A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse

A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse is the final instalment in the Septology sequence. It follows Asle, an ageing painter and widower living alone on the south-west coast of Norway, whose closest connections are his neighbour Åsleik, a fisherman-farmer, and Beyer, a gallerist based in the city of Bjørgvin.

In Bjørgvin there is another Asle, also a painter, isolated and affected by alcohol. The two men are presented as doppelgängers: two versions of the same person and the same life, each confronting existential questions. As Christmas approaches, Asle agrees for the first time to celebrate with Åsleik and Åsleik’s sister, Guro, and on Christmas Eve they take Åsleik’s boat out on the Sygnefjord with the dog Bragi.

Key details

• Author: Jon Fosse
• Title: A New Name: Septology VI-VII
• Final instalment of Septology
• Set in Norway, including Bjørgvin and the Sygnefjord

Synopsis

The narrative follows two Asles, both painters, living parallel versions of a life shaped by solitude, faith, art, and memory. Alongside the present-day lead-up to Christmas, the story moves through flashbacks to earlier adulthood: meeting a lifelong love, Ales, joining the Catholic Church, beginning to exhibit with Beyer, and later leaving the city for a house in Dylgja.

The other Asle’s life is also traced, including a marriage that ends in distress and a subsequent breakup. The book is described as being written in melodious, hypnotic “slow prose”.