Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsunwas a Norwegian author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to the subject, perspective and environment. He published more than 20 novels, a collection of poetry, some short stories and plays, a travelogue, and some essays...
NationalityNorwegian
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth4 August 1859
CountryNorway
echoes secret able
The writer must be able to revel and roll in the abundance of words; he must know not only the direct but also the secret power of a word. There are overtones and undertones to a word, and lateral echoes, too.
life-and-death umbrella rhyme
I can't even make up a rhyme about an umbrella, let alone death and life and eternal peace.
rocks looks gray
There was a rock in front of my hut, a tall, gray rock. By its looks it seemed to be well-disposed toward me...
fate men evil
When good befalls a man he calls it Providence, when evil fate.
work-out sometimes sideways
But things worked out. Everything works out. Though sometimes they work out sideways.
two long bird
A few days back someone sent me two feathers. Two bird's feathers in a sheet of note-paper with a coronet, and fastened with a seal. Sent from a place a long way off; from one who need not have sent them back at all. That amused me too, those devilish green feathers.
names debt goes-on
Were I more conversant with literature and its great names, I could go on quoting them ad infinitum and acknowledge my debt for the merit you have been generous enough to find in my work
smell light use
A word can be transformed into a coulour, light, a smell; it is the writer's task to use it in such a way that it serves, never fails, can never be ignored.
fate men becoming
No worse fate can befall a young man or woman than becoming prematurely entrenched in prudence and negation.
great
For I mean to roam and think and make great irons red-hot.
followed indulge wisdom
However, I must not indulge in homespun wisdom here before so distinguished an assembly, especially as I am to be followed by a representative of science.
blessed days life perhaps swept time
It is as well perhaps that this is not the first time I have been swept off my feet. In the days of my blessed youth there were such occasions; in what young person's life do they not occur?