Nobel winner Fosse 'overwhelmed, somewhat frightened' by literature award

Fosse's work has been translated into more than 40 languages

OSLO (Reuters) - Winning the Nobel prize for literature is both overwhelming and scary, Norwegian playwright and novelist Jon Fosse told Reuters following the announcement yesterday.

"I am overwhelmed, and somewhat frightened. I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations," Fosse, who is also a poet, said in a statement.

Fosse, 64, who writes in the least common of the two official versions of Norwegian, said he regarded the award as a recognition of this language and the movement promoting it, and that he ultimately owed the prize to the language itself.

Known as "new Norwegian" and used by only about 10% of the country's population, Fosse's version of the language was developed in the 19th century with rural dialects at its base, making it an alternative to the dominant use of Danish that followed from a 400-year union with Denmark.

In addition to more than two dozen plays, the prolific writer has also published novels, essays, collections of poetry and a string of children's books over a period of four decades.

According to his publisher, Fosse's work has been translated into more than 40 languages, and there have been more than 1,000 different productions of his plays.