I've heard that the original 1920/1921 translation is good and that the 2007 translation by Lyngstad is much less clear and has very clunky language. Was wondering if anyone knew of any better/more recent translations.
This is one of those non-horror books that easily could have been categorized as horror. Written by Knut Hamsun, an influential and controversial writer, who has won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 and also openly supported Hitler and Nazi ideology.
In Hunger, we follow Hamsun's retelling of his impoverished youth where he faced tremendous mental and physical hardships. This is told in first person and in a sometimes rambling and "stream of consciousness" style.
The reason why I thought it was horror: The protagonist faces extreme desperation and virtually loses his mind. And because this is told in first person, you have a front seat view of his descent. There's nothing over the top gore-y but one of the reasons it's so impactful is that this is very true to life. If you have ever faced anything similar (the humiliation that goes with being poor, hungry, and desperate), you will easily relate to the protagonist.
The things he says and does and even thinks while facing starvation and humility are so jarring and off-putting, but at the same time entrancing. It's like a horrifying car accident that you can't pull your eyes away from no matter how much you want to.
I found this book to be unsettling and it has rattled around in my head weeks after finishing, which to me is a mark of a fantastic horror novel. Easily a 4 out of 5 stars for me.
Please give this a shot and tell me what you think!
The first Iron Night, I say. And I'm mysteriously thrilled by an intense, bewildering enjoyment of the particular time and place. . . .
A toast, ye men and beasts and birds, to the solitary night in the forest, in the forest. A toast to the darkness and to God's murmur among the trees, to the sweet, simple harmony of silence in my ears, to green leaves and yellow leaves! A toast to the sounds of life that I hear, a snuffling snout against the grass, a dog sniffing along the ground! A rousing toast to the wildcat with its throat on the ground and its eyes on the prey, preparing to spring on a sparrow in the dark, in the dark! A toast to the merciful stillness over the earth, to the stars and the crescent moon, yes, to it and to them!
I stand up and listen. No one has heard me. I sit down again.
I give thanks for the solitary night, for the mountains, for the roar of the darkness and the sea that echoes in my own heart! I give thanks for my life, for my breath, for the grace of being alive tonight; for that I give thanks in my heart! Listen to the east and listen to the west, just listen! It's God eternal! The stillness murmuring in my ear is Nature's seething blood, God transfusing me and the world. I see a shiny gossamer thread in the light of my fire, I hear a rowboat moving in the harbor, while the aurora glides up the northern sky. And oh, how thankful I am, by my immortal soul, that it is I who am sitting here!
Quiet. A pine cone falls to the ground with a thud. A pine cone fell, I think to myself. The moon sits high in the sky, the flames flutter on the half-burned logs, about to go out. And I wander home late in the night.
What is everyone's thoughts on Hunger?
I just read it (the Lyngstad translation) and thoroughly enjoyed it. It gave a really realistic insight into the life of someone struggling with their lot in life and is super relatable (I never challenged anything quite as bad as this character, but I was sleeping in my car at one point in my life) despite being over a century old.
If you haven't read it, it's pretty short and doesn't have a lot of fluff, which I think actually benefits the book helping it remain relatable and realistic.
Also despite >!ending on a potentially positive note!< it is probably one of the more depressing books I've ever read, trailing behind perhaps The Road.
Je vais vous raconter de mon écrivain préféré: Knut Hamsun. Il à une belle écriture et poète. Les livres le plus connu de lui c’est “La Faim” et “Pan”. J’aime sa façon d’écrire. Il écrit sur la littérature psychologique, de la nature, la solitude, amour etc. Quand j’ai lu ses livres je suis parfois ému aux larmes. Il est mon modèle.
I'm imagining something non-lyrical and gloomy.
However I think something like Matt Elliots - Drinking Songs suits quite well with the dark and pain.
Cheers
I live in North Carolina, US
Has anybody else noticed the similarities between Windom and the protagonist in Mysteries? I don’t think I’m off the mark too much as Ben Horne asks “are you familiar with the works of Knut Hamsun?”
The protagonist in Mysteries is stranded in a small town and plays a series of tricks on the town.
I was reading some Bukowski and he wrote about Knut Hamsun saying he was the best writer of his time. It got me interested in reading some of his works. Any suggestions for a first time reader of Knut Hamsun? Ty.
This very unusual and notable book . . . the product of most remarkable imagination, so real is it, so vivid, so moving, so compelling in its claims upon the reader's emotions and sympathies."
New York Times.
https://www.studyebooks.com/2020/11/hunger-by-knut-hamsun-pdf-novel-1899.html
Hey all, So we will be reading Knut Hamsun's Mysteries together over at r/bookclub as part of a Scandinavian flavoured June. If you feel like joining in please do, everyone is welcome. Don't have the book. No problem there is still plenty of time we don't start reading till June 1st. Head on over to r/bookclub to find the reading schedule. I'm looking forward to reading and discussing this book with y'all soon.
The long, long road over the moors and up into the forest — who trod it into being first of all? Man, a human being, the first that came here. There was no path before he came. Afterward, some beast or other, following the faint tracks over marsh and moorland, wearing them deeper; after these again some Lapp gained scent of the path, and took that way from field to field, looking to his reindeer. Thus was made the road through the great Almenning — the common tracts without an owner; no-man’s-land.
The man comes, walking toward the north. He bears a sack, the first sack, carrying food and some few implements. A strong, coarse fellow, with a red iron beard, and little scars on face and hands; sites of old wounds — were they gained in toil or fight? Maybe the man has been in prison, and is booking for a place to hide; or a philosopher, maybe, in search of peace. This or that, he comes; the figure of a man in this great solitude. He trudges on; bird and beast are silent all about him; now and again he utters a word or two; speaking to himself.
I tried reading a few pages of this, but it was written pre-bokmål so it was very hard. Any advice on how to study for it?
I started reading this last year and managed to get half way. I found it quite depressing, opressive, I don't necessarily read up beat books but I couldn't find much to redeem this. Is the formula based on the Russian novel? Why do people love it?
