Hunger Paperback – Import, 27 May 2023

Having read the novel three times, in my 20s, 30s and now in my 40s, I can safely say, Hunger by Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) is a young man's novel. Yes, Hamsun was young himself when he wrote and published it in 1890. However, this youthfulness I am discussing provides the backbone (for lack of a better word) of the novel, as much as the intrigue. For instance, there is a kind of wide-eyed, erratic quality to both the writing and the lucid sensations and moments described ("And the sea rocked to and fro out there, heavy and calm; ships and fat broaded-nosed barges ploughed furrows in its leaden surface, through long ripples out to left and right glided on, while smoke poured like quilts from their funnels and the piston beats of their engines filtered out, muted into humid air" - p.31 - to give you an idea of the writing). Simply put, it is a novel detailing an eager young man's search for stability, for experience and being recognized for his writing. In this translation by Terrence Cave, the sections are titled 'fragments' which I feel is appropriate as there is a genuine fragmentary quality to the short novel.Yet a young man's novel... and this is not to diminish it. Certain books appeal to us at different time periods in our lives. As much as my teen self loved On the Road by Jack Kerouac, it no longer feels relevant to me the way I am sure Bleak House wouldn't have sparked my interest in my youth. Some books are meant to capture an age while others both bottle and transcend the age. The Sun Also Rises detail the age yet upon a second reading, it lacks something that The Great Gatsby offers, namely character and universality along with time and place.We have time (late 19th century) and place (Norway) in Hamsun. Character, yes. Universality (to struggle is human). No doubt. While reading it, I was reminded of my worst years, being ill and near poverty and that hunger for health was something I dealt with. This is why Hunger remains an important book. Also, a mesmerizing book. Like with the narrators in a Dostoevsky novel or the poems of Rimbaud, the energy and spirit of the voice in Hunger is the reason you pick up the book and 'ingest' it.In terms of story or plot, to be fairly honest, nothing much happens. A young man is... well.. hungry, struggling to survive in Kristiana (Oslo), Norway. That's about it (not much of a backbone). He walks about. He encounters different people - polite officers, shop owners, editors, a kind of 'beloved Beatrice' figure. At times I was reminded of De Quincy's Confessions of an Opium Eater, the anonymous desperation of the English writer's narrator mirroring that of Hamsun's. Both individuals are city wanderers, both outsiders. The scenes in both novels are dream-like whereas I feel Hamsun shifts about in a playful rapidness. A kind of literary whiplash.At times we truly feel for the character, other times we shake our head at his abysmal, anti-social behavior (in Cave's translation the narrator, Anglicized, uses several expletives, which I will admit, took me out of the book). In my twenties, I could relate. I felt the same about society and others. Later, when I read the novel in my 30s, a time of stability, it was after my sixty-year old father had gone through it. His opinions of it then actually reflect mine in my mid-40s: "you feel for him but he's a little unhinged, isn't he?" Unhinged but sympathetic.It is hard to discuss a book based mostly on episodes. In Hamsun's later works, a feeling for structure took shape. Here, this book is a magnificent, unraveling and intoxicating debut. And coming back to it being a novel of youth, that is the main appeal: the book inebriates you, grips you the way certain substances baffle and bewilder younger people. It is a deserving classic. However, I must admit, I hesitate to fully recommend this OUP copy. Robert Bly's translation I read in my 20s was considered essential back then. After that I purchased Sverre Lyngstad's Penguin Classics version and enjoyed it. With this translation, Cave replicates the erratic and fragmentary but I felt something missing. Hence the 4 stars. (Something I have also noticed with Oxford University World Classics - recent translations are perfectly fine on the surface but seem to be... yes, 'missing something'. Serviceable while at times a bit sterile. A theme as of late? It could just be me.)Overall, it is a work of art and like any work of art, changes for you with each return. It is for a certain audience, and I have to say, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone's Meave Binchy-reading grandmother but for those interested in late 19th century literature, Scandinavian culture, Hamsun's Hunger is a wonderful starting point. Core European work of art, the writing equivalent to Edvard Munch's paintings and Carl Nielsen's Symphonies.

La breve introducción en la portada es completamente incorrecta. Hamsun ganó el premio Nobel por el crecimiento del suelo y NO por el hambre. Es increíble que los productores no hayan visto un error tan grave.

This is a awesome book that I read many years ago, and it is wonderful to enjoy again this gem of literature by Knut Hamsun.

I read this book for a book club and I hated it. It's a short book but that didn't make it any better. I found the main character to be pompous and stupid. The novel is semi-autobiographical and Hamsun one the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature for his works. I wonder if that was before or after he became a Hitler sympathiser?

Just finished this and boy has it made an impact! We all feel down and depressed some times but on reading this I realised just how awful life can really be to some. It has made me even more depressed. I can identify with this guy in that pride can be our biggest enemy sometimes. But, the rebuke we can feel when we do let down our guard is even more hurtful to us sensitive souls. This guy was sensitive and yet his anger built up gradually and was expressed in strange ways sometimes. I felt so sad for him - especially the experience he had with the woman. However, he was also incredibly stupid and arrogant in some respects. The way he expected the woman to just give herself to him was rather strange. He obviously was mentally disturbed because of his experiences but he wasnt insane. I cant get him out of my mind. I wish I had been there and met him and could talk to him. He so needed a friend! Yes, I can identify and sympathise with him and know that life can be lonely when the chips are down and you dont want to expose your vulnerability. He felt shame and yet being impoverished was not entirely his fault. The real fly in the ointment about reading this book is that when I looked up some information about Hamsun it turns out he is a convicted Nazi! How can that be? How can someone with so much soul be connected with such evil? Now I have the dilemma of whether I read more of him or abandon him on account of his unrepented beliefs.