by Knut Hamsun

Hamsun was a leading Norwegian author who saw humankind and nature united in a strong, sometimes mystical bond. This connection between the characters and their natural environment is exemplified in the novels Pan, and the epic Growth of the Soil, for which Hamsun received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1920. Hamsun first received wide acclaim with his 1890 novel Hunger. The semi-autobiographical work described a young and egocentric writer's descent into near madness as a result of hunger and poverty in the Norwegian capital of Kristiania. To many, the novel presaged the writings of Franz Kafka and other twentieth-century novelists with its internal monologue and bizarre logic.