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Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
in
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...
. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...
, subject, perspective and environment. He published more than 23
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
s, a collection of
poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
, some
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
and plays, a travelogue, works of non-fiction and some
essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...
s. Hamsun is considered to be "one of the most influential and innovative literary stylists of the past hundred years" (''ca.'' 1890–1990). He pioneered psychological literature with techniques of
stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. It is usually in the form of an interior monologue which ...
and interior monologue, and influenced authors such as
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
,
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...
,
Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (;  – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
,
Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...
,
Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, so ...
,
Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...
,
John Fante John Fante (April 8, 1909 – May 8, 1983) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel ''Ask the Dust'' (1939) about the life of Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in Depre ...
,
James Kelman James Kelman (born 9 June 1946) is a Scottish novelist, short story writer, playwright and essayist. His fiction and short stories feature accounts of internal mental processes of usually, but not exclusively, working class narrators and their ...
,
Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...
and
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
.
Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...
called Hamsun "the father of the modern school of literature in his every aspect—his subjectiveness, his fragmentariness, his use of flashbacks, his
lyricism Lyricism is a term used to describe a piece of art considered to have deep emotions. Its origin is found in the word ''lyric'', derived via Latin ' from the Greek ('), the adjectival form of ''lyre''. It is often employed to relate to the capab ...
. The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun". Since 1916, several of Hamsun's works have been adapted into
motion pictures A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
. On 4 August 2009, the Knut Hamsun Centre was opened in
Hamarøy Municipality or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Oppeid ...
. The young Hamsun objected to realism and naturalism. He argued that the main object of
modernist literature Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...
should be the intricacies of the human mind, that writers should describe the "whisper of blood, and the pleading of bone marrow". Hamsun is considered the "leader of the Neo-Romantic revolt at the turn of the 20th century", with works such as ''
Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...
'' (1890), '' Mysteries'' (1892), '' Pan'' (1894), and '' Victoria'' (1898). His later works—in particular his "
Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...
novels"—were influenced by the Norwegian new realism, portraying everyday life in rural Norway and often employing local dialect, irony, and humour. Hamsun only published one poetry collection, '' The Wild Choir'', which has been set to music by several composers. Hamsun had strong anglophobic views, in part due to the treatment of Norway during World War I, and openly supported
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
and
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, travelling to meet Hitler during the
German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...
. Due to his professed support for the occupation of Norway and the
Quisling regime The Quisling regime, or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaboration government led by Vidkun Quisling in German occupation of Norway, German-occupied Norway during th ...
, he was charged with
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...
after the war. He was not convicted, officially due to psychological problems and issues relating to old age, but was issued a heavy
fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny'' * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (p ...
in 1948. Hamsun's last book, '' On Overgrown Paths'', authored in semi-imprisonment in Landvik, concerned his treatment and rebuttal of accusations of his mental ineptness.


Biography


Early life

Knut Hamsun was born as Knud Pedersen in
Lom, Norway Lom is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fossbergom. Another village area in Lom is Elvesæter. The munici ...
, in the
Gudbrandsdal Gudbrandsdalen (; ) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending toward the Romsdalen vall ...
valley. He was the fourth son among the seven children of Tora Olsdatter and Peder Pedersen. When he was three, the family moved to Hamsund in
Hamarøy Municipality or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Oppeid ...
in
Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...
county. They were poor and an uncle had invited them to farm his land for him. At nine Knut was separated from his family and lived with his uncle Hans Olsen, who needed help with the post office he ran. Olsen used to beat and starve his nephew, and Hamsun later stated that his chronic nervous difficulties were due to the way his uncle treated him. In 1874 he finally escaped back to Lom. For the next five years he did any job for money; he was a store clerk, peddler, shoemaker's apprentice, sheriff's assistant, and an elementary-school teacher. At 17 he became a ropemaker's apprentice; at about the same time he started to write. He asked businessman Erasmus Zahl to give him significant monetary support, and Zahl agreed. Hamsun later used Zahl as a model for the character ''Mack'' appearing in his novels '' Pan'' (1894), ''Dreamers'' (1904), ''Benoni'' (1908) and ''Rosa'' (1908). He spent several years in America, traveling and working at various jobs, and published in 1889 his impressions under the title ''Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv'' ("From the Spiritual Life of Modern America").


