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Pan
by
Knut Hamsun
I fancy I can read a little in the souls of those about me--but perhaps it is not so. Oh, when my good days come, I feel as if I could see far into others' souls, though I am no great or clever head. We sit in a room, some men, some women, and I, and I seem to see what is passing within them, and what they think of me. I find something in every swift little change of light...more
Paperback, 148 pages
Published
March 1st 2007
by Dodo Press
(first published 1894)
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Aug 21, 2012
s.penkevich
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
The lovers, the dreamers, and me
Recommended to s.penkevich by:
Bukowski
-I love a dream of love I once had, I love you, and I love this patch of earth.
-And which do you love best?
-The dream.
With his succinct 1894 novel, Pan, Knut Hamsun once again displays his prowess of capturing the human psychology and detailing the internal conflicts that arise through the sudden rise and fall of moods. Through Glahn, the capricious man who has taken up residence within the northern wilderness and the socialite Edvarda, Hamsun demonstrates how even the slightest romantic collisi...more
-And which do you love best?
-The dream.
With his succinct 1894 novel, Pan, Knut Hamsun once again displays his prowess of capturing the human psychology and detailing the internal conflicts that arise through the sudden rise and fall of moods. Through Glahn, the capricious man who has taken up residence within the northern wilderness and the socialite Edvarda, Hamsun demonstrates how even the slightest romantic collisi...more
51 likes · like · see review
view all 32 comments
As if you needed to revisit it, friends, yet here it is: Hamsun's excruciatingly true-to-life depiction of the exaltation and despair of young love. In his later years, the novelist Anthony Burgess had a pat blurb for certain novels he liked. Of them he would say: "Almost unbearably moving!" That blurb applies perfectly to Pan. This novella is so emotionally affecting! It is so on the money! The reader goes through the entire exhausting emotional cycle here. From initial lusting, to growing inte...more
25 likes · like · see review
It's 1853 and animal-eyed Lieutenant Glahn roams, with dog Aesop and gun, hunting ptarmigan in the Nordland. He lives in a hut. Flora and fauna are described bursting around him during endless summer days and still iron nights.
I found wintergreen and yarrow in the fields, and the chaffinches had arrived; I knew all the birds.
A rousing toast to the wild-cat crouching with throat to the ground and preparing to spring on a sparrow in the dark, in the dark!
Yet like wild god Pan's, Glahn's woods ar...more
I found wintergreen and yarrow in the fields, and the chaffinches had arrived; I knew all the birds.
A rousing toast to the wild-cat crouching with throat to the ground and preparing to spring on a sparrow in the dark, in the dark!
Yet like wild god Pan's, Glahn's woods ar...more
6 likes · like · see review
Oh, how I loved this book. I read it being sick with fever, chills and dizziness...that mixed with the dreamy and beautiful writing was for me an amazing literary experience. Yeah, amazing, isn't it? or was just I in a state of euphoria? Anyway, I enjoyed Pan, especially the epilogue, the bitter epilogue! I don't like spoilers in reviews so just read it! This is just my first impression after reading, maybe I'll add a better review when I recover my mental ability and get well...
Never has the No...more
Never has the No...more
12 likes · like · see review
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7214
Translated by by W. W. Worster
With an Introduction by Edwin Björkman
Opening: These last few days I have been thinking and thinking of the Nordland summer, with its endless day. Sitting here thinking of that, and of a hut I lived in, and of the woods behind the hut. And writing things down, by way of passing the time; to amuse myself, no more. The time goes very slowly; I cannot get it to pass as quickly as I would, though I have nothing to sorrow for, and live...more
Translated by by W. W. Worster
With an Introduction by Edwin Björkman
Opening: These last few days I have been thinking and thinking of the Nordland summer, with its endless day. Sitting here thinking of that, and of a hut I lived in, and of the woods behind the hut. And writing things down, by way of passing the time; to amuse myself, no more. The time goes very slowly; I cannot get it to pass as quickly as I would, though I have nothing to sorrow for, and live...more
I recently reread this classic a few months back and it still amazes me. It's been called one of the first modernist novels and Hamsun is touted by respected writers like Paul Auster.
I didn't enjoy this book as much Hunger or Growth of the Soil, but it was still very interesting. The narrator was just as neurotic and moody as the protagonist of Hunger. My favorite aspect of this novel is the accuracy with which Hamsun depicts the capriciousness of psychological states. Glahn's moods, thoughts, and decisions are so disjointed and mysterious, they defy our conventional view of characters as conscious agents who somehow control their own behavior and thoughts.
