Editing Knut Hamsun (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Knut Hamsun.jpeg|thumb|upright|left|Hamsun in 1890, the year he published his first major work, ''[[Hunger (Hamsun novel)|Hunger]]'']]

===Early life===
Knut Hamsun was born as Knud Pedersen in [[Lom, Norway]], in the [[Gudbrandsdal]] valley.<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1920/hamsun-bio.html Hamsun bio] at Nobel Prize website.</ref> He was the fourth son among the seven children of Tora Olsdatter and Peder Pedersen.  When he was three, the family moved to Hamsund in [[Hamarøy Municipality]] in [[Nordland]] county.<ref>{{Cite web |title=salten museum - Knut Hamsun's Childhood Home |url=http://www.saltenmuseum.no/content/view/68/1/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610012355/http://www.saltenmuseum.no/content/view/68/1/ |archive-date=10 June 2011 |access-date=27 June 2011 |publisher=Saltenmuseum.no}}</ref> They were poor and an uncle had invited them to farm his land for him.

At nine Knut was separated from his family and lived with his uncle Hans Olsen, who needed help with the post office he ran. Olsen used to beat and starve his nephew, and Hamsun later stated that his chronic nervous difficulties were due to the way his uncle treated him.

In 1874 he finally escaped back to Lom. For the next five years he did any job for money; he was a store clerk, peddler, shoemaker's apprentice, sheriff's assistant, and an elementary-school teacher.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Contemporary Authors Online |publisher=Gale |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7876-3995-2 |location=Farmington Hills, Michigan}}</ref>

At 17 he became a ropemaker's apprentice; at about the same time he started to write. He asked businessman [[Erasmus Zahl]] to give him significant monetary support, and Zahl agreed. Hamsun later used Zahl as a model for the character ''Mack'' appearing in his novels ''[[Pan (novel)|Pan]]'' (1894), ''Dreamers'' (1904), ''Benoni'' (1908) and ''Rosa'' (1908).<ref>Citation: [...] dobbeltromanen Benoni og Rosa fra 1908. I skikkelse av oppkomlingen BenoniHartvigsen tegner Hamsun her for første gang et portrett av en allmuens mann i full skikkelse, med ironisk distanse, men også med betydelig sympati.</ref>

He spent several years in America, traveling and working at various jobs, and published in 1889 his impressions under the title ''Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv'' ("From the Spiritual Life of Modern America").

===Early literary career===
[[File:After Edvard Munch, Knut Hamsun, 1896, NGA 40158.jpg|alt=Photogravure made after the portrait of Hamsun by Edvard Munch in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC..|thumb|upright|After Edvard Munch, ''Knut Hamsun'', 1896, photogravure, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald Collection, 1951.10.360]]
Working all those odd jobs paid off,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Knut Hamsun {{!}} Biography, Books and Facts |url=https://www.famousauthors.org/knut-hamsun |access-date=8 April 2018 |website=www.famousauthors.org}}</ref> and he published his first book: ''Den Gaadefulde: En Kjærlighedshistorie fra Nordland'' (''The Enigmatic Man: A Love Story from Northern Norway'', 1877). It was inspired from the experiences and struggles he endured from his jobs.

In his second novel ''Bjørger'' (1878), he attempted to imitate [[Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson]]'s writing style of the Icelandic saga narrative. The melodramatic story follows a poet, Bjørger, and his love for Laura. This book was published under the pseudonym Knud Pedersen Hamsund. This book later served as the basis for ''Victoria: En Kærligheds Historie'' (1898; translated as ''Victoria: A Love Story'', 1923).<ref name="Næss 2007 loc=1-608">{{Harvnb|Næss|2007|loc=1-608}}.</ref>

As of 1898 Hamsun was among the contributors of ''[[Ringeren]]'', a political and cultural magazine established by [[Sigurd Ibsen]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Terje I. Leiren |date=Fall 1999 |title=Catalysts to Disunion: Sigurd Ibsen and "Ringeren", 1898-1899 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40920149 |journal=Scandinavian Studies |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=297–299 |jstor=40920149}}</ref>

===Major works===
Hamsun first received wide acclaim with his 1890 novel [[Hunger (Hamsun novel)|''Hunger'' (''Sult'')]]. The semiautobiographical work described a young writer's descent into near madness as a result of hunger and poverty in the Norwegian capital of [[Kristiania]] (modern name [[Oslo]]). To many, the novel presages the writings of [[Franz Kafka]] and other twentieth-century novelists with its [[internal monologue]] and bizarre logic.

A theme to which Hamsun often returned is that of the perpetual wanderer, an itinerant stranger (often the narrator) who shows up and insinuates himself into the life of small rural communities. This wanderer theme is central to the novels ''[[Mysteries (novel)|Mysteries]]'', ''[[Pan (novel)|Pan]]'', ''[[Under the Autumn Star]]'', ''[[The Last Joy]]'', ''Vagabonds'', ''Rosa'', and others.

