Tag: Knut Hamsun

1,573 words

John Fante’s Ask the Dust is one of my favorite stories, although it feels like a bit of a guilty pleasure. I rarely reread books, usually favoring something new instead, but have made an exception for what has been referred to as the Los Angeles novel. Though the tale takes place during the Great Depression, there’s something about it that exemplifies urban California living, and certain aspects of it feels like it could have been written merely a decade ago. Fante’s alter ego, Arturo Bandini, encounters several instances of racial strife throughout the story that serve as an eerie template for the future of Los Angeles, the United States, and Western civilization as a whole. (more…)

N. C. Wyeth, The Storybook

874 words

There is a natural tendency on the Right to view the act of reading as a purely utilitarian endeavor. In the hierarchy of human activities, reading is accorded greater status because reading was traditionally the hegemonic mode of transmitting scientific discoveries, lofty philosophical ideas, and arcane theological refinements. This purely mechanistic view of treating the written word as solely a vehicle for informational exchange overlooks its transcendental and transformative power. We read not only to learn, but to stoke our imagination. (more…)

1,624 words

If George Costanza of Seinfeld were a real person, he probably would have committed suicide sometime during the show’s fifth season. Much of the humor behind George is how, through an utter lack of self-awareness and shame, he constantly developed elaborate schemes to either hide or feed his sociopathic pettiness. These schemes always unraveled, of course, and the comeuppances always came good and hard, hence the funny.

In the real world, however, there is only so much assault upon one’s dignity a person can endure. Yet George endured, time and time again, in order to entertain millions. (more…)

455 words

Knut Hamsun was born Knut Pedersen in Lom, Norway on August 4, 1859. He died in Grimstad, Norway, on February 19, 1952. The author of more than twenty novels, plus poems, short stories, plays, and essays, Hamsun was one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. His rejection of both Romanticism and naturalism, his emphasis on outsiders and rebels, and his exploration of inner and sometimes extreme states of consciousness, made him a pioneer of literary modernism. (more…)

2,950 words

Spencer J. Quinn is one of Counter-Currents’ most prolific writers. I personally enjoy reading his articles on topics such as forgotten figures in history, music, and current political issues. In addition to writing articles, Spencer is the author of several books. His love of wisdom is evidenced by his avatar, Thucydides. (more…)

Mladý Hamsun v roce 1890

839 slov

English version here

Knut Hamsun zůstává záhadou. Byť byla jeho díla takřka kompletně přeložena do francouzštiny a dočkala se také celé řady filmových i televizních adaptací a přestože nejsou jeho knihy na rozdíl od tolika jiných „zastaralé ani přežité“ (Hubert Nyssen), francouzská veřejnost jej ignoruje. (more…)

437 words

Knut Hamsun was born Knut Pedersen in Lom, Norway on August 4, 1859. He died in Grimstad, Norway, on February 19, 1952. The author of more than twenty novels, plus poems, short stories, plays, and essays, Hamsun was one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. His rejection of both Romanticism and naturalism, his emphasis on outsiders and rebels, and his exploration of inner and sometimes extreme states of consciousness, made him a pioneer of literary modernism. (more…)

Knut Hamsun, circa 1890

1,910 words

Knut Hamsun’s 1917 classic Growth of the Soil seems to defy the fundamental conflicts found in most fiction. It is a mystifying novel. One can pigeonhole it as modern with its use of stream of consciousness, flashbacks, and other literary techniques. It’s also considered part of a literary movement called Norwegian New Realism, which was highly influential beyond Norway in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Most interesting for dissidents, the novel reflects the near mystical connection Man has with the soil, consecrated through hard work and family. (more…)

427 words

Knut Hamsun was born Knut Pedersen in Lom, Norway on August 4, 1859. He died in Grimstad, Norway, on February 19, 1952. The author of more than twenty novels, plus poems, short stories, plays, and essays, Hamsun was one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. His rejection of both Romanticism and naturalism, his emphasis on outsiders and rebels, and his exploration of inner and sometimes extreme states of consciousness, made him a pioneer of literary modernism. (more…)

1,058 words

Oh, what strange freaks one’s thoughts are guilty of when one is starving.

— Knut Hamsun, Hunger

Back in my misspent youth, I took a seminar on creative writing. One of the instructors gave the class a piece of advice which I never heeded. She said that if you want to be good enough at writing to make a living at it, don’t be good at anything else. (more…)

421 words

Knut Hamsun was born Knut Pedersen in Lom, Norway on August 4, 1859. He died in Grimstad, Norway, on February 19, 1952. The author of more than twenty novels, plus poems, short stories, plays, and essays, Hamsun was one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. His rejection of both Romanticism and naturalism, his emphasis on outsiders and rebels, and his exploration of inner and sometimes extreme states of consciousness, made him a pioneer of literary modernism. (more…)

Knut Hamsun in 1930

1,673 words

Translated by Haldora Flank

Translator’s Preface

This letter by the famous Norwegian author and man of the Right Knut Hamsun appeared in the magazine Ragnarok in March 1939. Ragnarok, which Hamsun himself read, was a Norwegian National Socialist monthly that was published between 1934 and 1945. The letter itself, however, had originally been written in 1916 as a reply to Eugéne Olaussen (1887-1962). At the time, Olaussen was the Editor-in-Chief of Klassekampen (Class Struggle), a Norwegian Leftist newspaper that was published from 1909 until 1940, and which at the time was being published by the Norwegian Social Democratic Youth League, the youth wing of the Norwegian Labor Party. Olaussen had requested a contribution from Hamsun, and this letter was his answer. (more…)