Photo/Illutration Jon Fosse in Oslo on Sept. 3, 2021 (NTB/Ali Zare via Reuters)

Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, 64, is the recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature.

Often compared to Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) and Harold Pinter (1930-2008) by the European and American media, he’s been a strong Nobel contender for years, but I’d never read any of his plays or novels.

Assuming his plays to be absurdist--which I am partial to--I hastened to a large library.

The librarian who always helps me said, “We don’t have any anthology of his works, but there is a journal that carries one of his plays.”

Fosse’s writings have been translated into 40 languages, but only one play can be read in Japanese?

Disappointed, I nevertheless headed to the reference room to read the Japanese translation (by Sumie Kawai) of Fosse’s “Someone is Going to Come” that was carried on "Butai Geijutsu 05 (Performing arts 05)."

The drama involves only three characters.

A man in his 50s and a woman who is around 30 buy a house together in the middle of nowhere, seeking complete seclusion. Right from the start, however, there is tension.

The woman anxiously repeats, “Someone is going to come.” The man keeps saying, “There is nobody here/ Nobody is going to come.”

Suddenly, the young man who had sold them the house shows up and starts repeatedly asking: “Won’t you talk with me? Just a little? That’s all I ask.”

There is a poetic rhythm to these terse, repetitive lines. And coupled with the stage direction’s frequent calls for “pause,” I pictured in my mind a scene filled with silence and a sense of loneliness, through which I also thought I glimpsed what may be human frailty. The thought disturbed me a bit.

Plays are not so familiar in Japan, but they make for interesting reads even without seeing them on stage.

Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” is frequently performed in Japan, and Pinter has a loyal following. I wish I could read more of Fosse’s plays.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 12

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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