Hunger (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics): Amazon.ca: Knut Hamsun: Books

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All of this happened while I was walking around starving in Christiania-that strange city no one escapes from until it has left its mark on him.... Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

58 Reviews

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (58 customer reviews)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a comment., May 8 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Hunger (Paperback)

As a Norwegian who has studied Hamsun, and every debate on his person, I would like to correct some of the facts presented by earlier reviewers.
As I would assume the Norwegian sources are a bit more correct than whatever sources you have, I hope this is helpfull.

"In real life he was ostracized by his countrymen and the literary community as a result of his radical individualism, and political/social views."

No, Hamsun was not ostracized from his countrymen before the war, he was actually looked upon as quita a hero. Which made his downfall much greater when he, during the war, supported the Nazi occupation forces. His social and political views were really not uncommon among his countrymen, nor actually by his fellow authors before the war, even though few were so extreme as he turned out to be.

"Yes, Hamsun was a convicted Nazi, friend of Hitler and Goebbels, an advocate of the "pure" race (Jews should be expelled from Europe, Blacks should be returned to Africa), and he applauded German invasion of Norway. Neddless to say, when WWII was over, he dearly paid the price: imprisonment, confiscation, and poverty."

Actually, he was no friend of Hitler. Were the reviewer found this "fact" beats the hell out of me. He met Hitler once, and those of us that actually pay attention to the history books know that this meeting was anything but succesfull. And Goebbels? That is simply preposterous!

Now Jews, Hamsun never uttered a word against the jews. He actually had several jew friends, and try to find Hamsun critisizing the jews once in all his works (including the articles he wrote for the Nazi occupational newspaper.)

Did Knut Hamsun go to jail? No, not exactly. However, he spent some time at a psychiatric institute where he was released and found to have "a unstable psyche" and thus he did not have to go to jail. However, his holdings were confiscated, but he was allowed to live at his farm untill the day he died and was by no means poor.

"When he died at the age of 92 (1952) he showed no remorse and helf firmly to his beliefs."

That all depends what beliefs you claim he had. Hamsun himself said that he was guilty of betraying his country, but did not know anything about the nazi`s conduct against Norwegian civilians or the holocaust before the war ended.

Now, I will not comment on the book. I have not read the english translation and I can not as such review it. The Norwegian version however is a classic, and worth 5 stars, even though it is not; in my opinion, his very best work.

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5.0 out of 5 stars a classic, Jan 16 2008

By

T. Bigney (Nova Scotia, canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hunger (Paperback)

this is my favorite knut hamsun book. it's raw, real, and everything else that makes a book good. it's an easy read, and i finished it in a day or two.

if you ever wanted or dreamt of being a writer, this is a must read.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A gripping novel, but not a masterpiece., Mar 27 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hunger (Paperback)

Just finished reading 'Hunger', Hamsuns psychological study. I found the first two parts to be truly masterful, especially PArt II. Felt that Hamsun got a little side-tracked with the introduction of the woman in Part III and that the ending fell flat. Originally, the novel appeared as a "fragment", Part II only, and it does read as if later parts were added or forced onto the narrative. Overall a very compelling read especially considering it was written in 1890. Not quite Doestoevsky, Kafka, or Camus, but close.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Bread and milk.
Just finished Penguin's Sverre Lyngstad translation of Hunger which includes extensive notes and a thorough bio. Read more

Published on Jan 11 2009 by Lee Dale

4.0 out of 5 stars check out the lyngstad translation....
Avoiding all the obvious comments about Hamsun's fascist (for fascist read Nazi) sympathies and his importance in an historical literary context etc. Read more

Published on May 20 2004 by marty mcfly