Most Popular Books by Knut Hamsun

"Hunger" has been hailed as the literary opening of the 20th century and an outstanding example of modern, psychology-driven literature. "Hunger" portrays the irrationality of the human mind in an intriguing and sometimes humorous manner. The novel is loosely based on the author''s own impoverished life before his breakthrough in 1890. Set in late 19th-century Kristiania (now Oslo), "Hunger" recounts the adventures of a starving young man whose sense of reality is giving way to a delusionary existence on the darker side of a modern metropolis.

The first complete English translation of the Nobel Prize-winner’s literary masterpiece A Penguin Classic Mysteries is the story of Johan Nilsen Nagel, a mysterious stranger who suddenly turns up in a small Norwegian town one summer—and just as suddenly disappears. Nagel is a complete outsider, a sort of modern Christ treated in a spirit of near parody. He condemns the politics and thought of the age, brings comfort to the “insulted and injured,” and gains the love of two women suggestive of the biblical Mary and Martha. But there is a sinister side of him: in his vest he carries a vial of prussic acid... The novel creates a powerful sense of Nagel''s stream of thought, as he increasingly withdraws into the torture chamber of his own subconscious psyche. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

In this dreamlike parable from Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun, a disenchanted military man and the daughter of a small-town merchant cross paths one day and instantly fall prey to a heated mutual attraction. But can the passionate romance survive their drastically different backgrounds and beliefs?

The Last Joy is the final part in Hamsun''s Wanderer Trilogy. With its richly varied contents, this work combines the lyricism of Hamsun''s Pan (1894) and the epic scope of his Nobel prize-winning Growth of the Soil (1917). The middle-aged narrator of this story is a Hamsun double, who leaves the wild, where he has lived in a turf hut, for a tourist resort and, later, the city, where he contacts Miss Torsen, a beautiful young school teacher he met at the resort. He follows her sexual escapades, including rape, with the intense, vicarious interest of a voyeur.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Shallow Soil" by Knut Hamsun. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Pure comedy, this delightful novel follows an engaging reprobate who makes good, despite himself. Ove Rolandsen, a telegraph operator in an isolated fishing village in northern Norway, is a man of sudden passion, a cheerful rogue fond of girls and alchol. He constantly hatches ambitious schemes to the despair of his fiancée, Marie, housekeeper at the vicarage. When a plan to manufacture glue from fish- waste lands him in trouble, is his feckless career over or could fortune, for once, be on his side?

First published one hundred years ago, and now translated into English for the first time, In Wonderland is a diaristic account of a trip Hamsun took to Russia at the turn of the century. This detailed travelogue is a rich and loving portrait of the people and culture of Russia, and is filled with the trademark style and keen observations of the author of such classic as Hunger and Growth of the Soil. In Wonderland is unlike any other book by Hamsun, and offers not only an intimate glimpse into the mind of the Nobel Prize-winning author, but also a rare view of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Shallow Soil is a novel that examines the complex human interactions and struggles for power in a rural context. Hamsun depicts life in a small Norwegian village, where characters confront their own desires, frustrations, and longings. Through a psychological approach, the work reveals the tension between individual impulses and social expectations, as well as the difficulties of everyday life. Since its publication, Shallow Soil has been recognized for its innovative style and deep analysis of human psychology. Hamsun uses poetic and evocative language to explore the inner lives of his characters, giving them palpable humanity. The novel addresses themes such as alienation, identity, and the struggle for authenticity in a world that often seems hostile. The work remains relevant for its representation of human vulnerability and its critiques of oppressive social structures. By examining the dynamics of power in interpersonal relationships, Shallow Soil offers reflections on the search for meaning and belonging that resonate in contemporary society.

Hunger (Norwegian: Sult) is a novel by the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun published in 1890. Extracts from the work had previously been published anonymously in the Danish magazine Ny Jord in 1888. The novel has been hailed as the literary opening of the 20th century and an outstanding example of modern, psychology-driven literature. Hunger portrays the irrationality of the human mind in an intriguing and sometimes humorous manner.

«Nunca el Premio Nobel se ha dado a alguien que lo merezca tanto como Knut Hamsun» THOMAS MANN. Un extranjero llega un día a una pequeña ciudad costera de Noruega. Inmediatamente traba amistad con un loco para que le enseñe los secretos del lugar, quiénes son los hombres y las mujeres que viven en él. El extranjero se enamorará, indagará en las vidas ajenas, convertirá cada hecho cotidiano en una interrogación, en un misterio que acabará por convertirse en la clave de un porvenir que no dejará de recordarle. Pocos libros permiten a su lector entrar en el alma de su creador como Misterios, la novela que anticipó los temas que llevarían la obra de Knut Hamsun a una de las cumbres de la literatura nórdica y a su autor a recibir, en 1920, el Premio Nobel de Literatura.

