European Modernists Codexery

Knut Hamsun

Norwegian writer who pioneered psychological literature and won the Nobel Prize.

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His works remain popular, though his support for Nazi Germany has made him a controversial figure.[1][2] He was a pioneer in psychological fiction, employing stream of consciousness and interior monologue, and was called "the father of the modern school of literature" by Isaac Bashevis Singer.[3]

Key facts and history

Hamsun was born as Knud Pedersen on 4 August 1859 in Lom Municipality, Norway.[4][5] He grew up in poverty on Hamarøy in Nordland after his family moved there when he was three.[6][7] His formal education was limited to 252 days in village school.[7] He published his first book, Den Gaadefulde, in 1877.[8][7]

He donated his Nobel Prize medal to Joseph Goebbels in 1943.[2][9] Hamsun rejected realism and naturalism, insisting that literature should depict the "whisper of blood, and the pleading of bone marrow."[10] After the war he was charged with treason; he was not convicted due to alleged psychological problems and old age, but was heavily fined in 1948.[11][12] In 1948 a large fine was imposed on him, and he died on 19 February 1952 in Grimstad.[11][13]

What the cited sources add

The same source states that Hamsun suffered from increasing deafness over the years.[7] According to a 2018 article, Hamsun was convicted of treason in 1947 and spent the rest of his life in mental institutions.[9] A 2025 magazine article reports that an exhibition at the Hamsun Centre promises a "new understanding" of the writer as a "controversial figure"[14] The same article notes that some Sami contributors consider Growth of the Soil an attack on their nomadic lives.[14]

Norwegian scholar Harald Næss collected thousands of Hamsun's letters, published in six volumes between 1994 and 2000.[15][16] A 2012 article notes that Hamsun's ideology was rooted in an idealized vision of a patriarchal peasant society.[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gibbs, "Norwegian Nobel Laureate, Once Shunned, Is Now Celebrated", The New York Times, 27 February 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holledge, "Novelist, Nobel laureate and Nazi", The Critic Magazine, 2025-03-11; "The Nobel Prize and the Laureate Are Inseparable", Nobel Peace Prize, 2026-01-16; Woodard, "The Nazi novelist you should read", the Guardian, 10 September 2008; Hagen, "Knut Hamsun", Store norske leksikon, 26 February 2020; Frank, "In from the Cold", 18 December 2005 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robert Ferguson (1987). Enigma: The Life of Knut Hamsun, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,; "The St. Petersburg Times - A complex legacy", Sptimes.ru, 6 November 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hamsun bio at Nobel Prize website. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "salten museum - Knut Hamsun's Childhood Home", Saltenmuseum.no (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Knut Hamsuns konst, diagnos och uteblivna fängelsestraff", 7 August 2012. facts only, no text reused. lakartidningen.se
  8. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Knut Hamsun Biography, Books and Facts", www.famousauthors.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "1,001 ways to lose a Nobel Prize", 29 September 2018. facts only, no text reused. thelocal.no
  10. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Knut Hamsun (1890). "Fra det ubevidste Sjæleliv", Samtiden, September 1890; The new encyclopædia Britannica: Volum 5; Hal May, Contemporary Authors, Volum 119, Gale, 1986 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "- Dommen mot Hamsun holder ikke juridisk", www.vg.no, 25 October 2004; Rottem, "Knut Hamsun", Norsk biografisk leksikon, 25 February 2020; "Knut Hamsuns konst, diagnos och uteblivna fängelsestraff", 7 August 2012; "Knut Hamsun in Eide and Grimstad"; "Knut Hamsuns konst, diagnos och uteblivna fängelsestraff", 7 August 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Den 14. juni 1945 ble Hamsun "pågrepet" av politiet, men på grunn av høy alder innlagt på Grimstad sykehus og siden overflyttet til et gamlehjem. Spørsmålet for påtalemyndighetene var imidlertid hva man skulle gjøre med; (translation of title: Hamsun was not psychiatrically ill – Psychiatrist Terje Øiesvold at Salten psychiatric center opines that Knut Hamsun did not have svekke; "Knut Hamsun (1859-1952)", Daria.no (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Knut Hamsuns Grab auf Nørholm", hamsun.at (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  14. Holledge, "Novelist, Nobel laureate and Nazi", The Critic Magazine, 2025-03-11. facts only, no text reused. thecritic.co.uk
  15. Wikipedia, "Knut Hamsun" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Johannessen, "Harald S. Næss til minne", fvn.no, 2017-02-09 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  16. Johannessen, "Harald S. Næss til minne", fvn.no, 2017-02-09. facts only, no text reused. fvn.no

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Knut Hamsun (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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