewer clear his throat already?
Note to VICE, if you are going to be in the privileged position of interviewing such an insightful person, let them speak. What an arrogant interviewer - all he wants to do is talk about himself and his own interpretation of the books and world. I think Karl was amazingly tolerant of this prat. Give us strength as younger interviewers - it's all about them...
I chose not to read his books because of how the media here in Norway kept idolising him like if he was Justin Bieber. But now I really want to - thanks to this interview.
bumrusherer1985 You're saying nobody have been idolising Justin Bieber? Yes, he's a kids toy. I don't understand what you're trying to say.
***** In America writers only get really overhyped by the media if they belong to a certain really really special group.... not saying... but....
du vil bli positivt overrasket hvis du leser den.
+Henrik Torget Agreed! Im also Norwegian. I will never read he's (probably) hipster books. Virker som dette er bøker for usikre mennesker, som vi få bekreftelse på at de ikke er alene om å strebe etter å være A4.
“You don’t sell that many books you can’t be just giving money to people” what a jerk interviewer
A sorte dele é que Karl Ove é educado.
all this video tells me is that he's an author of a book with a controversial title
I'd love to watch this but I simply can't. The interviewer is just too much of a pain in the ass.
Knausgaard is 46, but he looks like he is 56!
+Drug Addicted Pornstar Welcome to chain smoking.
jed52
l suspected that is the case.
wish I had his hair, and I’m 20 though
What a character.
I remember when I titled my one painting "Fuck art let's rock and roll." Sitting in the headmasters office was totally worth it.
Unlike most of the comments here, I didn't mind the interplay between the interviewer and Karl. I think it's helpful in establishing a rapport. I did get annoyed at how ~cool~ they're trying to seem. like we don't need a dozen glamor shots of him taking a drag of a cigarette and a very clearly intentional conversation about having a drink even though it's early.
there's a large middle ground between smokey bars and sterile corporate interviews and I feel like Vice has gone a little too far towards the former here, to the point that it feels like a parody.
In contrast to this very stressful and akward interview, I recommend Karl Ove Knausgaard interview: Literature should be ruthless (here the interviewer is off screen and asking his first question after 6:20 minutes…)
Michael Moynahan! Your interviewing skills are not that shitty, but just being used on the wrong people.
You should be working for the Spanish Inquisition where you can interrupt heretics mid-sentence and make sure they recant on tape and start spouting orthodoxy. I'm pretty sure they have an opening for chief interrogator. Apply today!
Great chat!
god I hope this interviewer has to watch this in his sleep. He has potential to be good but has to learn to shut up and listen. Maybe they could have someone behind him to tape his mouth after every question!
drinking game: take a shot every time Knausgaard says "very much so"
He is a very sympathetic man.
i enjoyed the interview