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The School of Night

by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Ambition, art, and the cost of success

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Ambition, art, and the cost of success

Set between London in 1985 and a New York retrospective twenty-four years later, the novel follows photographer Kristian Hadeland’s pursuit of artistic recognition. His meeting with Hans, an eccentric Dutch artist, opens a path toward the future he wants, while the later exhibition brings his past into view as his success starts to unravel. The book recasts Christopher Marlowe’s *Doctor Faustus* as a story about ambition, temptation, and the moral compromises bound up with pursuing achievement. Its two time periods connect the promise of artistic success with the consequences that may surface long after the choices behind it.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in literary fiction about artistic ambition and its consequences.
  • Readers who enjoy novels that draw on the themes of *Doctor Faustus*.
  • Readers drawn to stories spanning an artist’s early ambitions and later success.

Themes

Artistic ambitionSuccess and sacrificeTemptationMoral compromiseConsequences of past choices

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Longlisted for The National Book Award in Translated Literature - Named a Best Book of the Year (So Far) by Vulture

London. 1985. A city rife with possibility and desire. One young man who wants it all.


Kristian Hadeland, young and ambitious, has moved to London to study photography; he knows that he and his art are destined for more. His family never understood him, and his fellow photography students bore him. But when he meets Hans, an eccentric Dutch artist, the future he yearns for becomes possible--as long as he is willing to sacrifice everything and stop at nothing.

Twenty-four years later, Kristian sees his dreams come to fruition when a major retrospective of his work is held in New York City. As his past catches up to him, Kristian's world begins to crumble. Success comes at a price, but is he prepared to pay it?

In a thrilling twist on Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Karl Ove Knausgaard masterfully spins a cautionary tale about the lengths that we will go to achieve success--and how far we are willing to fall. His most daring and macabre novel yet, The School of Night is an indelible tale about dark temptations and moral depravity, and what we forget when we bargain with the devil.
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