On Overgrown Paths

by Knut Hamsun, Sverre Lyngstad (Translator)

Translated from the Norwegian, with Notes by Sverre Lyngstad On Overgrown Paths was written after World War II, at a time when Hamsun was in police custody for his openly expressed Nazi sympathies during the German occupation of Norway, 1940–45. A Nobel laureate deeply beloved by his countrymen, Hamsun was now reviled as a traitor—as long as his sanity was not called into question. However, the psychiatric report declared him to be sane, but concluded that his mental faculties were “permanently impaired.” This conclusion was emphatically refuted by the publication, in 1949, of On Overgrown Paths , Hamsun’s apologia. In its creative élan, this book, filled with the proud sorrow of an old man, miraculously recalls the spirit of Hamsun’s early novels, with their reverence for nature, absurdist humor, and quirky flights of fancy. This edition is the first authoritative English translation of Hamsun’s last work, a work which stood at the center of the film Hamsun (1996).

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Classics, Scandinavian Literature, Biography, History, Literature

241 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Novels of Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun (born Knud Pedersen), include Hunger (1890) and The Growth of the Soil (1917). He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920.

He insisted on the intricacies of the human mind as 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.

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acquired and read because Knausgaard called it Knut’s masterpiece in his Munch book. If better than what I consider Knut’s masterpiece (The Growth of the Soil) I was in for a treat. Karl Ove surely read it in the original Norwegian and while the translation seems fine, reads well etc, and conveys that familiar Hamsun spirit, I didn’t find this particularly engaging. There seemed to be too many stretches that went on too long, little scenes from his past, illustrating some point maybe about the transitoriness of life, how all life's concerns are really trifles considering inevitable onrushing death coming for everyone, how everyone will be forgotten, replaced by emerging generations that in turn will shine for a while and then be forgotten. All of which made for easy and agreeable reading that had me counting how many pages were left to the book’s end. But as a famous elderly writer's sly autobiographical/experiential defense against accusations of sympathy for the devil this is interesting reading, and my attention perked up whenever he turned his attention toward Germany, to the war era, when he said he never had anything bad to say about the Jews, how there's nothing in any of his writings of the sort, how he was essentially only currying favor for occupied Norway, trying to save lives since Germany apparently had big plans for Norway as a Nordic country, but the book as a whole is not really a satisfying defense in the end. The verdict that's ultimately handed down isn't stated, so, without consulting the internet, Hamsun pretty much suggests that the verdict doesn't matter because he and all involved would soon enough be equalized by mortality. It's exactly this sort of skewed intuitive folksy poetic pantheistic rationalizing that makes for so many great moments in his best novels (Growth of the Soil, Pan, Hunger) but as a moral defense stray descriptions of places and people populating his isolated late life, randomly emerging memories and whims, don't really come close to dealing with the enormity of Nazi crimes against humanity, which to be fair Hamsun doesn't seem to understand the extent of (no mention of genocide, eg), having been largely isolated from the world at the time (he was old in the 1940s, was pretty much deaf, and didn't have access to social media or CNN and apparently didn't really read the newspapers much or fully care about or understand what was going on). The disparity between the whim and fragility of his defense and WWII atrocity is sort of beautiful, I suppose, but only sort of. Also found this interesting in terms of Nazi Literature in the Americas, contemporary cancel culture, and Handke's recent Nobel Prize -- there's an essay there I'll maybe try to write if I can find the time.

[Danilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neverovatno koliko je čovek jasno razmišljao i uviđao stvari sa svojih skoro 90 godina.
Iako deluje kroz zapise da se ne kaje zbog svojih postupaka tokom Drugog svetskog rata, na momente se oseća da ipak pokušava da se opravda. Da li je uspeo da se opravda naciji i čitaocima, nije ni bitno, bitan je uvid u način na koji je Hamsun razmišljao u godinama u zatočeništvu.
Zbog toga, ova knjiga možda nije za one koji bi da se upoznaju sa Hamsunovim delima, ili prosto, da pročitaju dobar roman.

[Emilio Berra · Rating 4 out of 5]

In attesa della sentenza
Per i critici si tratta di un capolavoro. Personalmente lo considero 'soltanto' un buon libro, valutazione comunque nettamente positiva.