Early literary career

Working all those odd jobs paid off, and he published his first book: ''Den Gaadefulde: En Kjærlighedshistorie fra Nordland'' (''The Enigmatic Man: A Love Story from Northern Norway'', 1877). It was inspired from the experiences and struggles he endured from his jobs. In his second novel ''Bjørger'' (1878), he attempted to imitate
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...
's writing style of the Icelandic saga narrative. The melodramatic story follows a poet, Bjørger, and his love for Laura. This book was published under the pseudonym Knud Pedersen Hamsund. This book later served as the basis for ''Victoria: En Kærligheds Historie'' (1898; translated as ''Victoria: A Love Story'', 1923).. As of 1898 Hamsun was among the contributors of ''
Ringeren ''Ringeren'' was a Norwegian weekly political magazine which existed between 1898 and 1899. The magazine was founded by Sigurd Ibsen and was headquartered in Oslo, Kristiania, Norway. History and profile ''Ringeren'' was established as a weekly ...
'', a political and cultural magazine established by
Sigurd Ibsen Sigurd Ibsen (23 December 1859 – 14 April 1930) was a Norwegian writer, lawyer and statesman, who served as the prime minister of Norway in Stockholm (1903–1905) and played a central role in the dissolution of the union between Norway an ...
.


Major works

Hamsun first received wide acclaim with his 1890 novel ''Hunger'' (''Sult''). The semiautobiographical work described a young writer's descent into near madness as a result of hunger and poverty in the Norwegian capital of
Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...
(modern name
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
). To many, the novel presages the writings of
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...
and other twentieth-century novelists with its
internal monologue Intrapersonal communication (also known as autocommunication or inner speech) is communication with oneself or self-to-self communication. Examples are thinking to oneself "I will do better next time" after having made a mistake or imagining a ...
and bizarre logic. A theme to which Hamsun often returned is that of the perpetual wanderer, an itinerant stranger (often the narrator) who shows up and insinuates himself into the life of small rural communities. This wanderer theme is central to the novels '' Mysteries'', '' Pan'', '' Under the Autumn Star'', '' The Last Joy'', ''Vagabonds'', ''Rosa'', and others. Hamsun's prose often contains rapturous depictions of the natural world, with intimate reflections on the Norwegian woodlands and coastline. For this reason, he has been linked with the spiritual movement known as
pantheism Pantheism can refer to a number of philosophical and religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arisesAnn Thomson; Bodies ...
("No one knows God," he once wrote, "man knows only gods."). Hamsun saw mankind and nature united in a strong, sometimes mystical bond. This connection between the characters and their natural environment is exemplified in the novels ''Pan'', ''A Wanderer Plays on Muted Strings'', and the epic '' Growth of the Soil'', "his monumental work" credited with securing him the
Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
in 1920.


World War II, arrest and trial

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Hamsun supported the German war effort. He courted and met with high-ranking Nazi officers, including
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. Nazi Minister of Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
wrote a long and enthusiastic diary entry concerning a private meeting with Hamsun; according to Goebbels, Hamsun's "faith in German victory is unshakable". In 1940 Hamsun wrote that "the Germans are fighting for us". After Hitler's death, he published a short obituary in which he described him as "a warrior for mankind" and "a preacher of the gospel of justice for all nations". After the war, he was detained by police on 14 June 1945, for treason, then committed to a hospital in
Grimstad Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (to ...
('' Grimstad sykehus'') "due to his advanced age", according to Einar Kringlen (a professor and medical doctor). In 1947 he was tried in Grimstad and fined. Norway's supreme court reduced the fine from 575,000 to 325,000
Norwegian krone The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...
r. After the war, Hamsun's views on the Germans during the war were a cause of serious grief for the Norwegians, and they tried to separate their world-famous writer from his Nazi beliefs. At the trial Hamsun had pleaded ignorance. Deeper explanations involve his contradictory personality, his distaste for ''
hoi polloi The English expression the hoi polloi (; ; ) was borrowed from Ancient Greek, where it means "the many" or, in the strictest sense, "the people". In English, it has been given a negative connotation to signify the common people. ''We first hear ...
'', his inferiority complex, a profound distress at the spread of indiscipline, antipathy toward the interwar democracy, and especially his Anglophobia.


Death

Knut Hamsun died on 19 February 1952, aged 92, in Grimstad. His ashes are buried in the garden of his home at
Nørholm Nørholm, also called Nørholmen, is a manor house and agricultural property on in the municipality of Grimstad in Agder county, Norway. The estate is known mostly because of one of its previous owners was Nobel Prize-winning author Knut Hamsun ...
in Grimstad Municipality.


