Hunger
by Knut Hamsun
Description:
A modernist masterpiece: the Nobel Prize winner’s first and most important novel A Penguin Classic First published in Norway in 1890, Hunger probes the depths of consciousness with frightening and gripping power. Contemptuous of novels of his time and what he saw as their stereotypical plots and empty characters, Knut Hamsun embarked on “an attempt to describe the strange, peculiar life of the mind, the mysteries of the nerves in a starving body.” Like the works of Dostoyevsky, it marks an extraordinary break with Western literary and humanistic traditions. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Reviews:
(6 months ago) |
23 Mar, 2025
Hunger is reminiscent of Dostoevsky‘s Crime and Punishment in it’s style - both are written as the continuous inner monologue and stream of consciousness of the narrator. In Hunger the narrator is driven to irrational actions by a physical cause (hunger). In Crime and Punishment the narrator is driven to irrational actions by a philosophical cause (rationalism and utilitarianism). My personal preference is for Dostoevsky, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book as well.
As an aside: it is sometimes necessary to be able to separate the artist from the artwork. Regardless of Hamsun‘s personal convictions his work as a writer is outstanding.
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Challenge:
Read Around Europe Challenge
Country:
Norway
Norway
Language:
EN
Genre:
Philosophical Psychology
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