Si tratta di un'opera biografica scritta dal norvegese K. Hamsun (Nobel 1920) durante l'estrema vecchiaia, nel secondo dopoguerra, in attesa della conclusione del processo per l'appoggio dato al nazismo.
(Segnalo che lo scrittore Enquist ha pubblicato un bellissimo e rigoroso romanzo biografico su tali vicissitudini in "Processo a Hamsun") .

Anziano e sordo, deve vagare da una clinica ad un ospizio prima di avere il permesso di tornare a casa. "E' stato un lungo, lungo sradicamento".
Pare rassagnato, desidera il processo e si ritiene esente da colpe gravi.
Proprio come nei suoi romanzi, la natura in qualsiasi stagione rappresenta per lui una sicura fonte di consolazione : "Il clima è aspro e il vento quasi sempre freddo. Però siamo vicini agli alberi e al bosco (...). Oh, il mondo è bello anche qui e dovremmo essere molto riconoscenti per il fatto di viverci" .
La mente talvolta vaga in lontani ricordi : la solitudine favorisce il recupero del 'tempo perduto' .
E' dentro di sé che attinge le risorse : "Oh , l'ifinitamente piccolo dentro all'infinitamente grande di questo mondo straordinario. Di nuovo sono contento di esistere" .

Nonostante gli errori commessi con una certa dose di ingenuità, non solo emerge la grandezza dello scrittore, ma si delinea anche la lievità al cospetto di problematiche esistenziali che si acuiscono nell'estrema vecchiaia :
"... non è forse che siamo qui per aspettare la morte ? " .
"...è ben certo che dobbiamo morire, ma non subito, dice Sant'Agostino" .

[Nataša]

Vrlo mi je milo sve što do sada pročitah od ovog čoveka.
Prija i opušta me njegov stil, bez obzira je li reč o klasičnom romanu ili ispovesti.
Naslućuje se pristrasnost, šta ću :)

[Michael Canoeist · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Knut Hamsun wrote while (mostly) confined in mental institutions awaiting his trial for treason after World War II. It is a sorrowful document to read, On Overgrown Paths, although it does show Hamsun had full command of his mental faculties -- the matter supposedly at question. Some classic Hamsun romanticism appears; but more of his fatalism and the painful ponderings of a very elderly man whose life has taken such an abruptly humiliating and dehumanizing turn.

This book is for those with a deep interest in Hamsun already; it will be a weird introduction to him for those unfamiliar with his work. His origins in, and love for, Norway's Nordland run throughout, especially in a couple meetings with a true wanderer also from Hamsun's hometown -- a man who walks barefoot to save his shoes until he comes to a town, and who still lives by occasional day-work here and there. Between scenes such as those, and Hamsun's memories and preoccupations, the old ways of living are made powerfully present again. A passing reference to Truman -- one has to remind oneself that this means, yes, President Harry Truman -- shocks the reader who has by then slipped wholly into Hamsun's timeless world. Can these two timelines possibly overlap? Yes, which in its way was part of Hamsun's personal tragedy. It is worth remembering that he was already 80 when Hitler took over Norway and precipitated the conditions that led, years later, to Hamsun's eventual trial. Hamsun is already mostly deaf and, in the course of this book, growing blind.

It takes three long years of institutional incarceration for Hamsun's case finally to be heard, and the full text of his statement to the court is included here. Hamsun says he stands behind everything he said and wrote, but there is also, at moments, an obsequious, pleading, even weaseling tone uncharacteristic of Hamsun the author, but perhaps understandable given that his life was still at stake. It seems to me unlikely that Hamsun was ever a Nazi or had serious Nazi sympathies. His love of things Germanic, and his corresponding dislike of England, which he regarded as much more imperialistic, explain some of his wartime writings, I believe. And his hopes that Norway could ultimately benefit from German victories were a form of patriotism, although one his fellow countrymen did not understand or believe. If I'm wrong, and he was in part an opportunist, he sure picked the wrong side of this one. Once the war ended, Hamsun and (we can't forget) his wife, who may have been more pro-Nazi, became ready targets for the mood of vengeance that naturally grabbed hold of a formerly occupied country.

One last bit of Hamsun's writing might be the best way to end this review, and something of the man to leave with anybody who has made it through my comments here. How he evokes the land itself, and gives his appreciation or at least understanding of forces greater than our little human doings and voices, still impresses me with its enduring worldview:

"Time flies. Snow has fallen; it is winter. At this point I stop. No one knows how long I have sat here thinking, but I got no further than that. I thought I might be able to say something fine and striking about snow and winter, but I failed. Never mind. I awoke one morning and found snow and winter; that is all. No, that is not all; snow and winter are evil to me.

