To tell you the truth, I don’t edit much at all. Most times, when I have finished the first draft, that’s the book. Of course, I work on the page I am on until I am happy with it. I might even say that I try to state the landscape. Per Petterson Read Quote
When a translation is very good, it is fascinating to see how the book changes and yet stays the same. I think ‘Out Stealing Horses’ sounds more American for Americans than it does in Norway, and still, it is all there, everything that I wrote. It’s amazing. Per Petterson Read Quote
I admire American literature, both contemporary and classic – ‘Moby-Dick’ is just about the best book in the world – and I admire British literature for its insistence on dealing with social class. It may have been an influence. Per Petterson Read Quote
I do consider myself a Norwegian writer, or a Scandinavian writer, as my family tree reaches into both Denmark and Sweden. I don’t think about it, of course, when I am writing. Per Petterson Read Quote
There is always this quarrel about what is preferable: the straight, naturalistic, epic storytelling or the modernistic, disjointed, slightly hermetic one. To me it does not matter, as long as it’s good. I like both kinds. Although the common reader seems to prefer the first, which is to be expected, and who would blame her? Per Petterson Read Quote
I do not think of literature as something confessional or therapeutic. I make sentences in order to be precise about experiences and things. I am urged by many things and no things in particular. Per Petterson Read Quote
In a household tragedy, you are very much aware of being alone. It is something that is possible to grasp, and that is why it hurts so much. Because you are alone. I know a little about this. Per Petterson Read Quote
Living here where I live, on a farm way out in the countryside, in the woods, in fact, I have plenty of time to be alone, and I like it. I always have. I like my own company. And I am not the only one who feels this way; a high percentage of the Norwegian population feel as I do. Per Petterson Read Quote
