r/Knausgaard • u/aristophanesfrogs • 13d ago
School of Night - Sonja Spoiler
I recently finished School of Night and have found it to be one of the best novels of the Morningstar series so far. But having finished it and having had a look through this group, I haven't noticed anyone talking about Sonja, the woman Kristian sleeps with in NY, who seems to threaten to tell his wife/ blackmail him, in Part 4. She seems normal, then obsessive, then is described as psychotic (?). She gets ahold of Kristian's number and won't relent.
Anyway, she seems connected to Leo's death (in other words, Kristian's comeuppance for an implied deal with the devil?), as prior to crossing the road dangerously, Kristian is distracted by a text from Yelena, that Sonja had appeared at their house. I wonder if Sonja is just a random, obsessive lady who is not actually at all involved in Kristian's 'fate', or if there is an indication that she, like Hans, has some superior influence.
Does anyone have any theories on this? Does she come up at all elsewhere in the series? It could be involved with Hans' mantra of, Kristian can have whatever he wants, until he can't. He has his way with her, until she becomes uncontrollable.
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u/spfspfspf 13d ago
I'm not sure she's much more than a narrative device to keep Kristian spiraling all the way to Leo's death. What keeps it from being sort of cliche, in my opinion, is Kristian's general disinterest in her throughout their tryst. It wasn't like he had to have her, it was just what he was supposed to do. Going through the motions of what he thinks a married artist away for work should / should be able to do. Have a brief affair of course! But he's incapable of pulling his head out of his ass even to feel the fleeting pleasure associated with it. Just drowning in pure self-interest. Such a pitiful character.
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u/aristophanesfrogs 12d ago
I think you're quite right on this. I do agree with the other commentator that she emphasises Kristian's ability, and the loss of it, to have whatever he wants -- even if he doesn't really want her that much. That said, I wasn't sure if there were supposed to be implication that this was not Kristian's first affair. At that point we're quite quickly jumped 20 years into the future of the majority narrative, and only quickly brought up to speed. Kristian goes through the affair very docile and disinterested; so could there be only the slightest implication that he has had previous affairs, but they've never come back to bite him? I thought the fact he goes through it so unbothered meant that this could not be his first affair. But this is always going to be for speculation.
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u/spfspfspf 12d ago
Oh I do think that's certainly part of it. I think we're meant to assume he does this all the time without a second thought.
It's interesting to pair with his relationship with Liz earlier in the novel as well. They're both less about what he wants and more about what he feels he deserves.
The more baffling idea in the novel is that he was ever capable of maintaining a family, imo. But if that's something he felt he needed to do to gain a certain sort of legitimacy or status as a person, he could certainly fake that too.
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u/DoctorPhalanx73 13d ago
I think you hit upon it at the end there. She’s part of how Kristian can just have anything he wants, until it sours on him and he has to pay the price. I don’t think of her as being psychotic at all, isn’t that him describing her to his wife? He’s definitely trying to excuse her as a crazed fan and not something he’s at fault for, just like he always does, nothing is ever his fault. And he finally has to pay the price of that.