"That there can be a season of the year altogether unique in vileness! The young girl speaks of it with chattering teeth; the wise ant flees several yards down into the earth to get away from it all. It is all the same to me. I have good shoes, but yesterday I read a dispatch from the famine areas telling of children without a crumb to eat, of children who have to be warmed on their mother's body lest they grow stiff with the cold.

"And faced with that there is nothing one can say, no sensible question to ask. The mountains lie yonder in their full weight to themselves; the forest is stone dead and utterly slain; all is silent; the snow lies there and is white and kind; the cold rejects all idea of equality by birth and will not let mankind have its say.

"Time flies."

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

"But that's not what I'm trying to fathom, but this: that so few things last. That even dynasties give way. That even what is grandiose falls someday. There is no pessimism in this thought or reflection, only a recognition of how non-stagnant, how dynamic life is. Everything is in motion, bubbling over with vitality, up and down and to all sides; when one thing collapses something else rises, looks large in the world for a moment and dies." (26-27)

Having read all of Hamsun's works in English that I could get my hands on, I left On Overgrown Paths—his final work, written while he was on trial for treason—for last. There is not much more to life than is captured in this book. I need some time to sort out everything there is to say in response to it.

[Ilze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamsuna darbi man šķiet skumji, un arī šis nav izņēmums. Taču tajā atrodams arī ārkārtīgi liels gaišums, ko autors izstaro savas dzīves nogalē. Pieņemot, ka "Pa aizaugušām tekām" ir vismaz daļēji autobiogrāfisks, spēcīgi izjutu Hamsuna vēlmi runāt par sevi, vai varētu teikt – attaisnot sevi? Vismaz man tā šķiet. Ir grūti spriest viņam tiesu, nozīmīgam rakstniekam, kas vēstures peripētijās neizvēlējās to taisnāko ceļu.
"Pa aizaugušām tekām" ved pretim mūžībai. Tā ir tieksme un meklējums, kas fascinē visvairāk, jo dzīvot nozīmē nemitīgi virzīties tuvāk nāvei. Grāmatas izskaņa aizved autoru pa jaunības takām, un tas bija pats maģiskākais, jo ievada Hamsuniskā mūžības sākumā. Varbūt savā dzīves noslēgumā mēs piedzīvojam kādu dzīves posmu vēlreiz. Un tajā vienkārši paliekam.

[Roman Trukhin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Норвезький нобелівський лауреат з літератури, який став колаборантом. Можна було б написати "під тиском дивних обставин", але правильніше було б сказати - згідно з подихом часу.

Книга - це його авторефлексія на тему його післявоєнного судового переслідування. Ні, текст не покликаний і не викликає жаль. З іншої сторони він ні на йоту не є виправдальним. Все ж таки - це рефлексія на події, що відбувається навколо старого, глухого і напівсліпого Гамсуна.

Кнут Гамсун - найбільше перекладуваний в Україні 20-их років європейський письменник. І від того невимовно сильно хочеться знайти ті переклади і посмакувати ту ще незросійщену і незпримітизовану українську мову.

[Aletheia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Cuando estoy harto de mí mismo, vacío e inútil, me voy al bosque. No ayuda, pero tampoco empeora la situación. Ya no oigo el murmullo del bosque, pero veo mecerse las ramas. Eso en sí ya es algo de lo que alegrarse."

Knut Hamsun podría haber escrito un libro sobre aquella vez que fue al mercado a comprar peras y no quedaban, que yo me lo compraría a continuación. Qué maravilla de escritura.

Es extraordinario leer un libro como éste en el momento histórico actual: día a día se nos pone en la encrucijada en que debemos decidir si separamos al artista de su obra. Y es que es muy difícil encontrar un icono en cuya biografía, a poco que nos pongamos a indagar, no aparezca alguna faceta difícil de defender moralmente.

Hamsun ya pasó por eso en 1945: su obra y su premio Nobel fueron el orgullo de los noruegos antes de que se conociera su apoyo al régimen de Quisling durante la ocupación nazi y su convencida germanofilia. Durante los tres años que duró su proceso judicial, no solo perdió todo el prestigio conseguido en sus 89 años, sino que las autoridades noruegas le internaron en una residencia de ancianos y un hospital psiquiátrico para justificar como locura o demencia sus convicciones ideológicas.

