Knut Hamsun-Hunger

As the modern world advances and the memetic consciousness of society changes, more and more great works are considered 'old hat'. This is the case with Knut Hamsun's 1890 novel Hunger, and really most of Hamsun's early work such as Mysteries or Growth of the Soil. In 1890, most famous writers were writing flowery, purple prose about dramatic and fantastic themes. Hunger, in comparison was one of the first stream of consciousness novels. It simply tells the story of a would be writer; homeless, jobless, and penniless in the streets of Kristiana, what is now Oslo, Norway.

Knut Hamsun is a Norwegian author and Nobel Prize Laureate. He is (note the present tense) a very controversial figure for reasons we will get into later. What can't be denied is his worth as a writer. He pioneered the stream of consciousness and internal monologue style of writing. He was more interested in the modernist novel as a reflection of the human mind. To quote, writers should describe the "whisper of blood, and the pleading of bone marrow". He influenced people like Franz Kafka and Ernest Hemingway. Isaac Bashevis Singer said of him "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". Hamsun is perhaps tied with Henrik Ibsen for being Norway's most internationally known writer.

Hamsun was born as Knud Peterson in Lom, situated in the Gudbrandsdal valley in Norway. His family moved to Nordland due to financial difficulties to live with an Uncle on his farm. At the age of nine he was separated from his family and lived with his Uncle Hans Olsen, who was a very abusive man to Hamsun. Finally making his way back to Lom in 1874 he worked a laundry list of odd jobs before spending time in America. He published his first novel in 1877 and had a few successes. It wasn't until this novel, published in 1890 that he received wide acclaim. Breaking ground for its internal monologue and psychological aspect of its protagonist, a starving artist in Kristiana. Hamsun often features strength of prose and intimate connection to Norway and its features and people. Hamsun saw nature and mankind as linked together in a mythical bond. This thought influenced several of his works, including Growth of the Soil, which is credited for his Nobel Prize win in 1920.

Now here's where the controversy comes. Hamsun was not a good person. Hamsun in his early writings expressed racist opinions of Blacks, calling them 'rudimentary organs on the body of white society". His sympathies were influenced by the Boer War, which Hamsun saw as oppression by the British Empire. He had a dislike of the English and America, and expressed sympathy to Germany in both World Wars. In the 1930s much of Norway's right-wing publications supported European Fascist Empires like Italy and Germany, and Hamsun followed suit. During the end of WW2 he was 80, almost completely deaf and got all his information from The Aftenposten, which again, supported Italy and Nazi Germany. That's right. Knut Hamsun supported the Nazis. He wrote several articles over the course of the war stating things like "Germany is fighting for us all and crushing England's tyranny". In 1943 he sent his Nobel Prize as a gift to JOSEPH GOEBBELS to get an audience with Hitler. Which he GOT. He then proceeded to tell HITLER HIMSELF that the German civilian administrator to Norway was doing a crappy job and that Norwegian prisoners should be released.

Otto Dietrich describes the encounter as the only time someone could out talk HITLER and the encounter left Hitler enraged for THREE ENTIRE DAYS. After Hitler died Hamsun wrote a Eulogy for him praising the man. Which went over so great that Norway's citizens decided to have his books burned and him put in a psychiatric hospital and had him tried for national treason. Hamsun was forced to undergo psychiatric evaluation and was ruled to have his mental faculties permanently impaired. The charges of treason were dropped and he was fined 325,000 kroner for his alleged affiliation to Norway's far-right political party. Whether he was or was even mentally impaired is debated to this day. He was able to publish his last novel in 1949 where he criticizes the judges and psychiatrists and makes the point himself that he is not mentally ill. Hamsun died of old age at the age of 92, one of the most controversial figures in Norwegian history. A 2009 interview said "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.". Regardless of beliefs or even awareness to what he was supporting (Hamsun himself claimed ignorance), Hamsun is one of the greatest and most influential writers. He is an important measuring tool to separate the art from the artist. I think it entirely possibly to praise Hunger and other works like it, and still detest him as a man. Norway certainly has, he's taught in their schools.

Hunger itself is a masterpiece of psychiatric fiction. We follow an unnamed vagrant who only wishes to write. He has no home nor money nor food. What he does have is a strange sense of honor. So adherent to social norms that he often cripples himself in the pursuit of his own happiness. He gives readily to charity and often hoists his own honor above asking for money. His Pride keeps him from explaining his situation. When he is found sleeping by a policeman he merely explains that he is a well off journalist who locked himself out of his apartment, and is able to spend the night in a cell but not receive a free breakfast for the homeless despite his empty stomach because of his lies. The central conflict of Hunger is Man vs Self. All of the protagonists issues are his own. His egotism and obsession with honor cost him opportunities at every point. Despite being hailed as a disturbing novel I was more exacerbated and even enraged. There are disturbing and sad scenes as you see him fall apart. Driven mad by hunger, but it's more the revulsion you would feel at a wounded animal, not a human being. When he bites his finger in his sleep and tastes blood he considers for a moment to just eat his finger, because you don't need all ten right?

Hunger is an interesting novel because never once does the protagonist blame society for his undoing. Sure there are moments where his pride brings him into conflict, such as when he receives an envelope with money in it, and he throws it in a terrible landlady's face who was cruel to him as a final biting of the thumb. It's only later that he bemoans this action because he could have used that money to eat. No, the protagonist moreover blames God. Cursing his misfortune and wondering why God does not punish others as he does himself. The character lacking the self realization and being more protective of his ego than his health is hard to watch. As he gains some money and is able to eat or has something fortunate happen to him, so does he begin to spiral back down. It's like a roller coaster designed by Kafka himself. Like the society around him, you too start to grow weary of his ego. The twists, turns, and loops the emotional journey almost turns what should be a horrifying novel into a postmodern comedy. Regardless if you read Hunger, you are sure to take something away. Whether it is pity, anger, disgust, or sorrow are all avenues that Hamsun has paved for you. Hunger is a masterpiece for it breaking ground but for also being one of the most depressing novels I've ever read, and I couldn't put it down. It no doubt inspired Kafka and other writers of the era that can still be seen to this day.

Of note, if you read Hunger, make sure that you use the edition that I have shown at the top of this essay. The George Egerton translation that I read at first I learned was a terrible translation something that I noticed as I was reading. The George Egerton uses the pound sterling as the currency, which Norway itself does not use, they use the kroner. When I review a book I try to use the cover that I actually own but unfortunately I cannot advocate for a bowdlerized and mistranslated work. If you read Hunger, find the Sverre Lyngstad translation.