23 Per Petterson Quotes for You to Enjoy

Per Petterson

Norwegian Novelist

Born: Jul 18, 1952

About Book Good Me Writing You

Related authors: Charles Dickens Ernest Hemingway Gustave Flaubert James Baldwin John Updike Leo Rosten Paulo Coelho Walter Scott

I was born in 1952, so obviously the sixties were important. That's when I came of age. It was also a revolutionary period, a complete break with the generation before us in terms of culture, literature, music, and in politics, of course. 1968 was an important year; I was 16, and the world became clear to me, visible, so to say. Per Petterson

Politics Music Me Age Generation Culture World Important Year Before Complete Say Visible Born Clear Terms Period Also Obviously Course Became Came Were Revolutionary Sixties Break Literature Us

When a translation is very good, it is fascinating to see how the book changes and yet stays the same. I think 'Out Stealing Horses' sounds more American for Americans than it does in Norway, and still, it is all there, everything that I wrote. It's amazing. Per Petterson

Good Book Amazing Translation Think Changes Everything Out See Stays More Stealing Horses Wrote Does How Still Sounds Very Than American Same Norway Fascinating

I decided if I couldn't be a writer, my life would be miserable. I had this imaginary room of references to all the books I had read, a kind of bubble, in which I lived. Per Petterson

Life My Life Miserable Books Kind Would Would-Be Writer Bubble Had Read References Decided Which Room Lived Imaginary

At first I wanted to go to university, but I really didn't dare to. I was too self-conscious, being a working-class kid. It was really difficult. I was going to study history, but the professor asked me some questions I didn't understand, and I didn't dare to ask what they meant. I left university and went to work in the Post. Per Petterson

Work Me History Post First Difficult Too Kid Dare Some Self-Conscious Study Study History Understand Go Left Questions Going Being Wanted Ask Asked Really Meant Working-Class Professor University

I grew up in the city. Both my mother and father were factory workers, and I loved the life in the 'metro.' Everybody saw me as a very urban guy. And I was. Per Petterson

Life Me Mother Father Mother And Father Everybody Saw City Guy Both Factory Were Metro Up Very Grew Loved Urban Workers

To say that a family is happy I think is to diminish it, taking out what is interesting. Growing up, I don't think my family was any happier or unhappier than anyone else's. My mother and father should have been divorced or never even married. On the other hand, I remember many moments of happiness. Per Petterson

Happiness Family Happy Remember Mother Father Mother And Father Think Other Else Say Diminish Out Married Never Divorced Taking Been Hand Up Than Any Anyone Happier Interesting Should Many Moments Even Growing Growing Up

I don't know if nature is a direct literary influence on my writing, but it is certainly important to me. I take great joy in writing about it. It is something I have taken with me from my childhood; the body exposed to the threat of the physical world and at the same time being at home in it. Per Petterson

Time Home Great Nature Me Writing Joy World Important Great Joy Threat Physical About Direct Something Physical World Take Taken Know Same Childhood Same Time Being Influence Literary Body Certainly Exposed

I come from a working-class family. They're the people I know and the people I love, I guess. I do not write about them for political reasons, but because, as I see it, most interesting things - social, political, emotional - take place there. It's a bottomless well for an author like me. Per Petterson

Love Family Me People Political Guess See About Write Emotional Take Bottomless Come Like Know Most Well Because Author Place Interesting Social Them Interesting Things Working-Class Reasons Things

Some critics said, 'Hey, why are you writing historical novels?' I say they're not historical, they're contemporary, because people walking around who lived through this, even a little bit, they carry it inside. The contemporary isn't just what you can see now. Per Petterson

You People Writing Hey Say Bit Carry Critics Inside See Some Through Contemporary Because Around Said Historical Walking Just Little Little Bit Who Even Novels Lived Now Why

When my mother talked about her brother, there was this light in her eyes. I thought, 'This is the basis of a novel.' Per Petterson

Eyes Light Mother Thought Brother About Talked Novel Her Basis

I hate plots. Per Petterson

Hate Plots

When you are a sentence-based writer, they have to be good. They have to be really on the spot. Because when you don't have a plot, really, what shall you rely on? Just language. And sometimes I am so afraid of writing the wrong thing, I just sit and wait for the right thing to come. Per Petterson

Good You Writing Sometimes Wait Language Wrong Thing Sit Right Thing Plot Rely Shall Writer Wrong Come Because Spot Am Just Afraid The Right Thing Really Right Thing

I write about families. That is who we are. Per Petterson

About Write Families Who

1989 was such a very, very important year in Europe. The wall fell, the Soviet Union was crumbling, and so many things happened - in 15 minutes, the world changed. Per Petterson

World Important Year Changed Minutes Crumbling Fell Very Wall Soviet Soviet Union Happened Union Europe Many Things

A lot can change because you are embarrassed by something. Per Petterson

You Change Embarrassed Something Because Lot

I worked in a bookstore in Oslo, importing the English-language books. Per Petterson

Books Bookstore Worked Oslo

Living here where I live, on a farm way out in the countryside, in the woods, in fact, I have plenty of time to be alone, and I like it. I always have. I like my own company. And I am not the only one who feels this way; a high percentage of the Norwegian population feel as I do. Per Petterson

Alone Time Own Farm Live Living Way Plenty Out High High Percentage Percentage My Own Only Fact Feel Feels Like Countryside Always Am Norwegian Where In Fact Woods Who Company Population Here

There is always this quarrel about what is preferable: the straight, naturalistic, epic storytelling or the modernistic, disjointed, slightly hermetic one. To me it does not matter, as long as it's good. I like both kinds. Although the common reader seems to prefer the first, which is to be expected, and who would blame her? Per Petterson

Good Me Blame Matter Long First Slightly Would Kinds About Seems Both Like Reader Although Does Always Quarrel Expected Common Which Disjointed Storytelling Prefer Preferable Straight Epic Naturalistic Who Her

To tell you the truth, I don't edit much at all. Most times, when I have finished the first draft, that's the book. Of course, I work on the page I am on until I am happy with it. I might even say that I try to state the landscape. Per Petterson

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