Karl Ove Knausgård, the Norwegian author of a best-selling six volume sequence of autobiographical novels, recently came to London to promote his latest work in translation. There he met brain surgeon Henry Marsh, a fan of Knausgård's writing, and the two of them discussed issues of psychology, science and ontology in another episode of the consistently fascinating ARTSNIGHT strand.
For those of us brought up on C. P. Snow's definition of "The Two Cultures," arts and science, the program proved a revelation. The two discussants made trenchant points about the elusive nature of human consciousness - although Marsh had a highly comprehensive knowledge of how the brain worked, he could seldom understand how individuals thought. Likewise Knausgård admitted that although his sequence of novels had been inspired by the desire to deconstruct his past behavior, the quest was a never-ending one; the more he thought he knew about himself, the less he actually did. Both men, it seemed, embarked on a similar quest using different methods; that quest would be lifelong with little or no prospect of definite answers.
Given their shared beliefs, it was fascinating to watch the two men interacting together: Marsh asked some intelligent questions about the process of writing, while Knausgård was given an insight into the neurosurgeon's work by having some tests performed on him. Perhaps we are too preoccupied with dividing existence up into too many discrete spheres; if we looked beyond such socially constructed areas, we would find many more points of contact that could increase human understanding.