Best Selling 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.

Pan is an 1894 novel by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun. He wrote it while living in Paris and in Kristiansand, Norway. It remains one of his most famous works. Lieutenant Thomas Glahn, a hunter and ex-military man, lives alone in a hut in the forest with his faithful dog Aesop. Upon meeting Edvarda, the daughter of a merchant in a nearby town, they are both strongly attracted to each other, but neither understands the other''s love.

The Nobel Prize winner’s poetic, psychologically intense portrayal of love’s predicament in a class-bound society A Penguin Classic Set in a coastal village of late nineteenth-century Norway, Victoria follows two lovers whose yearnings are as powerful as the circumstances that conspire to thwart their romance. Johannes, a miller’s son turned poet, finds inspiration for his writing in his passionate devotion to Victoria, a daughter of the impoverished lord of the manor, who feels constrained by family loyalty to accept the wealthy young man of her father’s choice. Separated by class barriers and social pressure, the fated duo hurt and enthrall each other by turns as they move toward an emotional doom that neither will recognize until it is too late. 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.

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.

Ove Rolandsen, the telegraph operator in an isolated fishing village in northern Norway, is a man of sudden passions, a cheerful rogue fond of girls and alcohol. 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? Knut Hamsun is recognised as one of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 for Growth of the Soil.

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.

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.

"In Under the Autumn Star, Nobel prize-winning author Knut Hamsun writes a novel magically permeated with the air and light of fall. The narrator, Knut Pedersen (Hamsun''s real name) first joins forces with Grindhusen, a man blessed with the faith that "something will turn up," and later with Lars Falkenberg, whose dubious talents include the tuning of pianos. Knut and Lars fetch up as workmen on the estate of Captain Falkenberg (no relation to Lars), with whose wife each falls or fancies himself in love - though this does not prevent either from doing "night duties" in other quarters. In time, Knut is laid off and, in futile pursuit of the woman with whom he is by now helplessly infatuated, finds himself sucked back into the city life he had fled."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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.

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.

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".

The Last Chapter is set in the Torahus sanatorium, where the sufferings of most of the patients are related to civilisation. The novel has a group of central characters, but no distinct main character. Among the characters is "The Suicide", who entered the sanatorium following the discovery of his wife’s infidelity and threatens constantly to take his own life. Another guest is the lovely Julie d''Espard. She enters into a relationship with the bogus Count Flemming and gets pregnant. When Flemming disappears one day she turns to Daniel Utby, who runs a small farm near Torahus and who represents the novel’s ideological norm. The Last Chapter is one of Hamsun’s darkest novels. It was written at a time when he was much preoccupied by death. The novel is often compared with Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, which was published the year after.

A new edition of Hamsun''s charming novel, related in subject and characters to Under the Autumn Star (Sun & Moon Press).

«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.

"They had met during their younger days, he and the widow of Theodore paa Bua. The original fusion of their passion had taken place during a golden opportunity out in the berry field--she had given him a certain look upon leaving the house and he had gone a round-about way and met her. Violence--violence and violation, but so welcome, so unimpeachable. Ay, and their affair had continued without interruption throughout two whole summers and one winter. When they parted, they had had good cause to remember each other and when they met again they had neither of them changed; they were the same mad lovers they had been during their earliest youth."--Goodreads

Knut Hamsun was a Norwegian author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun''s work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to the subject, perspective and environment.