Legacy

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
described him as a "descendant of
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...
and
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
."
Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest, and was educated in Austria, apart from his early school years. In 1931, Koestler j ...
was a fan of his love stories.
H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
praised '' Markens Grøde'' (1917) (Growth of the Soil in English'')'' for which Hamsun was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
.
Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...
was a fan of his modern subjectivism, use of flashbacks, his use of fragmentation, and his lyricism. A character in
Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German Americans, German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambien ...
's book ''
Women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
'' referred to him as the greatest writer who has ever lived. A fifteen-volume edition of Hamsun's complete works was published in 1954. In 2009, to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, a new 27-volume edition of his complete works was published, including short stories, poetry, plays, and articles not included in the 1954 edition. For this new edition, all of Hamsun's works underwent slight linguistic modifications in order to make them more accessible to contemporary Norwegian readers. Fresh English translations of two of his major works, ''Growth of the Soil'' and ''Pan'', were published in 1998. Hamsun's works remain popular. In 2009, a Norwegian biographer stated, "We can’t help loving him, though we have hated him all these years ... That’s our Hamsun trauma. He’s a ghost that won’t stay in the grave." Three of Hamsun's homes (Hamsund gård in
Hamarøy Municipality or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Oppeid ...
, Hamsunstugu in Garmo in
Lom Municipality Lom Municipality () is a frontier Municipalities of Bulgaria, municipality (''obshtina'') in Montana Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located along the right bank of Danube river in the Danubian Plain (Bulgaria), Danubian Plain. It is named after ...
, and
Nørholm Nørholm, also called Nørholmen, is a manor house and agricultural property on in the municipality of Grimstad in Agder county, Norway. The estate is known mostly because of one of its previous owners was Nobel Prize-winning author Knut Hamsun ...
in Grimstad Municipality) are open to the public as museums, in addition to the Knut Hamsun Centre in Hamarøy. The whereabouts of Hamsun's Nobel Prize medal remain unknown.


Writing techniques

Along with
August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...
,
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
, and
Sigrid Undset Sigrid Undset (; 20 May 1882 – 10 June 1949) was a Danish people, Danish-born Norwegian people, Norwegian novelist. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1928. Born in Den ...
, Hamsun formed a quartet of Scandinavian authors who became internationally known for their works. Hamsun pioneered psychological literature with techniques of
stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. It is usually in the form of an interior monologue which ...
and interior monologue, as found in material by, for example, Joyce,
Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French language, French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Pas ...
,
Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...
and Woolf. His writing also had a major influence on
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...
. His works were translated into
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
by Cläre Mjøen.


Personal life

In 1898, Hamsun married Bergljot Göpfert (née Bech), who bore daughter Victoria, but the marriage ended in 1906. Hamsun then married Marie Andersen (1881–1969) in 1909 and she was his companion until the end of his life. They had four children: sons Tore and Arild and daughters Ellinor and Cecilia. Marie wrote about her life with Hamsun in two
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
s. She was a promising actress when she met Hamsun but ended her career and traveled with him to Hamarøy. They bought a farm, the idea being "to earn their living as farmers, with his writing providing some additional income". After a few years they decided to move south, to
Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...
. In 1918 they bought
Nørholm Nørholm, also called Nørholmen, is a manor house and agricultural property on in the municipality of Grimstad in Agder county, Norway. The estate is known mostly because of one of its previous owners was Nobel Prize-winning author Knut Hamsun ...
, an old, somewhat dilapidated manor house between
Lillesand Lillesand () is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Lillesand. Some of the larger villages in Lillesand municipality include ...
and
Grimstad Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (to ...
. The main residence was restored and redecorated. Here Hamsun could occupy himself with writing undisturbed, although he often travelled to write in other cities and places (preferably in spartan housing).