En medio de todo este temporal mediático y vital, Hamsun medita sobre la vejez, los recuerdos de juventud, la sordera, la naturaleza, el aislamiento y su país... como una forma de demostrar ante su gente que no está loco. El plato fuerte es su alegato (que no defensa) ante el tribunal y lo más duro su confusión e impotencia al ser ingresado en el hospital psiquiátrico.

Si os gusta más ir con anteojeras por la vida, está muy bien porque es lo aceptable y lo que está de moda; pero si no os importa que los libros os reten, os pongan frente a vuestros propios prejuicios y os inviten a reflexionar, os lo recomiendo.

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamsun proudly proving he could still be Hamsun - following the drift of his mind from current events to childhood memories to an encounter with a barefoot wanderer to being reinvigorated by feminine beauty with humor, concision, and wide-openness - even though he was in his 80's and mostly deaf, going blind, and incarcerated (in a hospital and an old folks' home) for working too closely with the Nazis. There is an inspiring simplicity to the way as an old man he finds ways to tap back into forces of life. Throughout the book he seems intent on disproving the very defense concocted by authorities to save his reputation: that he worked with the Nazis due to permanently impaired mental faculties. I read this partly to understand why he might have done what he did, but it didn't provide much clarity, beyond being a demonstration of his contrary character and fierce independence (that is to say his reasons were interior and personal, egoistic, not due to any outward hatred or racism). It also demonstrates how straight up odd he was to the end - gaining wisdom by watching ants; and expending more energy during this weighty, foreboding, and consequential time of his life writing about shoelaces than Hitler.

[Ronald Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feels like an odd place to start with Knut Hamsum, but somehow I ended up with it from a used book shopping trip from years back when I picked up a stack of Green Integer Press books that someone had just dropped off, and it was only in the last month that I re-visited them and came across this. I've been looking for Growth of the Soil (used) for a while now, and only in the last week finally found a copy of Hunger, but I decided to go ahead and give this a shot.

It's quite good, but frustrating. Written in the years where Hamsun was confined - in a hospital, an old-person's home, a mental hospital, and then the old-person's home again - while awaiting his trial for Treason (for his support of the Nazi's during their occupation of Norway), this is mostly a recounting of what he did during his confinement, along with a meditation on aging. The only mention of his actions during the war come from a transcription of his testimony when his case was finally heard. I suppose it's my own fault for hoping that he would write about his actions during the war - from what I can tell he never did - but I did expect that, and as such I did not like this as much as I probably should have.

But, for what is here, it's fantastic. His use of language and description is incredible, and his passages about aging - especially those that focus on his failing senses - are especially poignant. Due to his actions during the war, it leaves me conflicted to enjoy his stuff, but he is an incredible writer, and I try to approach him from only that angle.

[Bogdan Panajotovski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Savršen početak, a onda malo lutanja, ali dobar upliv u sećanja pred kraj života, malo odbrane od pređašnjih postupaka. Valja se i dobro zamisliti u kriznim vremenima na koju se stranu staje. Hamsun i u dubokoj starosti u potpuno haotičnoj knjizi, zna dobro da piše. Tok sećanja koja naviru u smiraj života.

[Ruzica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably not the best Knut Hamsun's book to start with, but nonetheless, it's terrific piece of autobiographical prose that gives an insight into Hamsun's late years. One might think Hamsun was demented old man (considering his collaboration with Nazis and fact that he sent his Nobel medal to Goebbels out of gratitude for all the 'good' he's done in Europe), but this book shows he was lucid and very much self aware.
This book is sort of an atonement for all the praise and approval he gave to Nazis during the WW2, meeting Hitler, writing a eulogy for Hitler ("Hitler was a warrior, a warrior for humankind and a preacher of the gospel of justice for all nations. He was a reforming character of the highest order, and his historical fate was that he functioned in a time of exampleless [unequalled] brutality, which in the end felled him.
Thus may the ordinary Western European look at Adolf Hitler. And we, his close followers, bow our heads at his death.")

I don't know, for me it was kind of sad to see pictures of 90 years old, deaf and poor sighted Hamsun sitting in the court, trying to redeem himself. But also in the same time it's crazy to think he didn't know what was happening all over Europe and what nacism actually represented.

