SILENCE, REPETITION AND THE CRISIS OF IDENTITY IN JON FOSSE'S ALISS AT THE FIRE

Jon Fosse, one of the most significant contemporary Norwegian novelists, is widely recognised for his minimalist narrative style and profound exploration of existential themes. Aliss at the Fire presents a deeply inward narrative where silence and repetition function not merely as stylistic devices but as central modes through which the crisis of identity is articulated. This paper examines how Fosse employs silence and linguistic repetition to represent the fractured self and existential alienation of his characters. Drawing on existentialist and phenomenological perspectives, the study undertakes a close textual analysis of the novel to explore the characters’ psychological disintegration and their struggle to attain a coherent sense of self. Silence in the novel signifies emotional withdrawal, absence of communication, and the ineffability of inner experience, while repetition reflects obsessive memory, temporal dislocation, and the cyclical nature of suffering. The paper argues that Fosse’s aesthetic of silence destabilises conventional notions of selfhood, presenting identity as fluid, fragmented, and perpetually unresolved. By foregrounding the unsaid and the repetitive, Fosse transforms narrative form into an expression of existential crisis. This study contributes to Jon Fosse scholarship by foregrounding the relationship between narrative technique and identity formation, and situates Aliss at the Fire within the broader discourse of modern existential fiction. The findings highlight Fosse’s unique literary vision, where the fractured self emerges through silence as much as through speech, offering a powerful representation of modern human alienation.