Winter

The second volume of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Seasonal Quartet, the acclaimed Norwegian author continues his intimate project of writing to his unborn daughter, offering her glimpses of the world she is about to enter.

2 December - It is strange that you exist, but that you don't know anything about what the world looks like. It's strange that there is a first time to see the sky, a first time to see the sun, a first time to feel the air against one's skin. It's strange that there is a first time to see a face, a tree, a lamp, pajamas, a shoe. In my life it almost never happens anymore. But soon it will. In just a few months, I will see you for the first time.

Structured as a series of short meditations—on everything from snow and thermoses to war and forgiveness—Winter blends lyrical observation with philosophical inquiry. As the cold season deepens and Knausgaard prepares for fatherhood once again, his reflections take on both warmth and solemnity. These essays are deeply personal, yet they tap into universal feelings of anticipation, vulnerability, and the strange beauty of everyday life.

Balancing poetic prose with sharp detail, Knausgaard captures the stillness of winter and the emotional terrain of waiting—turning the mundane into something luminous. It's less a traditional narrative and more a contemplative mosaic of moments, ideas, and emotions. These oh-so-familiar objects and ideas he fills with new meaning, taking nothing for granted or as given. New life is on the horizon, but the earth is also in hibernation, waiting for the warmer weather to return, and so a contradictory melancholy inflects his gaze.