Novels & Major Fiction Codexery

Hunger (Hamsun novel)

A novel of psychological decay and urban hunger.

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The novel is regarded as an early example of modern, psychology-driven literature that portrays the irrationality of the human mind.[1] Hamsun stated that the novel was based on his own experiences, and it is often read autobiographically.[2] The Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun authored the novel Hunger, which P.G. Philipsens Forlag first released in 1890.[1][2]

Making and release

This extract, often called the "Sult fragment" in Hamsun research, caused great sensation.[2] Hamsun was soon persuaded to expand it into a longer text.[2] The full novel was published in 1890 and marked Hamsun's literary breakthrough.[2] The 1899 edition was published by Albert Cammermeyers Forlag.[2]

In November 1888, an anonymous excerpt from Hunger appeared in the Danish periodical Ny Jord.[3][2] The initial English version of Hunger, rendered by author and feminist George Egerton, appeared in 1899.[4] Robert Bly's English translation of the novel came out in 1967.[5] Sverre Lyngstad's 1996 translation is widely regarded as the authoritative version.[6]

What the cited sources add

The Store norske leksikon account notes that Hamsun's literary program aimed to describe "the whisper of the blood and the pleading of the bone marrow" to explore the soul's labyrinths.[2] The same source states that the gnawing hunger in the novel primarily served as a means to explore the soul, not to highlight hunger or poverty as social problems.[2] Ernstsen told D2 magazine that the comic medium allows easier inclusion of surrealistic sequences and exaggerations.[7] The graphic novel uses historically correct illustrations of Kristiania from 1890, in black and white.[2]

Ernstsen breaks from this basic visual language to illustrate Hamsun's surrealistic passages.[2]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Hunger (Hamsun novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Undheim, "Sult", Store norske leksikon, 2020-12-29; "The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun. They were completely Hamsun's disciples: Thomas Mann and Arthur Schnitzler (...); Brynildsen, "Svermeren og hans demon", Dreyers Forlag, 1973 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Undheim, "Sult", Store norske leksikon, 2020-12-29. facts only, no text reused. snl.no
  3. Wikipedia, "Hunger (Hamsun novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Undheim, "Sult", Store norske leksikon, 2020-12-29 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Hunger (Hamsun novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kaindl, "Literary Translator Studies", John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2021-04-15; Evangelista, "Literary Cosmopolitanism in the English Fin de Siècle: Citizens of Nowhere", Oxford University Press, 2021-07-22; Hawthorn, "Studying the Novel", Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016-11-03; Cahill, "Purity in the Sixth Printing", The Nation, August 17, 1921, p. 181–182; Evangelista, "Literary Cosmopolitanism in the English Fin de Siècle: Citizens of Nowhere", Oxford University Press, 2021-07-22; Rem, "English and Nordic Modernisms", Norvik P en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Hunger (Hamsun novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hamsun, "Introduction by Sverre Lyngstad", Mysteries, 2001 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Hunger (Hamsun novel)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Reality of Narrating Hunger The Oxonian Review", 2016-02-01 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Faust, "Hunger as a comic (in Norwegian)", Hamsun Selskapet, June 6, 2019. facts only, no text reused. hamsun-selskapet.no

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Hunger (Hamsun novel) (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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Sources

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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