Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Ring is Closed by Knut Hamsun The Nazi novelist you should read. Isaac Bashevis Singer famously called Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun the father of modern literature. I'd take this further and say that he's the father of postmodern literature as well. With 1890's Hunger, Hamsun unleashed the first in a series of novels that anticipated everything from the terrifying absurdities of Kafka to the desiccated ennui of the existentialists and even Charles Bukowski's autobiographical explorations. Despite this, Hamsun is a writer who today is shunned by much of the literary establishment, not because his writing has lost any of its lustre, I'd argue, but because of his far-right political views, which came to a head during the second world war with his open support of Hitler and Norway's post-invasion Nazi puppet government. I will not defend Hamsun's politics. He betrayed both his country and more importantly humanity in general and deserves every bit of the scorn that's been heaped upon him. Hamsun's writing, however, is another matter. Whether we like the man or not, it seems to me both foolish and pointless to continue ignoring the significance of Hamsun's work - if for no other reason than it's an important part of our literary evolution and denying this can do nothing but cloud our understanding of our ourselves as readers and writers. In regard to Hamsun's evolution as a writer, it's far harder to describe than what came in his wake. Unlike virtually every other writer who has ever lived, Hamsun seems to have emerged fully formed, free from any definable literary tradition, or even overt influences. Born poor in rural Norway, Hamsun was largely self-educated and lacked both the social and intellectual background usually associated with the European literati of his time. After a long period of writing juvenilia and knocking about the world (he lived in the United States on two occasions), Hamsun hit upon in his voice in his early thirties - and it was unlike any that had come before. According to Hamsun, novel writing at that time was dominated by laboriously plotted tomes filled with parlour talk and stilted prose that contained little psychological or emotional insight. Hamsun raged against such conventions. Employing a style that was both hard-edged and surprisingly lyrical, he wrote lean stories, often in the first person, based less on actions than the convoluted, contradictory, and often brutal machinations of the human mind and heart. The result was a series of breathtaking "psychological" novels that astounded both critics and readers alike. It's been widely argued that Hamsun produced his best work in the early part of his career, from which emerged the classic novels Mysteries, Pan, Victoria, and the aforementioned Hunger. There is some truth to this. As Hamsun grew older he turned away from many of his innovations and began writing epics more in the tradition of writers such as Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. During this latter period, however, Hamsun did produce some fine work, including the novels Growth of the Soil, for which he was awarded the Nobel prize in 1920, and The Ring is Closed, a criminally under-read meditation on the meaning of work and life that is one of the true jewels of western literature. In the last decades of his life Hamsun's politics, which had been consistently veering to the right for many years, crystallised into a bizarre vision of "pan-Teutonic unity", which ultimately led to his support of the Nazis and his downfall as a public figure. As painful as this might still be to some, it does not negate Hamsun's value as an artist or his influence on following generations of writers. The novel is what it is today in large part because of what Knut Hamsun wrought, which is a fact that no amount of revisionist history can wipe away. It's time we accept this and try to figure some way to bring the man's books back into the canon, while leaving his horrid politics out in the cold where they belong. THE RING IS CLOSED. This book stands out as a separate entity, from the usual background of the soil, for Knut Hamsun has chosen, this time, a small fishing village on the west coast of Norway. A strange tale, restrained in the telling, with a certain compassion for the central figure, the son of a lighthouse keeper who has let his best friend hang for his crime. He tramps the world around and back, caring really for nothing but the scenes of his childhood -- complex, baffling, passive, indolent. The minor characters are well drawn, but the whole lacks the vigor of his early work. Knut Hamsun. Knut Hamsun (August 4, 1859 – February 19, 1952) was a leading Norwegian author and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1920. Contents. Biography. Knut