‘But on the whole, I am left in peace with my writing. My books are published, a few people read them. If I read my writing, a great pain often washes over me. Perhaps it is like that for others who read what I write. The strange thing is that even if I often feel it hurts when I read my own writing, then it is often a great joy to write it. I think that since I don’t think about the reader, then surely there is little point in publishing what I write. But it is not that simple.’

Jon Fosse, An Angel Walks Through the Stage and Other Essays (trans. May-Brit Akerholt)