Racism and admiration for Hitler

From his youth onward, Hamsun espoused anti-egalitarian and
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
beliefs. In ''The Cultural Life of Modern America'' (1889), he expressed his firm opposition to miscegenation: "The
Negros Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Tr ...
are and will remain Negros, a nascent human form from the tropics, rudimentary organs on the body of white society. Instead of founding an intellectual elite, America has established a mulatto studfarm." Hamsun wrote several newspaper articles in the course of the Second World War, including his notorious 1940 assertion that "the Germans are fighting for us, and now are crushing England's tyranny over us and all neutrals". In 1943, he sent Germany's minister of
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...
his
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
medal as a gift. His biographer Thorkild Hansen interpreted this as part of the strategy to get an audience with Hitler. Hamsun was eventually invited to meet with Hitler; during the meeting, he complained about the German civilian administrator in Norway,
Josef Terboven Josef Antonius Heinrich Terboven (23 May 1898 – 8 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and politician who was the long-serving ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Essen and the '' Reichskommissar'' for Norway during the German occupation. Terboven wa ...
, and asked that imprisoned Norwegian citizens be released, enraging Hitler.
Otto Dietrich Jacob Otto Dietrich (31 August 1897 – 22 November 1952) was a German SS officer during the Nazi era, who served as the Press Chief of the Nazi regime and was a confidant of Adolf Hitler. Biography Otto Dietrich was born in Essen, he served ...
describes the meeting in his memoirs as the only time that another person was able to get a word in edgeways with Hitler. He attributes this to Hamsun's deafness. Regardless, Dietrich notes that it took Hitler three days to get over his anger. Hamsun also on other occasions helped Norwegians who had been imprisoned for resistance activities and tried to influence German policies in Norway. Nevertheless, a week after Hitler's death, Hamsun wrote a eulogy for him, saying “He was a warrior, a warrior for mankind, and a prophet of the gospel of justice for all nations.” Following the end of the war, angry crowds burned his books in public in major Norwegian cities and Hamsun was confined for several months in a psychiatric hospital. Hamsun was forced to undergo a psychiatric examination, which concluded that he had "permanently impaired mental faculties," and on that basis the charges of treason were dropped. Instead, a
civil liability In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government agencie ...
case was raised against him, and in 1948 he had to pay a ruinous sum to the Norwegian government of 325,000 kroner ($65,000 or £16,250 at that time) for his alleged membership in
Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...
and for the moral support he gave to the Germans, but was cleared of any direct Nazi affiliation. Whether he was a member of Nasjonal Samling or not and whether his mental abilities were impaired is a much debated issue even today. Hamsun stated he was never a member of any political party. He wrote his last book ''Paa giengrodde Stier'' ('' On Overgrown Paths'') in 1949, a book many take as evidence of his functioning mental capabilities. In it, he harshly criticizes the psychiatrists and the judges and, in his own words, proves that he is not mentally ill. The Danish author Thorkild Hansen investigated the trial and wrote the book ''The Hamsun Trial'' (1978), which created a storm in Norway. Among other things Hansen stated: "If you want to meet idiots, go to Norway," as he felt that such treatment of the old Nobel Prize-winning author was outrageous. In 1996, Swedish filmmaker
Jan Troell Jan Gustaf Troell (born 23 July 1931) is a Swedish writer-director and cinematographer. His realistic films, with a lyrical photography in which nature is prominent, have placed him in the first rank of modern Swedish film directors along with I ...
based the movie ''Hamsun'' on Hansen's book. In ''Hamsun'', Swedish actor
Max von Sydow Max von Sydow (; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish and French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...
plays Knut Hamsun; his wife Marie is played by Danish actress Ghita Nørby.


Studies on Hamsun's writings

Hamsun's writings have been the subject of numerous books and journal articles. Some of these writings explore the dialectic between Hamsun's literary works and his political and cultural leanings expressed in his non-fiction. Hamsun produced a voluminous correspondence during his lifetime. Norwegian scholar and Hamsun expert Harald Næss spent four decades tracking these letters down in both the United States and Europe, producing a collection of thousands of letters. He would publish a selection in various volumes between 1994 and 2000.


Bibliography


Non-fiction

*1889 Lars Oftedal. Udkast (Draft) (11 articles, previously printed in
Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...
) *1889 Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv (The Cultural Life of Modern America) - lectures and criticism *1903 I Æventyrland. Oplevet og drømt i Kaukasien ( In Wonderland) - travelogue *1918 Sproget i Fare (The Language in Danger) -
essays An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...


