“I did it, and I will have to live with it”: scandals surrounding Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle

Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle (2009–11) sparked controversy not only through its unflinching personal revelations, but by exposing the private lives of others. While some of the novel’s most controversial episodes recall past literary scandals, from Ulysses to Lolita, the strongest reactions came from the author’s own family, who felt betrayed by their portrayals. Yet across its six volumes, the narrative gradually transforms into a more layered and reflective project, marked by empathy and self-reflection. Through autofiction, Knausgaard explores evolving norms around fatherhood, mental illness, and social shame in contemporary Nordic society. My Struggle reveals literature’s unique power to confront cultural taboos and articulate experiences often left unspoken. At the same time, it underscores literature’s capacity to harm those unwillingly included in its pages. The ethical dilemma persists: Can literary truth-telling justify breaching the unspoken social contracts between writers and those closest to them? This article argues that My Struggle enacts this very tension, compelling readers, critics, and writers to reconsider the role and responsibility of literature in navigating both personal and collective truth.