Knut Hamsun

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Knut Hamsun (31 years old) in 1890

Knut Hamsun (August 4, 1859 - February 19, 1952) was a leading Norwegian author and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920.


Contents

Life

Knut Hamsun was born as Knud Pedersen in Lom in Gudbrandsdalen. He was the fourth son of Peder and Tora (Olsdatter Garmotraedet) Pedersen. He grew up in poverty in Hamarøy in Nordland. At seventeen, he became an apprentice to a ropemaker, and at about the same time he began to write. He then spent several years in America, travelling and working at various jobs, and published his impressions under the title Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv (1889).

In 1898, Hamsun married Bergliot Bech. The marriage ended in 1906. Hamsun then married Marie Andersen (born in 1881) in 1909. She was to be his companion until the end of his life. Marie was a young and promising actress when she met Hamsun, but she ended her career and travelled with him to Hamarøy. There they bought a farm, the idea being "to earn their living as farmers, with his writing providing some additional income". However, after a few years, they decided to move South, to Larvik.

In 1918, the couple bought Nørholm, an old and somewhat dilapidated manor house between Lillesand and Grimstad. The main residence was restored and redecorated. Hamsun would busy himself with his writing undisturbed, although he often travelled to continue his writing in other cities and places.

A fifteen-volume edition of his complete works was published in 1954.


Work

He first received acclaim for his 1890 novel Sult, translated as Hunger. The semi-autobiographical work described a young writer's descent into near madness as a result of hunger and poverty. In many ways, the novel presages the writings of Franz Kafka and other twentieth-century novelists, who explored the madness of the contemporary human condition. The book has since become one of the most influential novels of the 20th century. The work that followed it, Mysteries, was perhaps his masterpiece. Other important works by Hamsun include Pan and The Growth of the Soil, for which he received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1920.

Political sympathies

Hamsun was a prominent friend of Germany and German culture, as well as an opponent of British imperialism and Russian stalinism, and he supported Germany both during the First and the Second World War. Despite his immense popularity in Norway and around the world, Hamsun's reputation for a time waned considerably because of his support of Vidkun Quisling's National Socialist government in Norway during World War II. Following a meeting with Joseph Goebbels in 1943, he sent Goebbels his Nobel Prize medal as a gift. Hamsun also met with Adolf Hitler and tried to have him remove Josef Terboven from the position of Reichskommissar of Norway.

After Hitler's death, Hamsun had some commemorative words published in leading Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, describing Hitler as a "warrior for mankind", a "preacher of the gospel of rights for all nations", and a "reformer of the highest rank".

After the war, he was confined for several months in a psychiatric hospital for tests to determine his sanity. In 1948 he was fined 325,000 kroner for collaboration. The Danish author Thorkild Hansen investigated the trial and wrote the book The Trial Against Hamsun (1978) about it, which created a turmoil in Norway. Among other things Hansen stated: "If you want to meet idiots, go to Norway", since he felt that treating an old man like that was outrageous. In 1996 the Swedish director Jan Troell based the movie "Hamsun" on Hansen's book. In "Hamsun" Max von Sydow plays Hamsun.

Bibliography

YearTitleTranslated titleISBN
1877Den Gaadefulde. En kjærlighedshistorie fra Nordland (Published under Knud Pedersen)
1878 Et Gjensyn (Published under Knud Pedersen Hamsund)
1878 Bjørger (Published under Knud Pedersen Hamsund)
1889 Lars Oftedal. Udkast (11 articles, earlier printed in Dagbladet)
1889 Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv
1890 SultHungerISBN 0374525285
1892 MysterierMysteriesISBN 0-14-118618-6
1893 Redaktør Lynge
1893 Ny Jord
1894 PanPanISBN 0141180676
1895 Ved Rigets Port
1896 Livets Spil
1897 Siesta
1898 Aftenrøde. Slutningspil
1898 Victoria. En kjærlighedshistorieVictoriaISBN 1557131775
1902 Munken vendt. Brigantines saga I
1903 I Æventyrland. Oplevet og drømt i KaukasierIn WonderlandISBN 0970312555
1903 Dronning Tamara (Play in three acts)
1903 Kratskog
1904 Det vilde Kor (Poems)
1904 SværmereDreamersISBN 0811213218
1905 Stridende Liv. Skildringer fra Vesten og Østen
1906 Under Høststjærnen. En Vandrers FortællingUnder the Autumn StarISBN 1557133433
1908 Benoni
1908 Rosa. Af student Pærelius' papirerRosaISBN 155713359X
1909 En Vandrer spiller med SordinA Wanderer Plays on Muted Strings ISBN 1892295733
1910 Livet i vold (Play in four acts)
1912 Den sidste GlædeThe Last JoyISBN 1931243190
1913 Børn av Tiden
1915 Segelfoss By 1
1915 Segelfoss By 2
1917 Markens Grøde 1Growth of the SoilISBN 0394717813
1917 Markens Grøde 2
1918 Sproget i fare
1920 Konerne ved Vandposten IThe Women at the PumpISBN 1-55713-244-5
1920 Konerne ved Vandposten II
1923 Siste Kapitel I
1923 Siste Kapitel II
1927 Landstrykere IWayfarersISBN 1557132119
1927 Landstrykere II
1930 August I
1930 August II
1933 Men Livet lever I
1933 Men Livet lever II
1936 Ringen Sluttet
1949 Paa gjengrodde StierOn Overgrown PathsISBN 1892295105

Books about Hamsun

  • Ferguson, Robert. Enigma:The Life of Knut Hamsun Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York: 1987. ISBN 0374520933
  • Humpal, Martin. The Roots of Modernist Narrative: Knut Hamsun's Novels Hunger, Mysteries and Pan International Specialized Book Services. 1999 ISBN 8256011785
  • Kolloen, Ingar Sletten. Svermeren 2003 Biography
  • Kolloen, Ingar Sletten. Erobreren 2004 Biography

External links

da:Knut Hamsun de:Knut Hamsun et:Knut Hamsun es:Knut Hamsun eo:Knut HAMSUN fr:Knut Hamsun he:קנוט האמסון nl:Knut Hamsun nb:Knut Hamsun nn:Knut Hamsun pl:Knut Hamsun ro:Knut Hamsun fi:Knut Hamsun sv:Knut Hamsun

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