1 like · like · see review
Dec 14, 2008
Cwn_annwn_13
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
from-public-library
To give a brief synopsis a Norwegian man goes to a rural area of Norway to spend several months hunting and living in a cabin in the forest. Most of this book deals with his interactions with the locals of this rural community, in particular two women. One is married but makes herself available in all ways to the main character, the other who fancies herself an aristocrat of some sort seems to be mainly interested in mind games and seeing how many hoops she can make him jump through to please he...more
Hamsun is one of those mildly overlooked authors that pops up every now and again on the ol' culturoscope and you blink and think, "Oh yeah, "Growth of the Soil" was a fucking awesome book and what else did he write?" Well, apparently he wrote a shit-ton of other awesome novels if this one is any indication. He's hard to pigeon-hole: he's somewhere near the darker parts of Dosteovsky, say the "Demons" Dosty and the sparse beauty of like a Lawrence, maybe? His prose is near-poetic, and there is s...more
A Cavalo de Ferro tem o mérito de ter trazido de volta ao panorama editorial nacional o grande mestre das letras norueguês Knut Hamsun. “Pan” é um daqueles livros obrigatórios em qualquer biblioteca. Uma lufada de ar da floresta.
O escritor norueguês Knut Hamsun, galardoado com o Prémio Nobel da Literatura em 1920, voltou a ser editado em Portugal em 2008 graças à Cavalo de Ferro, com a publicação de “Fome”, traduzido por Liliete Martins e com prefácio de Paul Auster. Desta vez, mais recentemente...more
O escritor norueguês Knut Hamsun, galardoado com o Prémio Nobel da Literatura em 1920, voltou a ser editado em Portugal em 2008 graças à Cavalo de Ferro, com a publicação de “Fome”, traduzido por Liliete Martins e com prefácio de Paul Auster. Desta vez, mais recentemente...more
“Безумный норвежец”. Лауреат Нобелевской премии. Один из величайших писателей XX столетия. Гений не только скандинавской, но и мировой литературы. Судьба его была трудной и неоднозначной. Еще при жизни ему довелось пережить и бурную славу, и полное забвение, и новое возвращение к славе - на сей раз уже не всенародной, но “элитарной”.
Однако никакая литературная мода не способна бросить тень на силу истинного писательского таланта - таланта такого уровня, которым обладал Кнут Гамсун.
Такова была...more
Однако никакая литературная мода не способна бросить тень на силу истинного писательского таланта - таланта такого уровня, которым обладал Кнут Гамсун.
Такова была...more
I wish I had read it a little quicker. I put this down about half way in, some other reading got in the way, and so it took a while to read and the momentum was kinda lost. Nevertheless... a great book, he has a way of creating the strangest voices that are not simple parodies, but are very funny and effective at the same time. There is a lot going on in here beyond the voice, much more going on here than in Hunger actually (though it might take more patience than that book, as there are many pa...more
4 likes · like · see review
Of all the stuff I read in college, nothing lasted longer with me than Knut Hamsun's Hunger, and with stops and starts over the years I've tried his other books without ever finishing them. Then I read somewhere that John Fante got the title or the idea for Ask the Dust, one of my favorite books ever, from Hamsun's Pan, and that was enough for me.
This is a spectacular little book, a hair over 100 pages in the lovely edition I got form the library complete with woodcut illustrations, documenting...more
This is a spectacular little book, a hair over 100 pages in the lovely edition I got form the library complete with woodcut illustrations, documenting...more
El noruego Knut Hamsun, ganador del Premio Nobel en 1920, narra en 'Pan' los recuerdos del joven teniente Thomas Glahn, aquel verano que pasó en Nordland. La historia es un canto a la naturaleza, a los bellos paisajes del norte de Noruega.
