Knut Hamsun

Knut Hamsun was a leading Norwegian author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. He was born in Lom in 1859 as Knud Pedersen, the fourth son of a poor peasant family. He had little formal education and worked as a shoemaker, teacher, road worker, and farmhand. He also traveled to the United States twice, where he had various low-paying jobs. He started writing at the age of 19 and published his first novel, Hunger, in 1890. The book was a breakthrough in modern literature, as it depicted the inner turmoil of a starving and struggling writer in a realistic and psychological way. Hamsun followed Hunger with other novels that explored the themes of individualism, irrationality, and alienation, such as Mysteries, Pan, and Victoria. He also wrote plays, poems, essays, and travelogues. He was influenced by writers such as August Strindberg, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and in turn influenced many other authors, such as Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Mann, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Hamsun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 for his novel Growth of the Soil, which portrayed the life of a peasant farmer in rural Norway. The novel was seen as a return to realism and naturalism, and a celebration of the Norwegian landscape and culture. Hamsun continued to write until his death in 1952, producing more than 20 novels and several other works. His last book, On Overgrown Paths, was a memoir of his old age and his controversial involvement with the Nazi regime during World War II. Hamsun supported the German occupation of Norway and met with Adolf Hitler in 1943. He also wrote articles and speeches that praised the Nazis and criticized the Norwegian resistance. After the war, he was arrested and charged with treason, but he was not convicted due to his age and mental condition. He was, however, fined a large sum that left him bankrupt. Hamsun died at his farm Nørholm in 1952, at the age of 92. He was buried in Grimstad, where his grave is still visited by many admirers. Hamsun's reputation as a writer was tarnished by his political views, but his literary achievements are still widely recognized and admired. He is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative writers of the 20th century, and one of the greatest Norwegian authors of all time.