From Self-Doubt and Utter Anxiety to Calm Fear: Language, Perception, and the Shining Figure in Jon Fosse’s A Shining

Jon Fosse’s A Shining redefines fear as an evolving psychological state rather than a singular emotion. This paper explores how fear evolves through cognitive and linguistic processes, reshaping Fosse’s protagonist’s perception and emotional experience. The journey unfolds through pervasive self-doubt and an overwhelming sense of existential anxiety, ultimately leading to a transformative calm fear, catalysed by the mysterious “shining” figure, illustrating fear’s fluid nature. His oscillation between rational thought and fragmented internal dialogue reveals language as an active force in constructing and deconstructing reality. Integrating phenomenological insights from Maurice Merleau-Ponty and existential reflections from Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger, this paper argues that Fosse’s portrayal of fear challenges conventional understandings. Fear functions as both a defiant emotional state and an epistemological force, urging the protagonist and the reader to confront uncertainty, dissolve self-boundaries, and reimagine the interplay between language and lived experience.