Poetry

*1878 Et Gjensyn (A Reunion) -
epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...
(Published as Knud Pedersen Hamsund) *1904 Det vilde Kor, poetry (The Wild Choir)


Plays

*1895 Ved Rigets Port (At the Gate of the Kingdom) *1896 Livets Spil (The Game of Life) *1898 Aftenrøde. Slutningspil (Evening Red: Inference Games) *1902 Munken Vendt. Brigantine's Saga I *1903 '' Dronning Tamara'' (Queen Tamara) *1910 Livet i Vold (In the Grip of Life)


Short story collections

*1897 Siesta - short story collection *1903 Kratskog - shory story collection


Stories

*1877 Den Gaadefulde. En kjærlighedshistorie fra Nordland (The Gracious. A love story from Nordland) (Published as Knud Pedersen) *1878 Bjørger (Published as Knud Pedersen Hamsund)


Series

The Wanderer Trilogy #1906 ''Under Høststjærnen. En Vandrers Fortælling'' (''Under the Autumn Star'') #1909 ''En Vandrer spiller med Sordin'' (''A Wanderer Plays on Muted Strings'') #1912 ''Den sidste Glæde'' (''Look Back on Happiness'', AKA ''The Last Joy'') Benoni and Rosa #1908 ''Benoni'' #1908 ''Rosa: Af Student Parelius' Papirer'' (''By Student Parelius' Papers'') (''Rosa'') Children of the Age and Segelfoss Town #1913 ''Børn av Tiden'' (''Children of the Age'') #1915 ''Segelfoss By'' 1 (2 Volumes) (''Segelfoss Town'') The August Trilogy #1927 ''Landstrykere'' ('' Wayfarers'') (2 Volumes) #1930 ''August'' (2 Volumes) #1933 ''Men Livet lever'' (''The Road Leads On'') (2 Volumes)


Other Novels

*1890 ''Sult'' (''
Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...
'') *1892 ''Mysterier'' ('' Mysteries'') *1893 ''Redaktør Lynge'' (''Editor Lynge'') *1893 ''Ny Jord'' (''Shallow Soil'') *1894 ''Pan'' ('' Pan'') *1898 ''Victoria. En kjærlighedshistorie'' ('' Victoria'') *1904 ''Sværmere'' (Mothwise, 1921), ('' Dreamers'') *1905 ''Stridende Liv. Skildringer fra Vesten og Østen'' (''Fighting Life. Depictions from the West and the East'') *1917 ''Markens Grøde'' 2 Volumes ('' Growth of the Soil'') *1920 ''Konerne ved Vandposten'' 2 Volumes (''The Women at the Pump'') *1923 ''Siste Kapitel'' (2 Volumes) (''Chapter the Last'') *1936 ''Ringen sluttet'' (''The Ring is Closed'') *1949 ''Paa gjengrodde Stier'' ('' On Overgrown Paths'')
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
-winning writer
Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...
translated some of his works into Yiddish.


Film and TV adaptations

Prime among all of Hamsun's works adapted to film is ''
Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...
'', a 1966 film starring Per Oscarsson. It is still considered one of the top film adaptations of any Hamsun works. Hamsun's works have been the basis of 25 films and television mini-series adaptations, starting in 1916. The book '' Mysteries'' was the basis of a 1978 film of the same name (by the Dutch film company Sigma Pictures), directed by Paul de Lussanet, starring
Sylvia Kristel Sylvia Maria Kristel (28 September 1952 17 October 2012) was a Dutch actress and model who appeared in over 50 films. She was the eponymous character in five of the seven Emmanuelle films, including originating the role with ''Emmanuelle'' (1974) ...
,
Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor, with a career that spanned over 170 roles across nearly 50 years, beginning in 1969. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. H ...
, Andrea Ferreol and
Rita Tushingham Rita Tushingham (born 14 March 1942) is an English actress. She is known for her starring roles in films including '' A Taste of Honey'' (1961), '' The Leather Boys'' (1964), '' The Knack ...and How to Get It'' (1965), '' Doctor Zhivago'' (1965 ...
. '' Landstrykere'' (''Wayfarers'') is a Norwegian film from 1990 directed by Ola Solum. '' The Telegraphist'' is a Norwegian movie from 1993 directed by Erik Gustavson. It is based on the novel '' Dreamers'' (''Sværmere'', also published in English as ''Mothwise''). '' Pan'' has been the basis of four films between 1922 and 1995. The latest adaptation, the Danish film of the same name, was directed by Henning Carlsen, who also directed the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish coproduction of the 1966 film '' Sult'' from Hamsun's novel of the same name. Remodernist filmmaker
Jesse Richards Jesse Beau Richards (born July 17, 1975) is a painter, filmmaker and photographer from New Haven, Connecticut and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism. He has been described as "one of the most provocative names in American un ...
has announced he is in preparations to direct an adaptation of Hamsun's short story ''The Call of Life''.