Hamsun''s attempt to prove his soundness of mind after his sanity was called into question. Writing at the age of 90 it was his last literary work. The short novel is part a fiction pamphlet, part diary, part old man''s apologia and part protest at the court ruling in his 1948 trial, that determined he had "permanently impaired mental abilities".

Knut Hamsun (4 août 1859 - 19 février 1952) était un écrivain norvégien qui a reçu le prix Nobel de littérature en 1920. L''œuvre de Hamsun s''étend sur plus de 70 ans et montre des variations en ce qui concerne la conscience, le sujet, la perspective et l''environnement. Il a publié plus de 20 romans, un recueil de poésie, quelques nouvelles et pièces de théâtre, un récit de voyage, des ouvrages de non-fiction et quelques essais.

"Victoria - A Love Story" stands all by itself in the long series of works by Knut Hamsun. The chief male character, to be sure, bears the stamp of the author’s own personality; he, like his predecessors, clashes with society and its unwritten laws, but succeeds in adjusting himself without betraying his innermost being. Only in his love he suffers disaster. In poetic quality Victoria vies with Pan. We find long passages of lyric prose in both, the beauty of which is hard to surpass, but they have nothing in common with regard to the general atmosphere. Victoria is only a simple love story in prose. But what a prose where the author is at his best! Two youthful lovers are separated by the insuperable barriers of social conventions and economic circumstances. The young man, Johannes, is the son of a humble miller, Victoria the daughter of the proud master of the neighboring castle Hamsun intentionally leaves his readers somewhat in the dark about the exact social status of this old aristocrat. Johannes and Victoria have grown up together, have been playmates, and have come to love each other long before they reached adolescence. To save her lavish father from utter ruin, Victoria consents to marry a rich suitor. During the period of her engagement, she confesses to Johannes that she loves him, only to send him away on the next day because the whole thing is impossible, even though Johannes has made a man of himself and has already achieved fame as a poet. Bu then, at the eleventh hour fate seems to intervene …

Der reiche Handelsmann und ungekrönte König des Ortes, Ferdinand Mack, hat aus einer Laune heraus beschlossen, aus dem kleinen Postbeamten Benoni Hartvigsen einen wohlhabenden Kaufmann zu machen. Ein Bestandteil des Planes ist die Verlobung mit Rosa Barfod, die früh zu erkennen gibt, dass Benoni nicht ihre eigene Wahl ist. Eine ernste Krise zwischen den Verlobten steht bevor, als Rosas Jugendfreund Nikolai Arentsen nach beendetem Studium in seine Heimat zurückkehrt. Hamsun macht in ''Benoni'' seelische Vorgänge sichtbar, die diesem Nordlandroman psychologisch-realistische Tiefe verleihen.

"On Overgrown Paths" was written after World War II, at a time when Hamsun was in police custody for his openly expressed Nazi sympathies during the German occupation of Norway, 1940-45. A Nobel laureate deeply beloved by his countrymen, Hamsun was now reviled as a traitor--as long as his sanity was not called into question. "On Overgrown Paths" is Hamsun''s apologia. However, the psychiatric report declared him to be sane, but concluded that his mental faculties were "permanently impaired." This conclusion was emphatically refuted by the publication, in 1949, of "On Overgrown Paths," Hamsun''s apologia. In its creative elan, this book, filled with the proud sorrow of an old man, miraculously recalls the spirit of Hamsun''s early novels, with their reverence for nature, absurdist humor, and quirky flights of fancy. This edition is the first authoritative English translation of Hamsun''s last work, a work which stood at the center of the recent film "Hamsun." Knut Hamsun was the greatest 20th century Norwegian novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize, and enormously beloved when the country was occupied in World War II. During the war, however, his wife, a supporter of Quisling and the Nazis, traveled across the country reading from his work, particularly "Growth of the Soil," which seemed to support notions of agrarian return by a superior Aryan peasant class. Old and confused, Hamsun traveled to Germany to meet with Hitler, hoping, he claimed, to change the conditions of occupation in Norway. The meeting ended disastrously, and after the war, Hamsun was arrested for his Nazi sympathy. As this book reveals, however, Hamsun was anything by mentally disturbed. It is a sad and tragic book filled with pained sorrow of an old man, great in stature and contribution, but completely out of touch with his own time.

First published in 1927, this novel focuses on Edevart, an uprooted young Norwegian who is exposed to the corrupting ways of August, a charming scoundrel whose values threaten the stability of society