Glahn vive en una cabaña tras la cuál se encuentran tupidos bosques, en los que caza y pesca. En la voz de Glahn se nota el amor por esos tiempos pasados en soledad junto a su perro Esopo. Pero la historia cuenta algo más que la vida de un excéntrico joven que...more
Glahn vive en una cabaña tras la cuál se encuentran tupidos bosques, en los que caza y pesca. En la voz de Glahn se nota el amor por esos tiempos pasados en soledad junto a su perro Esopo. Pero la historia cuenta algo más que la vida de un excéntrico joven que...more
A beautifully written novel detailing the collision of the natural world and the civilized world over a period of a few seasons in the forests of Norway. Hamsun's prose is at times poetic and magical; several dream-like chapters read like a lyrical mystery. The story keeps you on your toes: a couple of unexpected turns in the narrative had me flipping pages to discover the "what next?". Also: the epilogue (I don't want to call it by its true title in order to not inadvertently divulge a spoiler)...more
Pan (1894) is a lyrical expression of man's inner nature. The forest teems with the beauty of the natural world and Knut Hamsun is too wise not to use it for his own ends. The novel fairly anticipates the sensuous and erotic works of D. H. Lawrence and the spiritual confessions of Rilke. Ostensibly the journal entries of a soldier hunter who inhabited a hut in the woods of a rural community, the short novel otherwise relies on various storytelling registers—folktales, legends, testimonies, monol...more
Apr 18, 2011
☽ Moon ☯ 佛月球 Будда Луны
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorite-books-of-all-time
Pan is a love story on a different take---dark, tragic, strange and twisted. It shows a peculiar knack of Knut Hamsun to discern the capricious, often unstable human personalities in its most intrinsic fashion as it collides with one another, giving form to the abstract aspects of the human experiences, thus creating uniquely drawn characters and a story that bursts with originality, which give further definition to his already profound talent as a writer. Hamsun's vivid depiction of human expe...more
There's an insidious darkness within this novel that shows itself as something else entirely throughout, creating a depth to Lt Glahn's psyche that is discomfiting, if, and only if, you pause a moment to consider it. The speed with which the narrative progresses seems to further deter you from delving beyond the surface. Which makes sense since Glahn, as narrator, would prefer you to not see the truth. He falsely endears himself to the reader in his pursuits as Man Returned to Nature, through hy...more
No se trata del pan de comer, sino de Pan, el dios salvaje de los bosques, encarnado en el salvaje pero inmensamente atractivo (a las mujeres) teniente Glahn, en esta corta novela de 1894. La primera y más extensa parte de la novela la cuenta el mismo Thomas Glahn, experto tirador de escopeta y gran amante de la naturaleza, que recuerda los muchos animales y las dos mujeres que cazó un verano en el norte de Noruega. Inmensamente sensible a la belleza del paisaje, a los sonidos y colores y movimi...more
Sep 08, 2012
Charles Bechtel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
People who wish to write, people who love to read
This is an astonishing book, among those I frequently re-read. His use of elementals to underscore the emotional mind of the characters, such as the two green feathers sent as an FU to Glahn, make me weep as a writer. They are all perfect notes. And I disagree with any critics who claim the second half of the book is weak, has nothing to do with the story, etc. It is not only a perfect ending, it is a necessary ending. Reading this, one might think Glahn superficial, glib, childish, irrational,...more
I would call Glahn, our narrator, a capricious wanker-- but then he really is very human and pitiable, like the rest of us. His mind always seems to be nested in what he lost rather then what he has before him. The story leaps as his mind does, between the female characters who, either physical or in dream form (Iselind), are the bane of his tortured existence.
The setting is interesting - during summer in Norway, the further north you go, the more light there is during night-time, I imagine the...more
The setting is interesting - during summer in Norway, the further north you go, the more light there is during night-time, I imagine the...more
3 likes · like · see review
Første del er facinerende, lett tilgjengelig, et klassisk forviklings-kjærlighets-drama. Men så kommer det på slutten 20 sider med en andre jeg-person, som på meg synes helt overflødig, skulle ønske den hadde sluttet når Glahn reiste fra Nordland. Leste den i 50-talls utgave med mig og dig og slikt, men det var overraskende lett språk. Den er av andre beskrevet som en nydelig skildring av natur som møter kultur, men jeg synes allikevel Hamsun nesten underdriver sine beskrivelser fra tid til anne...more
Liris menggambarkan hubungan rumit antar karakter. Berpusat di tokoh Thomas Glahn, pria liar pemikat wanita. Ia yang biasanya terpikat pada alam, kini terpikat pada ciptaan Tuhan yang lain, Edvarda, putri Tuan Mack, orang berada di wilayah situ. Tapi hubungan itu sendiri pun akhirnya kandas meski seolah-olah keduanya masih memendam harapan. Thomas Glahn dengan ego laki-lakinya menjadikan Eva, istri pandai besi yang bekerja untuk Tuan Mack, sebagai pelampiasan cintanya.
Marianne Katoppo menerjema...more
Marianne Katoppo menerjema...more
Because Hemingway said he learned to write from Hamsun, I mistakenly assumed this was prose poetry. I read poetry slowly, but the language here held no echoing magic. (Perhaps this was due to the translation, because I was reading a gorgeous, hardcover American first edition from 1921.)