[Amorfna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hamsunovi memoari, njegovo poslednje delo napisano na osnovu dnevnika i beleški pisanih u periodu 1945 - 1949 za vreme zatvoreništva ( uslovno rečeno). Hamsun je 1945 uhapšen te je 4 sledeće godine razrešenje svog sudskog procesa čekao , prvo u bolnici, te staračkom domu pod budnim okom policije a potom i ,sasvim nerazumno - u duševnoj bolnici. Već tada imao je blizu 90 godina i bio je maltene gluv te slabog vida.
Apsolutno must read štivo za Hamsunove verne fanove i one zainteresovane za njegov život ali nikako kao štivo za upoznavanje Hamsunovog književnog opusa.

[Katarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was Hamsun's first novel that I have read, and it left me with an impression that it was maybe an odd one to start with. However, the awareness of the fact that the author was in the ninth decade of his life when he wrote these memoirs got me more curious about his previous works.

[Alberto Martín de Hijas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Por un lado, el estilo de Hamsun engancha: incluso los momentos más cotidianos los describe con una brillantez que abruma. Por otro, el autor está más ensimismado que el protagonista de Hambre y termina dibujando, sin pretenderlo, un retrato del intelectual 'comprometido', siempre dispuesto a justificar cualquier atrocidad. El narrador, ajeno a su entorno, es incapaz de entender las razones de su (benévolo) cautiverio y llega a autoproclamarse preso político con una desfachatez que recuerda a la de un abertzale.

Al final, la obra resulta un gran(e involuntario) retrato del colaboracionismo, perpetrado por alguien incapaz de ver nada reprochable en él. Esto lo acerca a la obra tardía de Céline, aunque Hamsun carece de su misantropía: él realmente creía que el nazismo era un progreso para la humanidad.

Una prosa brillante que, además, nos revela —sin querer— una de las facetas más oscuras del ser humano.

[Tuva Kongshaug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Da er jeg offisielt ferdig med min Hamsun-reise (aka mitt prosjekt om å lese Hamsun samlede verker). Det har vært spennende å følge Hamsun fra hans noe rebelske og revolusjonerende begynnelse, og til den fantastiske reflekterte forfatteren han ble! Må ærlig innrømme at de tidlige bøkene ikke var noe for meg, men de senere verker (her må særlig markens grøde og august-triologien trekkes frem), var helt fantastiske. Et fellestrekk gjennom hele forfatterskapet er det fantastiske språket, og de spennende refleksjonene om mennesker og samfunn. Har egentlig mye å si om hva jeg synes om hans forfatterskap, men orker ikke å skrive det her, så hmu hvis du er interessert tihi

Når det gjelder denne boka, må jeg si det var fascinerende å få et innblikk i etterkrigsårene i Hamsuns liv. Som vanlig var språket og refleksjonene on point! Har mange tanker og meninger om landssvikoppgjøret og det som skjedde med Hamsuns spesielt, men det får vi ta en annen gang!

Takk for denne gang, Hamsun.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ho ricevuto dal cielo tanti doni benedetti, ma li ho rovinati e fatti a pezzi a forza di ragionare. Mi basta toccarlo con la punta delle dita, e il polline cade dal fiore." (p. 114)

"Siamo tutti in viaggio verso un paese che di sicuro raggiungeremo. Fretta non ne abbiamo, e ci fermiamo a raccogliere le casualità che ci capita di trovare per la strada. Solo gli stolti ridono in faccia al cielo e battezzano quelle casualità con nomi altisonanti. Sono più resistenti di noi, e non possiamo evitarli. Cari miei, se sapeste come sono resistenti, e quanto inevitabili." (pp. 161, 162)

[Юра Мельник · Rating 3 out of 5]

Кожен може помилятись. Не варто бути впевненим на сто відсотків у тому, що не перевірено наукою.

