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Hunger by Knut Hamsun
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Hunger

by Knut Hamsun

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1,602262,054 (4.23)50
Recently added byprivate library, archaic, majoraphasia, cowpeace, nigelmcguinness, combray, j.b, pfrede
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English (22)  Norwegian (1)  Danish (1)  Swedish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (26)
Showing 1-5 of 22 (next | show all)
I approached this influential work with high expectations, and i was not disappointed.

The novel is raw, stark, spare -- the effect is visceral. It is psychological realism at its best. We follow a short phase in the life of an impoverished but talented young writer in the streets of Christiana (Oslo) in the late 19th century, who is reduced by his condition to borderline madness. Indeed it seemed that his flashes of brilliance are occasioned by extreme starvation when delirium brings on inspiration and creativity. We witness his misadventures at finding work or something to eat, his humorous encounters with some characters, his sometimes infuriatingly schizophrenic behavior, his spinning of a small world around him rushing from heights of ecstatic revelry and hope to pityingly low depths of self-pity and mockery, and back, always in a mad dash. His is a complex character -- irritatingly self-possessed and proud but also generous to a fault, literally giving away the last shirt on his back. In an unforgettable passage, he challenges God for the injustice of withholding opportunities from a toiling, hardworking, and well-intentioned person as he. We feel his isolation, his torment, self-deception, his caprices, his small joys, his passions, his dignity. He is a man destined to write, and he lives because he writes.

With such themes, the novel could easily have been dark and depressing, but it is not. There is plenty of comic relief and the mood is exhilarating, fast-paced, rebellious. The character reminded me of Dostoevky's Raskolnikov but without the drama.

Definitely a must-read. ( )
  deebee1 | Oct 31, 2009 |
Fascinating and idiosyncratic tale of young writer's struggle to simply survive. His suffering is conveyed as real yet humorous. ( )
  xine2009 | Oct 6, 2009 |
Klassikker som ændrer på mennekesynet og en slags selvbiografi. ( )
  pernillekong | Sep 13, 2009 |
Writing a bit stilted could be the translation. The story of a writer's struggle to keep himself fed and alive. ( )
  kimoqt | Aug 20, 2009 |
Hamsun simply at his best. ( )
  fiktions | Aug 12, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 22 (next | show all)
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
It was in those days when I wandered about hungry in Kristiania, that strange city which no one leaves before it has set his mark upon him. . .
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original publication date1890 (Nor), 1899 (Eng)
Important placesOslo, Norway, Christiania, Norway
Awards and honors1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006/2008 Edition), Guardian 1000 (Family and self)
First wordsIt was in those days when I wandered about hungry in Kristiania, that strange city which no one leaves before it has set his mark upon him. . .
Last words(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
DescriptionNorwegian title: Sult
Book description
Norwegian title: Sult

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0141180641, Paperback)

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Originally published in 1890, this classic of modern literature follows an impoverished Norwegian writer through the streets of Christiania (now Olso) as he struggles on the edge of starvation. Existing on what little money he makes from selling the occasional article to the local paper, and down to pawning the clothes on his back, the young writer slowly loses control of his reason and begins to slip increasingly into bouts of madness, paranoia, and despair.A gripping portrait of an artist struggling for integrity, Hunger mirrors the dire straits of Hamsun's own life when he brought this, his then incomplete first novel, to a publisher in 1888.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:22 -0400)

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