Narrating the Dead in the Anthropocene
Hesitation and Existential Pluralism in Karl Ove Knausgård’s Novel Series The Morning Star
Abstract
In the Morning Star series (2020-), Karl Ove Knausgård explores blurred boundaries between life and death, challenging traditional views of mortality. This study uses T. Todorov’s theory of the fantastic and V. Despret’s existentially pluralist philosophy of the dead to examine how the dead in Knausgård’s novels defy binary categorizations. Through narrative techniques e.g. tying and severing of narrative knots, the series creates a space of ambiguity where the dead influence the living, inviting readers to confront questions about reality, agency, and interconnectedness.
Submitted: July 31, 2024 | Accepted: May 29, 2025 | Published July 21, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords The fantastic • The dead • Narrative techniques • Other-than-human • Existential pluralism
Copyright © 2025 Mikael Schultz Rasmussen. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/LGSP/2785-2709/2025/01/012