[Boris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ovo je zadnja knjiga koju je Hamsun napisao i to u devedesetoj. Riječ je o autobiografiji u kojoj Hamsun opisuje godine nakon rata 45-e. kada se nalazi usred sudskog procesa gdje mu se sudi zbog nacističkih djelovanja, odnosno podupiranja nacizma kao političke ideje. Iako je riječ o autobiografiji i ispovijednom tekstu, nevjerojatno je koliko Hamsun dobro piše, a i lucidno (ima 90 ej !), a s druge strane nevjerojatno je koliko je loš / naivan političar. U knjizi koja je prevedena "Po zaraslim stazama" on nenametljivo i pomirljivo opravdava svoje postupke i djelovanja tijekom rata, ne govori da je bio u krivu ni u pravu, već da je uvijek htio najbolje za svoju zemlju. Jebiga, Hamsun je, u vezi Hitlera, malo pobrkao lončiće... Vjerujem da bi njegovu konfuziju mnogo elokventnije i s više entuzijazma objasnio moj goodreads friend Vatroslav, pa to ostavljam njemu i izazivam ga da čita Hamsuna! Za kraj moram, ali stvarno moram pohvaliti prevoditelja Mirka Rumca, koji je zadužan i za jedan od najboljih pogovora koje sam čitao. On je na 35 stranica, vrlo zanimljivo, objektivno i savršeno reducirao Hamsunov život i djelo u nekoliko poglavlja. Ovdje ih navodim. 1. Kraj zaraslih staza 2. Hamsunov život i djelo. 3. Hamsun - čin i posljedice. 4. Hamsun i Nietzsche. 5. Hamsun i židovstvo. 6. Hamsun - angloamerikanci i sovjeti. 7. Hamsun i psihijatar dr Langfeldt. 8. Hamsun i knjiga "Po zaraslim stazama". 9. Hamsun u nas. 10. Zaključak i 11. Hamsun i literatura o njemu. Sve to možete naći u izdanju SNL Zagreb, 1986.

[Karl Eidsvik · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4? Likte den, e et sammensurium av rettsprosessen, dagbok, mimring, anekdota og minna. Dela e veldig bra, andre dela e helt okei. Mangla kanskje en helhet? Men alt i alt fin. Trur ikke fyren hadde «varig svekkede sjelsevner»…

[Kjartan Emil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Har ikke lest så mye Hamsun før og tror kanskje ikke denne boken er særlig typisk for hans forfatterskap, men spennende lesning likevel! Som det står i etterordet: "-ikke først og fremst en kontroversiell bok. Boken er framfor alt et menneskelig dokument, bruddstykker av et liv i berømmelse, fornedrelse og avmakt"
Særlig interessant å ordrett kunne lese hele hans innlegg under rettsaken i 1948.
Anbefales! Sult neste!

[Marievelde · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Om 100 år er alting glemt. Da er endog denne ærede rett glemt, totalt glemt. Alle våre navn her til stede i dag vil om 100 år være utslettet av jorden og huskes ikke mere, nevnes ikke mere. Vår skjebne er glemt." Jeg tviler litt.

[A. M. C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se va por las ramas... La justificación de su colaboración con los nazis resulta bastante floja... Tiene momentos muy poéticos pero deslucidos en medio de una maraña de relatos seniles... Una pequeña decepción, para mí, de uno de los más grandes novelistas...

[Adriana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Empecé este libro porque tenía ganas de leer algo exótico de mi categoría "resto del mundo" y sin buscar mucho me quedé con este por su lindo título. El libro es autobiográfico. A Hamsun, siendo un viejito pero también un premio Nobel, lo procesan por haber colaborado con los nazis durante la ocupación de Noruega. El juicio se va atrasando por años y mientras tanto a él lo van pasando por distintas instituciones: hospital, psiquiátrico, geriátrico, etc, lo cual lo frustra mucho, sobre todo porque no lo reconocen como quien es. De hecho mientras lo leía pensé: re de Leo. Efectivamente, google confirmó, era de Leo.
Son párrafos breves de recuerdos, anécdotas, algunas reflexiones, pero no tantas como esperaba. Salvo por su alegato en el juicio, no hay muchas referencias al tema de si era o no nazi y por qué y cuál era la discusión sobre su persona en el momento, cosa que podría haber sido muy interesante. En definitiva, un gran meh.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned from this insightful autobiography that history has no winners, that is only muddled; man can rewrite history anyway he desires in order to demonize his fellow man. This book is a masterpiece of memories, failures, and reconciliation. I love this writer!

[Mindaugas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gyvenimo saulėlydyje norvegų klasikas Knut Hamsun palaikė nacių režimą ir po WWII Norvegijoje buvo viešai pasmerktas bei nuteistas. Autobiografinė knyga, kurioje rašytojas aprašo pokarinės visuomenės panieką jam, apgailestauja dėl padarytų klaidų. Tai paskutinė K. Hamsun knyga.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always try to read Hamsun with an open mind, being well aware of his social and political views. I can understand the struggle of Norwegians to reconcile how one of their finest prose writers – who expressed subtle, sensitive, quiet, thoughtful observations on the human condition in his fiction pre-1930 – could also be an unrepentant and traitorous supporter of the Third Reich.

