The Wanderer
by Knut Hamsun
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"Wanderers" is Knut Hamsun's 1909 novel whose title expresses one of the most central themes to Hamsun's work, that of the wanderer. Hamsun, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his monumental work "Growth of the Soil", believed that modern literature should be used to express the intricacies of the human mind. Hamsun's work also is strongly known for his vivid depictions of the natural world and its connection to man. This connection between nature and the characters of Hamsun's novels show more is particularly evident in the "Wanderers". Presented here is W. W. Worster's translation of Knut Hamsun's "Wanderers". show lessTags
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Irritable man observing other irritable people. Occasional elegance in describing nature or practical tasks; seems more alive talking about plumbing than people. Strange emphasis on the wealth of the engineer, just a provincial technician.
A clever little book with a wonderful spirit to it. Hamsun's adventurer, an educated city dweller, goes off into the country to live the simple, nomadic, rural life. His various romances and misadventures are convincingly told, without ever becoming nostalgic or sentimental. A wise tale indeed.
I love the way Hamsun writes, and I love the atmosphere of his novels. Unfortunately, the stories he tells are not always so interesting. In this book I strongly preferred the first story (about a man wandering about, doing work, acting selflessly, being intrigued by women) to the second, which is essentially a tragic romance that did not particularly stir my interest.
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Author Information
385+ Works 15,870 Members
Knut Pedersen Hamsun was born in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway on August 4, 1859 and grew up in poverty in Hamarøy. At the age of 17, he became an apprentice to a ropemaker and also began to dabble in writing. This eventually became his full-time career. He wrote numerous books during his lifetime including The Intellectual Life of Modern America, show more Hunger, and Pan. In 1920, his novel Growth of the Soil, a book describing the attraction and honesty of working with the land, won the Nobel Prize in Literature. As a supporter of Hitler and the Nazi Occupation of Norway during World War II, Hamsun was charged with treason for his affiliation with the party after the war ended. His property was seized, he was placed under psychiatric observation, and his last years were spent in poverty. He died on February 19, 1952. A 15-volume compilation of his complete works was published posthumously in 1954. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Contains
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Wanderer
- Original title
- Onder herfststerren
- Original publication date
- 1909
- People/Characters
- Edevart; August
- Important places
- Polden, Norway
- Original language
- Norwegian
- Disambiguation notice
- Includes Under høststjernen and En vandrer spiller med sordin. This work is not the same as The Wayfarers; please do not combine them.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 839.8 — Literature & rhetoric German & related literatures Other Germanic literatures Danish and Norwegian literatures
- LCC
- PT8950 .H3 .U513 — Language and Literature German, Dutch and Scandinavian literatures Norwegian literature Individual authors or works 1900-1960
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 243
- Popularity
- 133,450
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.88)
- Languages
- 5 — English, German, Norwegian (Bokmål), Russian, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 32
- ASINs
- 14
