knut hamsun

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knut hamsun (dict)

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

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 Hamary 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 1989, 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 Hamary. 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 Nrholm, 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

b>Year	Title	Translated title	ISBN
a href="/encyclopedia/1877" title="1877">1877	Den Gaadefulde. En kjrlighedshistorie fra Nordland (Published under Knud Pedersen)
a href="/encyclopedia/1878" title="1878">1878	Et Gjensyn (Published under Knud Pedersen Hamsun)
a href="/encyclopedia/1878" title="1878">1878	Bjrger (Published under Knud Pedersen Hamsun)
a href="/encyclopedia/1889" title="1889">1889	Lars Oftedal. Udkast (11 articles, earlier printed in Dagbladet)
a href="/encyclopedia/1889" title="1889">1889	Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv
a href="/encyclopedia/1890" title="1890">1890	Sult	Hunger	ISBN 0374525285
a href="/encyclopedia/1892" title="1892">1892	Mysterier	Mysteries	ISBN 0-14-118618-6
a href="/encyclopedia/1893" title="1893">1893	Redaktr Lynge
a href="/encyclopedia/1893" title="1893">1893	Ny Jord
a href="/encyclopedia/1894" title="1894">1894	Pan	Pan	ISBN 0141180676
a href="/encyclopedia/1895" title="1895">1895	Ved Rigets Port
a href="/encyclopedia/1896" title="1896">1896	Livets Spil
a href="/encyclopedia/1897" title="1897">1897	Siesta
a href="/encyclopedia/1898" title="1898">1898	Aftenrde. Slutningspil
a href="/encyclopedia/1898" title="1898">1898	Victoria. En kjrlighedshistorie	Victoria	ISBN 1557131775
a href="/encyclopedia/1902" title="1902">1902	Munken vendt. Brigantines saga I
a href="/encyclopedia/1903" title="1903">1903	I ventyrland. Oplevet og drmt i Kaukasier	In Wonderland	ISBN 0970312555
a href="/encyclopedia/1903" title="1903">1903	Dronning Tamara (Play in three acts)
a href="/encyclopedia/1903" title="1903">1903	Kratskog
a href="/encyclopedia/1904" title="1904">1904	Det vilde Kor (Poems)
a href="/encyclopedia/1904" title="1904">1904	Svrmere	Dreamers	ISBN 0811213218
a href="/encyclopedia/1905" title="1905">1905	Stridende Liv. Skildringer fra Vesten og sten
a href="/encyclopedia/1906" title="1906">1906	Under Hststjrnen. En Vandrers Fortlling	Under the Autumn Star	ISBN 1557133433
a href="/encyclopedia/1908" title="1908">1908	Benoni
a href="/encyclopedia/1908" title="1908">1908	Rosa. Af student Prelius' papirer	Rosa	ISBN 155713359X
a href="/encyclopedia/1909" title="1909">1909	En Vandrer spiller med Sordin	A Wanderer Plays on Muted Strings	ISBN 1892295733
a href="/encyclopedia/1910" title="1910">1910	Livet i vold (Play in four acts)
a href="/encyclopedia/1912" title="1912">1912	Den sidste Glde	The Last Joy	ISBN 1931243190
a href="/encyclopedia/1913" title="1913">1913	Brn av Tiden
a href="/encyclopedia/1915" title="1915">1915	Segelfoss By 1
a href="/encyclopedia/1915" title="1915">1915	Segelfoss By 2
a href="/encyclopedia/1917" title="1917">1917	Markens Grde 1	Growth of the Soil	ISBN 0394717813
a href="/encyclopedia/1917" title="1917">1917	Markens Grde 2
a href="/encyclopedia/1918" title="1918">1918	Sproget i fare
a href="/encyclopedia/1920" title="1920">1920	Konerne ved Vandposten I	The Women at the Pump	ISBN 1-55713-244-5
a href="/encyclopedia/1920" title="1920">1920	Konerne ved Vandposten II
a href="/encyclopedia/1923" title="1923">1923	Siste Kapitel I
a href="/encyclopedia/1923" title="1923">1923	Siste Kapitel II
a href="/encyclopedia/1927" title="1927">1927	Landstrykere I	Wayfarers	ISBN 1557132119
a href="/encyclopedia/1927" title="1927">1927	Landstrykere II
a href="/encyclopedia/1930" title="1930">1930	August I
a href="/encyclopedia/1930" title="1930">1930	August II
a href="/encyclopedia/1933" title="1933">1933	Men Livet lever I
a href="/encyclopedia/1933" title="1933">1933	Men Livet lever II
a href="/encyclopedia/1936" title="1936">1936	Ringen Sluttet
a href="/encyclopedia/1949" title="1949">1949	Paa gjengrodde Stier	On Overgrown Paths	ISBN 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

Hamsun, Knut Hamsun, Knut Hamsun, Knut Hamsun, Knut Hamsun, Knut

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