Hamsun was born as Knud Pedersen in Lom, Gudbrandsdal, Norway. He was the fourth son of Peder Pedersen and Tora Olsdatter (Garmostr�det). He grew up in poverty in Hamar�y in Nordland. At 17, he became an apprentice to a ropemaker, and at about the same time he started to write. He spent several years in America, travelling and working at various jobs, and published his impressions under the title Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv (1889). In 1898, Hamsun married Bergljot Goepfert (n�e Bech), but the marriage ended in 1906. Hamsun then married Marie Andersen (b. 1881) in 1909 and she would be his companion until the end of his life. She wrote about their life together in her two memoirs. Marie was a young and promising actress when she met Hamsun, but she ended her career and travelled with him to Hamar�y. They bought a farm, the idea being "to earn their living as farmers, with his writing providing some additional income". However, after a few years, they decided to move south, to Larvik. In 1918, the couple bought N�rholm, an old and somewhat dilapidated manor house between Lillesand and Grimstad. The main residence was restored and redecorated. Here Hamsun could occupy himself writing undisturbed, although he often travelled to write in other cities and places (preferably in spartan housing). Knut Hamsun died in his home at N�rholm, aged 92 in 1952. Hamsun first received wide acclaim with his 1890 novel Hunger (Sult). 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. Other important works by Hamsun include Pan , Mysteries , and The Growth of the Soil. Hamsun received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1920. A fifteen-volume edition of his complete works was published in 1954. Political sympathies. Hamsun was a prominent advocate of Germany and German culture, as well as a rhetorical opponent of British imperialism and the Soviet Union, and he supported Germany both during First and the Second World War. Despite his immense popularity in Norway and around the world, Hamsun's reputation for a time waned considerably because of his support of Vidkun Quisling's National Socialist government. Following a meeting with Joseph Goebbels in 1943, he sent Goebbels his Nobel Prize medal as a gift. Hamsun also met with Adolf Hitler and tried to have him remove Josef Terboven from the position of Reichskommissar of Norway. After Hitler's death, Hamsun wrote an obituary in the leading Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten , describing him as a "warrior for mankind". It has been argued that his "sympathies" were those of a country that had been occupied. He sometimes used his status as a man of fame to improve the conditions of his area during the occupation and criticized the number of executions. Still, following the end of the war, angry crowds burned his books in public in major Norwegian cities. After the war Hamsun was confined for several months in a psychiatric hospital. A psychiatrist concluded he had "permanently impaired mental abilities", and on that basis the charges of treason were dropped. Instead, a civil liability case was raised against him and in 1948 he was fined 325,000 kroner for his alleged membership in Nasjonal Samling, but cleared of any direct Nazi- affiliation. Whether he was a member of Nasjonal Samling or not and whether his mental abilities were impaired is a much debated issue even today. Hamsun stated he was never a member of any political party. Hamsun himself wrote about this experience in the 1949 book, On Overgrown Paths , a book many take as evidence of his functioning mental capabilities. The Danish author Thorkild Hansen investigated the trial and wrote the book The Hamsun Trial (1978), which created a storm in Norway. Among other things Hansen stated: "If you want to meet idiots, go to Norway", since he felt that treating an old man like that was outrageous. In 1996 the Swedish director Jan Troell based the movie Hamsun on Hansen's book. In Hamsun , the Swedish actor Max von Sydow plays Knut Hamsun, while his wife Marie is played by the Danish actress Ghita N�rby. Bibliography. Year Title Translated title ISBN 1877 Den Gaadefulde. En kj�rlighedshistorie fra Nordland (Published under Knud Pedersen) � � 1878 Et Gjensyn (Published under Knud Pedersen Hamsund) � � 1878 Bj�rger (Published under Knud Pedersen Hamsund) � � 1889 Lars Oftedal. Udkast (11 articles, previously printed in Dagbladet ) � � 1889 Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv The Spiritual Life of Modern America � 1890 Sult Hunger ISBN 0-374-52528-5 1892 Mysterier Mysteries ISBN 0-14-118618-6 1893 Redakt�r Lynge � � 1893 Ny Jord Shallow Soil ISBN 1-4191-4690-4 1894 Pan Pan ISBN 0-14-118067-6 1895 Ved Rigets Port At the Gate of the Kingdom � 1896 Livets Spil The Game of Life � 1897 Siesta � � 1898 Aftenr�de.