Evening star., 1920-11-21
WINNER: OF NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
WAS CONDUCTOR OF CHICAGO STREET CAR

OF the English speaking world by the
translation of his works To preserve
the idiom is ever the great difficulty en-
countered. and with a writer hike Ham
sun it is especially essential that tho0xht
and expression he preserved intact in
the translated form. To make this au-
thor fully understandable to English
and American readers no pain must BE-
spared 10 give rendering equivalent to
the original.
In an intimate study of Knut Ham
sun by Carl Morburger. written some
ten years ago the key to the for
mer's success as portrayer OF life
and literature is furnished by one
who had the opportunity to study
his subject most intimately. While
the following decade has only added
TO the maturity of Hamsun's work
s,iil Morburger's estimate is of the
greatest value as indicating the
road Travelled by the Nobel prize win
: ner The iconoclastie behavior of
Hamsun in his treatment of per
sonaiities whom Name had marked
As its own, is illustrated by Nagers
81 .sas.nins to right and left as the hero
wrath His
Just because they rose to supreme
nHights the world shall know that
az af is vanity. says this idol breaker
VI course. all this fuming did NOT
I prevent Knut Hamsun from paying
oue trioute to Bjornstjerne Biornson
on the latter's SEVENTEEN birthday,
nno nna one OF Hamsun's most beautiful
totype of the Scandinavian north
whose love of liberty coincided en-
irefy with what Hamsun himself
SHOWS to be at the bottom of ali his
, iiterary efforts II goes without say
ing that no Norwegian writer fails 10
master.
In triology of dramas. The PLAY
of Life "At the Gate of the King.
DOM and In the CLEANING" Ham
sun gives youth full. possession of the
sage, crowding back those whose
years demonstrate that they mus
nave played their part. The wanderer
"a .,dn o. last come to his rest. leaving
adventure to others of more nimblr
iimb- The survival of the fittest seems
70 De the motto of the dramatist, since
ms conception is that the young alone
furnish life's incentive. However.
knut Hamsun himself does not live
up to this theory. for. with his ad-
vancing years, his literary harvest
grows richer, and with three score
TO his credit there is promise of con
tinu!d productivity of no less sur
day and yesterday
Pan has been considered a sublime
symphony blending nature and ro-
nance. and it may be said without
rear OF contradiction that with its
! publication Knut Hamsun arrived"
/ in the fullest sense of the word. Here
tne author sings his paean to the
| glories of spring. Edvarda is the
personification of budding summer.
Clam is the lover who knows how
dear to him. The play of words. the
deep sentiment revealed in Pan" is
! as different from what Knut Hamsun
created in some of those other sterner
books as the Gudbrands valley of his
birth differs from the Lofoten Islands
AS in the case with many other
Scandinavian writer's. authors and
Journalists are popular characters
| with Knut Hamsun. Editor Lynge"
! is a Characterization which gives us
peculiar local color. Here Hamsun's
! psychological predictions find ex-
preston. All the elements entering
into the making of a composite soul
are employed by the artist, who lays
on his pigments with the stroke of
a master. His blending of the colors.
the lights and shadows so necessary
to the canvas under critical inspec-
tion. give Editor Lynge" its proper
place in the Hamsun gallery Of books
Pan" which followed almost imme-
diately afterward.
X
The list of works to the credit 81
Knut Hamsun is long and shows al
most uninterrupted labor. In Amer
ica his publishers some years ago
brought out an English version Of
Shallow Soil" translated by Carl
Christian Hyllested. Hunger" was
published in English by Alfred
Knopf. The Gyldendalske publishing
house, Copenhagen, issued "The
Growth of the Soir' in English. This
firm is the publisher of Knut Ham,
suns works in the original. The COL
lected writings of Hamsun make a
formidable showing. The Swedish
publishing house of Albert BONNER.
which has a branch in New York.
In reviewing a career like Knut
Hamsun's there is always the danger
of both overestimating and under
rating the influence of such a writer
en his contemporaries. Time is the
decisive factor in whatever effort
may be made to classify the Nobel
prize winner Of 1920. 1t is no less
an authority than Georg Brandes, who
ranks Hamsun with Ibsen and with
Strindberg. Not all Of Hamsun's
works will make their appeal to
American readers. for this is the land
of optimism. and Norwegian litera-
ture as whole is quite the reverse
of this. But enough remains to make