Karl Ove Knausgaard — The School of Night: A Novel - with Tope Folarin episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 23, 2026 · 1H

Karl Ove Knausgaard — The School of Night: A Novel - with Tope Folarin

from Politics and Prose Presents · host Politics and Prose

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 is 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.Karl Ove Knausgaard’s first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win the Norwegian Critics’ Prize, and his second, A Time for Everything, was longlisted for the 2010 International Dublin Literary Award. The My Struggle cycle of novels has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it has appeared. His work is published in thirty-five languages. Knausgaard is in conversation with Tope Folarin, a Nigerian-American writer based in Washington DC. He serves as Director of the Institute for Policy Studies and the Lannan Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at Georgetown University. He is the recipient of the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Whiting Award for Fiction, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, among other awards. Tope serves as a board member of the Avalon Theater in Washington DC, the Pen/Faulkner Foundation, and as a member of the President’s Council of Pathfinder. In addition, he will serve as the inaugural critic-at-large for The Georgia Review in 2025.PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593832806?ic_referral=vJ8yEdOcmrgP1NR41wnyuRLVGZ8YyWulS80m88SpvwIwM0RjF5VqVP8ux_X4t5irC4E8fzZWXOOL7RAr1f_TQdPXAEWY4ngz6xHpa47W4uT0hQE0nH9Q3OryW1phaMW191ljGho

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 23, 2026

Embed this episode

Ready to play

Karl Ove Knausgaard — The School of Night: A Novel - with Tope Folarin

0:00 1:00:41

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Politics and Prose Presents?

This episode is 1 hour and 0 minutes long.

When was this Politics and Prose Presents episode published?

This episode was published on January 23, 2026.

Can I download this Politics and Prose Presents episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!