Hamsun's prose often contains rapturous depictions of the natural world, with intimate reflections on the Norwegian woodlands and coastline. For this reason, he has been linked with the spiritual movement known as [[pantheism]] ("No one knows God," he once wrote, "man knows
only gods.").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamsun |first=Knut |title=Look Back on Happiness |date=1940 |publisher=Coward-McCann |isbn=978-0-598-68722-7 |page=65 |language=en |translator-last=Wiking |translator-first=Paula}}</ref> Hamsun saw mankind and nature united in a strong, sometimes mystical bond. This connection between the characters and their natural environment is exemplified in the novels ''Pan'', ''A Wanderer Plays on Muted Strings'', and the epic ''[[Growth of the Soil]]'', "his monumental work" credited with securing him the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1920.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1920 |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1920/index.html |access-date=27 June 2011 |publisher=Nobelprize.org}}</ref>

===World War II, arrest and trial===
During [[World War II]], Hamsun supported the German war effort. He courted and met with high-ranking Nazi officers, including [[Adolf Hitler]]. Nazi Minister of Propaganda [[Joseph Goebbels]] wrote a long and enthusiastic diary entry concerning a private meeting with Hamsun; according to Goebbels, Hamsun's "faith in German victory is unshakable".<ref>''The Goebbels Diaries, 1942–1943,'' translated, edited, and introduced by Louis P. Lochner, 1948, pp. 303–304. Goebbels also claimed that "from childhood on he [Hamsun] has keenly disliked the English".</ref> In 1940 Hamsun wrote that "the Germans are fighting for us".<ref name="Norway: Put Out Three Flags">{{Cite magazine |date=17 August 1959 |title=Norway: Put Out Three Flags |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,937860,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408135249/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,937860,00.html |archive-date=8 April 2008 |access-date=27 June 2011 |magazine=TIME}}</ref> After Hitler's death, he published [[Knut Hamsun's obituary of Adolf Hitler|a short obituary]] in which he described him as "a warrior for mankind" and "a preacher of the gospel of justice for all nations".

After the war, he was detained by police on 14 June 1945, for treason, then committed to a hospital in [[Grimstad]] (''[[Grimstad sykehus]]'') "due to his advanced age", according to [[Einar Kringlen]] (a professor and medical doctor).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Den 14. juni 1945 ble Hamsun "pågrepet" av politiet, men på grunn av høy alder innlagt på Grimstad sykehus og siden overflyttet til et gamlehjem. Spørsmålet for påtalemyndighetene var imidlertid hva man skulle gjøre med Hamsun. At Hamsun hadde vært en landsforræder var ingen i tvil om. |url=http://www.dagbladet.no/kronikker/960511-kro-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311125214/http://www.dagbladet.no/kronikker/960511-kro-1.html |archive-date=11 March 2012}}</ref> In 1947 he was tried in Grimstad and fined.<ref>[http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/2160875.html (translation of title: Hamsun was not psychiatrically ill – Psychiatrist Terje Øiesvold at Salten psychiatric center opines that Knut Hamsun did not have ''svekkede sjelsevner'' ("diminished" + "soul" + "abilities") "''– Hamsun ikke psykisk syk – Psykiater Terje Øiesvold ved Salten psykiatriske senter mener Knut Hamsun ikke hadde svekkede sjelsevner. Hamsun burde vært stilt for retten for sin nazi-sympati under krigen.''"]; quote: "''I 1947 mottok Knut Hamsun endelig sin dom. I en rettsak i Grimstad ble han idømt en bot som var så stor at han i realiteten var ruinert for alltid. ''"</ref> Norway's supreme court reduced the fine from 575,000 to 325,000 [[Norwegian krone]]r.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) |url=http://www.daria.no/skole/?tekst=9427 |website=Daria.no}}</ref>

After the war, Hamsun's views on the Germans during the war were a cause of serious grief for the Norwegians, and they tried to separate their world-famous writer from his Nazi beliefs. At the trial Hamsun had pleaded ignorance. Deeper explanations involve his contradictory personality, his distaste for ''[[hoi polloi]]'', his inferiority complex, a profound distress at the spread of indiscipline, antipathy toward the interwar democracy, and especially his [[Anglophobia]].<ref>Knaplund, Paul. "Knut Hamsun: Triumph and Tragedy". ''[[Modern Age (periodical)|Modern Age]]'' Vol. 9, Issue 2. Chicago: Foundation for Foreign Affairs, 1965. 165–174.</ref>

===Death===
Knut Hamsun died on 19 February 1952, aged 92, in Grimstad. His ashes are buried in the garden of his home at [[Nørholm]] in [[Grimstad Municipality]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Knut Hamsuns Grab auf Nørholm |trans-title=Knut Hamsun's grave on Nørholm |url=http://hamsun.at/hamsun/spor_gri03_d.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223901/http://hamsun.at/hamsun/spor_gri03_d.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=3 February 2011 |website=hamsun.at |language=Norwegian}}</ref>