When I read faster the raw power of the narrative kicked in. Obsessive love is ridiculous to anyone not suffering from it. As in Hunger, Hamsun captures the psyche's incessant circlings, its flagellations, the se...more
When I read faster the raw power of the narrative kicked in. Obsessive love is ridiculous to anyone not suffering from it. As in Hunger, Hamsun captures the psyche's incessant circlings, its flagellations, the se...more
Corta, intensa y lírica, en esta novela romántica el protagonista es esclavo de sus pasiones e impulsos. Ha encontrado la libertad -incluso la felicidad- en un entorno natural grandioso pero el deseo le lleva a caer en una partida de seducción en la que se siente constantemente superado por la joven Edvarda. Cualquier adolescente que haya sufrido mal de amores se puede reconocer en la confusión, en las reacciones torpes y extemporáneas del teniente Glahn intentando jugar a un juego del que no co...more
Strange.but when Hamsun is strange it can only be beautiful.
"A secret stillness fell upon people; they pondered and were silent; their eyes awaited the winter."
"She loved a lord. Why? Ask the winds and the stars, ask the God of life, for there is none that knows such things."
"The other he loved as a slave, as a madman and a beggar. Why? Ask the dust of the road and the leaves that fall, ask the mysterious God of life, for there is no other that knows such things"
"Hail, men and beasts and birds,...more
"A secret stillness fell upon people; they pondered and were silent; their eyes awaited the winter."
"She loved a lord. Why? Ask the winds and the stars, ask the God of life, for there is none that knows such things."
"The other he loved as a slave, as a madman and a beggar. Why? Ask the dust of the road and the leaves that fall, ask the mysterious God of life, for there is no other that knows such things"
"Hail, men and beasts and birds,...more
1 like · like · see review
This book starts as a sort of Norwegian "Walden" with a hunter living in his hut in the forest and feeling at one with the natural world. However, this Pantheistic utopia is steadily eroded by the growing awareness that Glahn is suffering some kind of psychosis. The reverence towards nature remains, but the book becomes increasingly concerned with his tortured relations with the local inhabitants, particularly the young females who by turns attract and repel him.
It is both a beautiful and discon...more
It is both a beautiful and discon...more
Այս գիրքը երկու վերջաբան ունի, էլեկտրոնային տարբերակում այն շատ կանխատեսելի ավարտ է ունենում ինձ համար:Համսուն Կնուտի գրելաոճը ինձ որոշ չափով Պրիշվինին հիշացրեց, հատկապես բնության նկարագրությունները: Իսկ տպագիր գրքումը կար նաև Գլանի մահը, 1861 թվականի նոթեր: Այս մասը ես ավելի կլանված եմ կարդացել: և եթե չլիներ այս մասը, շատ սովորական հերթականը պատմվածք կլիներ Պանը ինձ համար:
no comment ...
Один даёт мало,но и это много для него,другой отдаёт всё,и ему это нисколько не трудно; кто же отдал больше ?...more
no comment ...
Один даёт мало,но и это много для него,другой отдаёт всё,и ему это нисколько не трудно; кто же отдал больше ?...more
“He was a warrior, a warrior for mankind, and a prophet of the gospel of justice for all nations.”
Hamsun wrote this in 1945, after the suicide of Hitler.
It certainly adds "color" to a novel, when you find out its author was a lackey for Hitler.
Before you fling Pan out the window however, the author Isaac Bashevis Singer said this about him:
“The whole school of fiction in the 20th century stems from Hamsun...".
So there's definitely two-sides to the man, and Pan, though a minor novel compared to...more
Hamsun wrote this in 1945, after the suicide of Hitler.
It certainly adds "color" to a novel, when you find out its author was a lackey for Hitler.
Before you fling Pan out the window however, the author Isaac Bashevis Singer said this about him:
“The whole school of fiction in the 20th century stems from Hamsun...".
So there's definitely two-sides to the man, and Pan, though a minor novel compared to...more
Hamsun's Hunger was a book of transcendent weirdness, and I read it at the exact right time-- I was winding down a summer of abject poverty, living in a rundown Minneapolis apartment building routinely tagged by the local Crips, failing to sell anything I'd written, and not eating. Knut would have been proud.
And Pan is in the same vein-- it's also a story of a loner wandering through a surreal landscape-- although rather than the dockyards of Oslo, our "hero" is in the forest. Think "Into the Wi...more
And Pan is in the same vein-- it's also a story of a loner wandering through a surreal landscape-- although rather than the dockyards of Oslo, our "hero" is in the forest. Think "Into the Wi...more
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Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 "for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil." He insisted that the intricacies of the human mind ought to be the main object of modern literature, to describe the "whisper of the blood, and the pleading of the bone marrow". Hamsun pursued his literary program, debuting in 1890 with the psychological novel Hunger.
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“I love three things," I then say. "I love a dream of love I once had, I love you, and I love this patch of earth."
"And which do you love best?"
"The dream.”
—
81 people liked it
"And which do you love best?"
"The dream.”
“There was a rock in front of my hut, a tall, gray rock. By its looks it seemed to be well-disposed toward me...”
—
9 people liked it
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