Knut Hamsun


Knut Hamsun was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 [Nobel Prize in Literature|1920]. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective and environment. He published more than 23 novels, a collection of poetry, some short stories and plays, a travelogue, works of non-fiction and some essays.
Hamsun is considered "one of the most influential and innovative literary stylists of the past hundred years". He pioneered psychological literature with techniques of Stream of [consciousness |stream of consciousness] and interior monologue, and influenced authors such as Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Maxim Gorky, Stefan Zweig, Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse, John Fante, James Kelman, Charles Bukowski and Ernest Hemingway. Isaac Bashevis Singer called Hamsun "the father of the modern school of literature in his every aspect—his subjectiveness, his fragmentariness, his use of flashbacks, his lyricism. 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. On 4 August 2009, the Knut Hamsun Centre was opened in Hamarøy Municipality.
The young Hamsun objected to realism and naturalism. He argued that the main object of modernist literature 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, Mysteries, Pan, and Victoria. His later works—in particular his "Nordland novels"—were influenced by the Norwegian new realism, portraying everyday life in rural Norway and often employing local dialect, irony, and humour. Hamsun published only one poetry collection, The Wild Choir, which has been set to music by several composers.
Hamsun held strong Anglophobic views, and openly supported Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany: he donated his Nobel Prize medal to Joseph Goebbels, propaganda Minister for the Third Reich and met Hitler during the German occupation of Norway. Due to his professed support for the occupation of Norway and the Quisling regime, he was charged with treason after the war. Due to alleged psychological problems and issues relating to old age, he was not convicted, but in 1948 he was heavily fined. Hamsun's last book, On Overgrown Paths, authored in semi-imprisonment in Landvik, concerned his postwar treatment and his rebuttal to accusations of mental ineptness.

Biography

Early life

Knut Hamsun was born as Knud Pedersen in Lom Municipality in the Gudbrandsdalen valley, Norway. 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 in Nordland 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 how 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 shop assistant, 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, Dreamers, Benoni and Rosa.
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.

Early literary career

Working all those odd jobs paid off, and he published his first book: Den Gaadefulde: En Kjærlighedshistorie fra Nordland. It was inspired by job experiences and struggles he endured.
In his second novel Bjørger, he attempted to imitate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's writing style. 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.
As of 1898 Hamsun was among the contributors of Ringeren, a political and cultural magazine established by Sigurd Ibsen.

Major works

Hamsun first received wide acclaim with his 1890 novel [Hunger |Hunger ]. 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. To many, the novel presages the writings of Franz Kafka and other twentieth-century novelists with its internal monologue and bizarre logic.
A theme to which Hamsun often returned is that of the perpetual wanderer, an itinerant stranger who insinuates himself into the life of small rural communities. This 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. 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 in 1920.

World War II, arrest and trial

During World War II, Hamsun supported the German war effort. He courted and met with high-ranking Nazi officers, including Adolf Hitler. Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels 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".
On 13 June 1945, after the war, he was detained by police for treason, then committed to a hospital in Grimstad "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 kroner.
After the war, Norwegians were torn between aversion to Hamsun's Nazi sympathies and regard for his achievements and fame as a writer. At his trial Hamsun had pleaded ignorance. Other explanations have cited his contradictory personality, his distaste for hoi polloi, his inferiority complex, his distress at the spread of indiscipline, his dislike of Norway's 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 in Grimstad Municipality.

Legacy

described Hamsun as a "descendant of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Friedrich Nietzsche." Arthur Koestler was a fan of his love stories. H.G. Wells praised Growth of the Soil, for which Hamsun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Isaac Bashevis Singer was a fan of Hamsun's modern subjectivism, flashbacks, fragmentation, and lyricism. A character in Charles Bukowski's book Women referred to Hamsun as the greatest writer who 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 to make them more accessible to contemporary Norwegian readers. New 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 |Lom Municipality], and Nørholm are open to the public as museums, in addition to the [Knut Hamsun Centre in Hamarøy.

Writing techniques

Along with August Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen, and Sigrid Undset, Hamsun formed a quartet of Scandinavian authors who became internationally known for their works. Hamsun pioneered psychological literature with techniques of stream of consciousness and interior monologue, as found in material by, for example, Joyce, Proust, Mansfield and Woolf. His writing also had a major influence on Franz Kafka. Hamsun's works were translated into German by Cläre Mjøen.

Personal life

In 1898, Hamsun married Bergljot Bech, who bore daughter Victoria, but the marriage ended in 1906. Hamsun then married Marie Andersen 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 memoirs. She was a promising actress when she met Hamsun but ended her career and traveled with him to Hamarøy. They bought a farm, planning "to earn their living as farmers, with his writing providing some additional income".
After a few years they moved south, to Larvik. In 1918 they bought Nørholm, an old, somewhat dilapidated manor house between Lillesand and Grimstad. 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, preferring spartan housing.