Cinematized biography

A
biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...
, '' Hamsun'', was released in 1996, directed by
Jan Troell Jan Gustaf Troell (born 23 July 1931) is a Swedish writer-director and cinematographer. His realistic films, with a lyrical photography in which nature is prominent, have placed him in the first rank of modern Swedish film directors along with I ...
. It stars
Max von Sydow Max von Sydow (; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish and French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...
as Hamsun.


Reviews

* Wark, Wesley K. (1980), review of ''Wayfarers'', in ''
Cencrastus ''Cencrastus'' was a magazine devoted to Scottish and international literature, arts and affairs, founded after the Referendum of 1979 by students, mainly of Scottish literature, at Edinburgh University, and with support from Cairns Craig, then a ...
'' No. 4, Winter 1980–81, pp48 & 49,


References


Further reading

* Ferguson, Robert. 1987. ''Enigma: The Life of Knut Hamsun''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. * Hamsun, Knut. 1990. ''Selected Letters, Volume 1, 1879-98''. Edited by Harald Næss and James McFarlane. Norwich, England: Norvik Press. * Hamsun, Knut. 1998. ''Selected Letters, Volume 2, 1898-1952''. Edited by Harald Næss and James McFarlane. Norwich, England: Norvik Press. * Haugan, Jørgen. 2004. ''The Fall of the Sun God. Knut Hamsun - a Literary Biography'' Oslo: Aschehoug. * Humpal, Martin. 1999. ''The Roots of Modernist Narrative: Knut Hamsun's Novels Hunger, Mysteries and Pan''. International Specialized Book Services. * Kolloen, Ingar Sletten. 2009. ''Knut Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissident''. Yale University Press. * Larsen, Hanna Astrup. 1922.
Knut Hamsun
'. Alfred A. Knopf. * * Nergaard, Siri. 2004. ''La costruzione di una cultura: la letteratura norvegese in traduzione italiana''. Guaraldi. * Shaer, Matthew. 2009
Tackling Knut Hamsun.
Review of Kollen Sletten, ''Dreamer and dissenter'' and Žagar, ''The dark side of literary brilliance''. In ''Los Angeles Times'', 25 October 2009. * D'Urance, Michel. 2007. ''Hamsun''. Editions Pardès, Paris, 128 p. * Žagar, Monika. 2009. ''The dark side of literary brilliance''. University of Washington Press. *


External links


Biographical


National Library of Norway Commemoration Page


from the
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian or ''Utenriksdepartementet''; or ''Utanriksdepartementet''; UD) is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on June 7, 1905, the same day the Parliament of ...

Hamsun bibliography 1879–2009 : literature on Knut Hamsun
(National Library of Norway) *
Kristofer Janson and Knut Hamsun
at the
National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway () was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened in 2005. Prior to the e ...

Knut Hamsun's America
at the
Norwegian-American Historical Association Norwegian American Historical Association is a non-profit, member-supported organization dedicated to locating, collecting, preserving and interpreting the Norwegian-American experience. It publishes scholarly books and maintains a historical arc ...

Knut Hamsun's Early Years in the Northwest
in ''Minnesota History Magazine'' *
"Knut Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissenter"
bio and review at ''The New Republic'', September 2010
Knut Hamsun Online
fan-supported website


Works

*
Hamsun bibliography 1879–2009
published by the
National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway () was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened in 2005. Prior to the e ...
and the University library of Tromsø *
List of Works
* *
''Det Vilde Kor'' 1904
at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
(Hamsun's only collection of verse)


Other


Wood, James, ''Addicted to Unpredictability'', an essay.
Retrieved 8 October 2006. * '' Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater,'' Davi Napoleon. Includes discussion of ''Ice Age'', a controversial production in which Hamson is the protagonist. Iowa State University Press. , 1991.
Norwegian Nobel Laureate, Once Shunned, Is Now Celebrated
''New York Times''. 27 February 2009 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamsun, Knut Trials in Norway 1859 births 1952 deaths People from Lom, Norway People from Hamarøy Nobel laureates in Literature Norwegian Nobel laureates Norwegian male writers 19th-century Norwegian novelists 20th-century Norwegian novelists Modernist writers Prisoners and detainees of Norway Norwegian prisoners and detainees Norwegian anti-communists Psychological fiction writers
Knut Knut ( Norwegian and Swedish), Knud ( Danish), or Knútur ( Icelandic) is a Scandinavian and German first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used which ...
Norwegian collaborators with Nazi Germany