Synopses & Reviews
Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun (1859and#150;1952), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920, was a man both brilliant and controversial. Lauded for his literary achievements by Hemingway, Gide, Hesse, and others, he also provoked outrage for his open collaboration with the Fascists during the German occupation of Norway and for his insistent refusal to renounce his Nazi sympathies.
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This gripping biography of Hamsun, now available for the first time in English, offers a nuanced account of this morally ambiguous man. Drawing on Hamsunand#8217;s extraordinary private archives and on his psychoanalystand#8217;s notes, Ingar Sletten Kolloen delves deeply into Hamsunand#8217;s personal life and character. In vivid and telling detail, he describes Hamsunand#8217;s early years in a peasant farming family, his tempestuous and jealousy-racked second marriage, his erratic relationship with his children, and his infamous love affair with Nazi Germany, the roots of which Kolloen traces to Hamsunand#8217;s earliest days.and#160; Much like the characters he created in novels such as Hunger, Growth of the Soil, Mysteries, and Pan, Hamsun was irrational, eccentric, strange, and compellingand#151;a man uncomfortable in his own time.
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Review
“ [a] daring, frightening book.”—Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times
Review
and#8220; [a] daring, frightening book.and#8221;and#8212;Los Angeles Times
Review
"The smell of power is more seductive than musk and more damaging than secondhand smoke. Initially, Hamsun's life story had been merely disgusting; it now grows grimly dismal as he falls in with the quislings, jockeys for political position, and supports the German occupation of his country even when it begins its reign of terror there, arresting gentiles as well as Jews. His public utterances weren't nutty the way Ezra Pound's were, and they had a weight in his country whose heft the American poet could only imagine." William H. Gass, Harper's Magazine (Read the entire )
Synopsis
Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920, was a man both brilliant and controversial. Lauded for his literary achievements by Hemingway, Gide, Hesse, and others, he also provoked outrage for his open collaboration with the Fascists during the German occupation of Norway and for his insistent refusal to renounce his Nazi sympathies.
This gripping biography of Hamsun, now available for the first time in English, offers a nuanced account of this morally ambiguous man. Drawing on Hamsun's extraordinary private archives and on his psychoanalyst's notes, Ingar Sletten Kolloen delves deeply into Hamsun's personal life and character. In vivid and telling detail, he describes Hamsun's early years in a peasant farming family, his tempestuous and jealousy-racked second marriage, his erratic relationship with his children, and his infamous love affair with Nazi Germany, the roots of which Kolloen traces to Hamsun's earliest days. Much like the characters he created in novels such as
Hunger, Growth of the Soil, Mysteries, and
Pan, Hamsun was irrational, eccentric, strange, and compelling--a man uncomfortable in his own time.
Synopsis
An absorbing biography of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Knut Hamsun, based on a wealth of previously unavailable sources
Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920, was a man both brilliant and controversial. Lauded for his literary achievements by Hemingway, Gide, Hesse, and others, he also provoked outrage for his open collaboration with the Fascists during the German occupation of Norway and for his insistent refusal to renounce his Nazi sympathies.
This gripping biography of Hamsun, now available for the first time in English, offers a nuanced account of this morally ambiguous man. Drawing on Hamsun's extraordinary private archives and on his psychoanalyst's notes, Ingar Sletten Kolloen delves deeply into Hamsun's personal life and character. In vivid and telling detail, he describes Hamsun's early years in a peasant farming family, his tempestuous and jealousy-racked second marriage, his erratic relationship with his children, and his infamous love affair with Nazi Germany, the roots of which Kolloen traces to Hamsun's earliest days. Much like the characters he created in novels such as Hunger, Growth of the Soil, Mysteries, and Pan, Hamsun was irrational, eccentric, strange, and compelling--a man uncomfortable in his own time.
About the Author
Ingar Sletten Kolloen won the Norwegian Readersand#8217; Award 2004 for this biography. He has worked as publisher, journalist, commentator, and editor for a number of newspapers. He lives in Norway.