Tag: Knut Hamsun

You can buy the Imperium Press edition of Knut Hamsun’s novel Growth of the Soil here.

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If there is a novelist whose work needs a revival, it’s Norwegian author Knut Hamsun. And if there is any novel of his which deserves being revived, it’s Hamsun’s 1917 classic Growth of the Soil.

Since the Second World War, culture leaders in the West have deliberately neglected works of literature deemed politically inconvenient while promoting those that accord more or less with their globalist, Left-wing agenda. This is why stateless iconoclasts such as Franz Kafka are so celebrated these days while reactionary nationalists such as Hamsun are largely forgotten. (more…)

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The following is being published in honor of Knut Hamsun’s 164th birthday on August 4.

It’s one thing to attempt to write a great novel. It’s something else entirely to write a novel to prove a point. The latter is what the young Knut Hamsun attempted to do in 1892 with his second novel, Mysteries. It was a good point, but that doesn’t necessarily make Mysteries a good novel. But it is still a good novel. Perhaps not a great one. (more…)

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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

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)

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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

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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…)

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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

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)