Knut Hamsun's America

Abstract

by ARLOW W. ANDERSEN 7 Knut Hamsun 's America IN came the to 1880's America. a young European Norwegian writers of had great been promise sendcame to America. European writers had been sending their heroes and heroines abroad to realize their ambitions for a more expansive life, as Henrik Ibsen did with Lona Hessel in Pillars of Society . In the words of Hanna Astrup Larsen, whose analysis of Knut Hamsun's literary works appeared some forty years ago, Hamsun came not merely as an immigrant seeking his fortune. He sought opportunities for leading an independent existence and using his gifts. Having bruised himself on Old World littleness, he looked to the New World for bigger visions and for a saner estimate of a man's worth. Although he was destined to be disappointed, some of the things he sought were there.1 In 1920 Knut Hamsun was to receive the Nobel prize for literature. He produced many novels but left no memoirs. Fortunately, his son Tore has provided a remarkably complete account, in Norwegian, of his father. If a man's achievements are in large measure the outcome of his childhood ambitions and experiences, Knut Hamsun may well serve as an example. Originally called Knut Pedersen Hamsund, he was born August 4, 1859, into a tailor's family in Garmostrœet, district of 1 Hanna Astrup Larsen, Knut Hamsun , 20 (New York, 1922) . 176 Arlow W . Andersen Vaagaa, Gudbrandsdal. When he was about three the family moved northward to a gaard (farming estate) called Hamsund , in Hamar0y in Nordland, not far from the Lofoten Islands . The islands and the fisheries did not interest him, but he loved the woods and the mountains. At the age of nine he was sent away for five years, like a medieval apprentice, to the home of his maternal uncle, Hans Olsen. There he worked in a store and did odd jobs. It was a hard and trying period for the boy, living under the strict discipline of an eccentric relative.2 Young Hamsun remembered well a nation-wide revival that eventually reached Nordland. Leading the drive for souls was Pastor Lars Oftedal of Stavanger, depicted by some as a bearded champion from Yestlandet (the West Country) . Hans Olsen was gripped, and Knut became the object of his concern. In an issue of Dagbladet (Christiania) , of 1889, the year before Hans Olsen died, Hamsun expressed his disdain for Oftedal, for his uncle, and for the spirit that they personified . He felt that his childhood had been blighted by their influence. Knut finally fled to his native community in Gudbrandsdal , where he worked in a store for a year and was confirmed in the Lutheran faith. He never was reconciled with his uncle. He learned to grit his teeth, says his son, a lesson that was to be useful in the coming years.3 Now about fifteen years of age, Hamsun made his way back to the family home in Hamar0y, where for the next five years, 1874-79, he had various jobs and assisted the local lensmand (sheriff) . He also had the opportunity to do a bit of teaching. In the sheriff's home he encountered the works of Bj0rnstjerne Bj0rnson, Kristofer Janson, and others, and did not squander 2 Tore Hamsun, Knut Hamsun , 7-24 (Oslo, 1959) . See also Theodore Jorgenson , History of Norwegian Literature , 390 (New York, 1933); Larsen, Knut Hamsun , 12-15. The name of Christiania was changed to Oslo on January 1, 1925. 3 Tore Hamsun, Knut Hamsun , 24-40. Lars Oftedal founded Stavanger Aftenblad , a low-church journal, in 1893. In 1891 he had lost his position as a statechurch pastor; Per Thomsen, "Lars Oftedal," in Bernt Hjejle and Hâkon Stangerup , eds., Store norske journalister , 40-47 (Copenhagen, 1957) ; Per Thomsen, present editor of Stavanger Aftenbladt to the author, February 20, 1964. 176 KNUT HAMSUN'S AMERICA this opportunity to read. Nor was young Hamsun content until three of his minor romantic stories were accepted by printers in Troms0 and Bod0.4 With financial assistance from a wealthy merchant in Hamaly , Knut next went southward to Hardanger. There he changed his name to Pedersen, which he thought more...