This book, the last one he wrote, is a fictionalized memoir. There are a handful of passages of great beauty, but there are also moments that I can only describe as shameful, where he attempts to justify his actions, both in reflecting that he is not anti-Semitic (with the eye-rolling explanation “because I have Jewish friends” – almost word-for-word) or when he includes his trial speech, trying to argue, quite inexplicably, that he was only supporting the Reich for the betterment of Norway, even as he tried to suggest that the occupying troops were forcibly compelling him to write. Neither stance strikes me as any more genuine than his weak defense of his prejudices.

As a result, I found it very difficult to have any pity or sympathy for Hamsun as he portrays himself as merely a deaf old man with poor eyesight (“walking-sight”) who was a victim just for his writings. At one point he states, “I have not belonged to the National Socialists … But it may well be that now and then I did write in a Nazi spirit … I stand behind [my writing] now as before and as I always have.”

Yikes. This kind of attempt to play both sides – “I’m just a simple writer” vs. “I stand behind my writing”; “I’m not a Nazi” vs. “I just wrote ‘in the Nazi spirit’” – once again comes off as disingenuous, a concealment of an inner truth under the guise of publicly baring one's soul. He includes encounters that seem quite fictional, including a number of suspiciously sweet and gentle people who are kind to him because “they know who he is” (suggesting that they, too, are sympathetic to National Socialist ideology). Likewise, he paints himself as persecuted because he was sent to a mental institution rather than to prison – where, perhaps, he rightly belonged.

And so I find with Hamsun a writer whose fiction has great merits, even as his personal views are repugnant – certainly neither the first nor the last time encountering this dichotomy in my literary journeys.

[G. Munckel · Rating 2 out of 5]

En 1945, cuando Hamsun tenía 85 años y estaba casi sordo, se lo arrestó por traición a la patria debido a la simpatía que expresó por Alemania durante las dos guerras mundiales. El proceso que se llevó a cabo en su contra se extendió hasta 1948, y para entonces su vista también había empezado a deteriorarse.

Este libro de memorias se ocupa de esos tres años. De la vejez y la soledad, de cómo llenaba el tiempo, de cómo le afectó ser internado en un hospital psiquiátrico (que él no consideraba necesario), de su vida en un asilo de ancianos, de sus recuerdos y también de la burocracia en torno a su juicio. (Y esto ya no lo dice el libro: al final fue absuelto de cualquier afiliación nazi, aunque con una fuerte multa, pero de todos modos su prestigio quedó manchado).

No es una mala lectura, porque Hamsun escribe muy bien, pero quizás me hubiera resultado más interesante de haber estado más familiarizado con su vida y obra.

[Bern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hamsun'un (Norveççe ek böyle mi yapılır onu da bilmiyorum ya, yıllar önce Norveçli meslektaşlarımıza yazarın adını söylediğimde anlayamadıkları-birbirlerine baktıkları ve haaaa gibisinden birbirlerine bakış attıkları aklımda. Meğerse Knüüt Hamsın diye telaffuz ediliyormuş, benim hatam :) ) Benim de hayal kırıklığım olmuştu Nobel ödüllü bir yazarın Nazi destekçisi olması (ki hem şair hem de çevirmen olarak çok sevdiğim Behçet Necatigil tarafından dilimize kazandırılan bir yazar olması da -ki Necatigil Alman dilinin üstadıdır- ilginç.) Hamsun aldığı Nobel Ödülünü Göbbels'e "Hitler'e armağan" olarak göndermiş, Hitler ile bilfiil görüşmüş, hatta Hitler'in ölümünden sonra ona ona ağıt yazmış... Söylemine göre Norveç halkının geleceği asil Germen halkının başarısına bağlıymış, hatta eşini de bu sözde başarıya angaje etmiş. 1940 yılında Almanlar ülkesi Norveç'i işgal ettiğinde, "Norveç Hükümetinin Hitler'e teslim olması için kampanya yürütmüş. Savunması da bir tuhaf, epi topu iki gazeteden bilgi almış olması, bilgilendirilmemiş olması, yine de nedamet göstermemesi... Bir yandan insan üzülüyor yaşlılar yurdunda, akıl hastanesinde tutulmasına...Kitabın son cümlesinin "Yüksek mahkeme suçlu buldu, yazarlığıma son veriyorum" şeklinde olması da manidar...