Hamsun, Knut, pronounced HAHM sun, knoot (1859-1952), was a Norwegian author who wrote with deep feeling about nature and the land. He won the 1920 Nobel Prize for literature for his novels. His best-known novel, The Growth of the Soil (1917), realistically describes the hard life of peasants in rural Norway. His early novels, Hunger (1890), Mysteries (1892), and Pan (1894), study those who have been rejected by society and who, in turn, reject society.
Hamsun was born in Lom, Norway. He spent most of his early adult life wandering from job to job. Eventually, Hamsun favored a strong central government that would control society. He supported the World War II German occupation of Norway, and was later arrested and fined for pro-German activities. However, his powerful novels transcend the limitations of his political views.
Contributor: Niels Ingwersen, Cand. Mag., Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
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