[LISTOPIA] Hunger by Knut Hamsun, 3,5 ★

[Hilde]

Hunger/Sult by Knut Hamsun.

3,5 stars

With the famous words “All of this happened while I was walking around starving in Christiania – that strange city no one escapes from until it has left its mark on him” - Hamsun opens the book Hunger (Note: I read it in Norwegian, so the opening line may not be completely accurate).

We are in the 1880s Kristiania, and the I-person is a poor journalist who lives on the hunger border. The hunger is taking its turn on him, and he struggles to think of anything else. At the same time, he does not want any kind of compassion, as he is much too proud for that!

While the hunger tears him up and contributes to his decay, he struggles to write articles so that he can earn a living. But it's hard to write something that's really good when all his thoughts are occupied trying to figure out where the next meal is going to come from.

In the book, Hamsun makes a solid analysis into the soul of the young journalist. It’s said that this book is sort of autobiographical and that Hamsun himself was starving before he broke through as an author. I am not sure it would be possible to write such a book without having any personal experience.

I see that the book gets mixed reviews, as the protagonist is quite hard to empathize with, giving the fact that his pride is preventing him for accepting the little good fortune he experiences now and then, and a such he is not the most likeable character. Even so, I am very fond of Hamsun’s writing, and this book was no exception.

I started with a paperback copy, which I unfortunately managed to leave behind on a flight (being approx. 50 % in). I then decided to switch to a new and more modern audio recording (read by Aksel Hennie in Norwegian), and I think it was good fortune after all losing my copy. The audio was excellent, and I really enjoyed his interpretation of the protagonist. The dry spots and the repetition that I found a bit boring when reading the book was not present when listening to the book. 3,5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

PS: For those of you who haven't read Growth of the Soil, it is a much better book, one of my all time favourites.

[Nicole R]

I am glad that you enjoyed this book. But, I have to admit, it does not sound appealing to me in the slightest! lol. Everyone likes something different but I do think it would be interesting to read his personal account of going from being a literally starving artist to a published author. I would think there would be some very interesting self-reflection in there.

[Hilde]

Absolutely, that would be interesting.
We cannot like the same books all us of, fortunately :)