Selected Letters 1879-1898

As a young man, Norwegian Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) winner of the 1920 Nobel Prize for literature, sojourned in America, where he worked and traveled widely -. In this first volume he feelingly describes his disdain for this `Philistine land,’ its people and its customs – Once back home, his letters – discuss his desire to create a new literature, one that would break away from conventions and explore psychological motivations and experiences, `the mimosa of thought, the fine fragments of feeling’.”” – Publishers Weekly. From his experimental novels of the 1890s to the broader narrative sweep of his later works, Hamsun’s contribution to the development of the modern European novel is uniquely important. “”Well translated – informatively introduced.”” – TLS.