Karl Knausgaard

Literature is not primarily a place for truths, it is the space where truths play out. For the answer to the question—that I write because I am going to die—to have the intended effect, for it to strike one as truth, a space must first be created in which it can be said. That is what writing is: creating a space in which something can be said.

I write because I am going to die.

I paint because I have lost trust in the world.

spoken by the author with his sweater tucked into his trousers.