Racism and admiration for Hitler

From his youth onward, Hamsun espoused racist and anti-egalitarian beliefs. In The Cultural Life of Modern America, he denounced miscegenation: "The Negros 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 Joseph Goebbels his Nobel Prize medal as a gift. Its whereabouts since then are unknown. Hamsun's 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, Hamsun complained about the German civilian administrator in Norway, Josef Terboven and asked that imprisoned Norwegian citizens be released, enraging Hitler. Otto Dietrich 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 case was raised against him, and in 1948 he had to pay the ruinous sum of 325,000 kroner to the Norwegian government for his alleged membership in Nasjonal Samling 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 debated even today. Hamsun stated he was never a member of any political party. He wrote his last book Paa giengrodde Stier 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 view, proves that he is not mentally ill.
Danish author Thorkild Hansen investigated the trial and wrote The Hamsun Trial, which created a storm in Norway. Hansen viewed Hamsun's treatment as outrageous, writing, "If you want to meet idiots, go to Norway." In 1996, Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell based the movie Hamsun on Hansen's book. In Hamsun, Swedish actor Max von Sydow 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 compare and contrast Hamsun's literary works with the political and cultural ideas 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 published a selection in various volumes between 1994 and 2000.

Film and TV adaptations

Prime among all of Hamsun's works adapted to film is Hunger, 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, directed by Paul de Lussanet, starring Sylvia Kristel, Rutger Hauer, Andrea Ferreol and Rita Tushingham.
Landstrykere 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.
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 has announced he is in preparations to direct an adaptation of Hamsun's short story The Call of Life.

Cinematized biography

A biopic, Hamsun, was released in 1996, directed by Jan Troell. It stars Max von Sydow as Hamsun.

Works

Novels

  • 1890 Sult
  • 1892 Mysterier
  • 1893 Redaktør Lynge
  • 1893 Ny Jord
  • 1894 Pan
  • 1898 Victoria. En kjærlighedshistorie
  • 1904 Sværmere,
  • 1905 Stridende Liv. Skildringer fra Vesten og Østen
  • 1917 Markens Grøde 2 Volumes
  • 1920 Konerne ved Vandposten 2 Volumes
  • 1923 Siste Kapitel
  • 1936 Ringen sluttet
  • 1949 ''Paa gjengrodde Stier''

    Series

The Wanderer Trilogy
  1. 1906 Under Høststjærnen. En Vandrers Fortælling
  2. 1909 En Vandrer spiller med Sordin
  3. 1912 Den sidste Glæde
Benoni and Rosa
  1. 1908 Benoni
  2. 1908 Rosa: Af Student Parelius' Papirer
Children of the Age and Segelfoss Town
  1. 1913 Børn av Tiden
  2. 1915 Segelfoss By 1
The August Trilogy
  1. 1927 Landstrykere
  2. 1930 August
  3. 1933 ''Men Livet lever''

    Plays

  • 1895 Ved Rigets Port
  • 1896 Livets Spil
  • 1898 Aftenrøde. Slutningspil
  • 1902 Munken Vendt. Brigantine's Saga I
  • 1903 Dronning Tamara
  • 1910 ''Livet i Vold''

    Short story collections

  • 1897 Siesta
  • 1903 ''Kratskog''

    Stories

  • 1877 "Den Gaadefulde. En kjærlighedshistorie fra Nordland".
  • 1878 "Bjørger"

    Poetry

  • 1878 Et Gjensyn - epic poem
  • 1904 Det vilde Kor,

    Non-fiction

  • 1889 Lars Oftedal. Udkast
  • 1889 Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv - lectures and criticism
  • 1903 I Æventyrland. Oplevet og drømt i Kaukasien - travelogue
  • 1918 Sproget i Fare - essays
Nobel Prize-winning writer Isaac Bashevis Singer translated some of his works into Yiddish.

Reviews


Category:Trials in Norway
Category:1859 births
Category:1952 deaths
Lom Municipality ">Lom Municipality (Norway)">Lom Municipality
Category:People from Hamarøy Municipality
Category:Nobel laureates in Literature
Category:Norwegian Nobel laureates
Category:Norwegian male writers
Category:19th-century Norwegian novelists
Category:20th-century Norwegian novelists
Category:Modernist writers
Category:Prisoners and detainees of Norway
Category:Norwegian prisoners and detainees
Category:Norwegian anti-communists
Category:Psychological fiction writers
Knut
Category:Norwegian collaborators with Nazi Germany
Category:Ropemakers