Norwegian playwright and author Jon Fosse     1     (award) the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature in the previous month for his “innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”.

The Swedish Academy credits Fosse     2     “one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world”, although the 64-year-old originally made his name as a novelist,     3     (begin) with The Red and the Black in 1983. He has since written many works of prose and poetry.

Growing up in a small coastal village, Fosse was immersed in the beauty of nature and the vastness of the sea. He draws     4     (inspire) from his rural living environment and personal struggles, which have deeply influenced his distinctive writing style. Fosse’s writing discussed themes of loneliness, longing, and the search for meaning in life.     5     (addition), his battles with depression have enabled     6     (he) to explore the depths of human emotions and existential despair.

“He touches you so deeply when you read his works,” said Anders Olsson, Chairman of the Noble Prize Committee. “    7     is special about him is the closeness in his writing. It touches your     8     (deep) feelings — anxieties, insecurities, questions of life and death,     9     are things that every human being actually face s from the very beginning. In that sense I think he reaches very far and there is     10     universal impact of everything that he writes — it has appeal to this basic humanity.”

“The 2023 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Jon Fosse for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable,” the Swedish Academy     1    (announce)in Stockholm on Thursday.

The committee praised the author’s style,    2     has come to be known as “Fosse minimalism(极简主义)”. “Fosse presents everyday situations that are instantly recognizable in our own lives,” the committee said. “His reduction of language and dramatic action expresses the most powerful human emotions of     3    (anxious)and powerlessness in the simplest terms.”

His masterpiece — seven works grouped together into a single volume titled “Septology” —tells the story of     4     aging painter and widower who lives alone as he deals with the realities of religion, identity, art and family life.

“Fosse combines strong local ties, both linguistic and geographic,     5     modernist artistic techniques,” the committee said, “    6    (list)the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett and the Austrian poet Georg Trakl among those who influenced his style.”

“While Fosse shares the negative outlook of his predecessors, his particular vision cannot be said     7    (cause)a nihilistic contempt(虚无主义不屑)of the world. Indeed, there is also great warmth     8     humor in his work.” the committee added.

The choice of Fosse as this year’s laureate will do little to counter criticism from those who say the committee rewards     9    (Europe)writers at the expense of authors in other continents.

Male writers have also     10    (historical)dominated the award: Of the 120 laureates in literature, only 17 have been women.