Evening star., 1920-11-21
BY JULES MORITzEN.

nj has just been awarded the
| Nobel prize for literature does
the name Of this Norwegian
| writer of fiction by right belong in the
| galaxy of northern stars whose acknowl-
edged brilliancy, as with Ibsen and
Bjornstjerne Bjornson, illumines the
modern world of letters Long before
the recent honors bestowed on Hamsun
| drew public attention elsewhere to his
work. continental Europe bad found in
him a master craftsman in his particu-
lar field of writing.
The English language has been some
what slow to do justice to Knut Ham
suns work. which followed his early ex-
periences in America, when the young
son of Norway ran the gamut Of those
series of trials that have made of him
one Of the keenest literary analysts Of
the period. To be sure. his picture Of
American intellectually. as he pro-
fesses to have found it here during the
sos, may provoke smile because Of
its apparent naivete but, considering
sketches may we'll form the groundwork
for safe estimate of his ability to
! build solidly.
X X x X
Because Hunger" published in 1880.
is perhaps the earliest of Hamsun's
novels claiming attention, a reviewer Of
! his labors may naturally seek for some
Of the material of this book in the
western world. where the young Morse
man tasted want and dire distress to the
full It is known that he proved q
complete failure as conductor on a Chi
cago horse car, because his dreamy dis
position made him deaf to the clamor Of
the passengers while buried in the clas-
sizes. his constant companions on the
days run.
Hamsun by his couAtrymen who knew
him during those days of storm and
stress in Chicago. Before that Knut
Hamsun had labored behind the plow
on the prairies of North Dakota; it was
| there that he struck virgin soil, and
again and again the reader Of his books
gets the impression that farming, such
as tl9G pioneer in America only knows it.
must have furnished to Hamsun the in
spiration for much of his best work in
Growth of the Soil" PAN" reveal in
Knut Hamsun the nature-lover, the un-
Ampromising opponent of hollow, sham
conventions, such as city life frequently
exacts of those unable to bear up against
great odds.
hedCn1nR Tic h6AluS
banks after his experiences in the
United States Hamsun once more was
brought in touch with conditions not
dissimilar to his own Lofoten, the
chain of rock islands lying as out
posts along the northern coast OF Nor
way. Living the life Of the. New
foundlanders. whose very existence is
bound up with the sea. Hamsun finally
tired of the new world and worked
his way back across the Atlantic to
his native land.
Rounding his sixtieth birthday on
Augusta last, Knut Hamsun, who was
born in Lom, in the Gudbrands val
ley, at the age of four years moved
with his parents to the Lofoten
Islands, where nature and environ
ment are as far removed as possible
from the smiling landscape farther
south. 1t is Bjornson who has called
Lofoten a drama of stone in the sea-"
And here the boy grew up among sur
roundings certain to make lasting i'm
pressions on a temperament receptive
to a degree.
Along the west ford. which was
Hamsun's home, the spirit Of restless
ness exists. Nowhere else does the
herring travel in such immense
sthools: from the far-distant Antarc-
tic ocean the elder duck comes here
in swarms during the Matching sea-
son to depart again when summer
passes. To gain their living the men
of Lofoten must leave the solid earth
and seek their catches where the sea
gives most promise. The Norwegian
northland conduces to melancholy. to
self-analysis, cynicism,, II you will.
Coming from the sun-kissed Gud-
brands valley, Knut. the farmer boy.
becomes as one with the stern en-
yironment of Lofoten. That he has
known how to absorb, and to give ex-
preston in q literary style peculiarly
his own, is what entities Knut Ham
sun to distinction such as today
makes him a Nobel prize winner.
Many Of Hamsun's characters are self
revelations Of the most intimate kind.
In fact, few modern writer's have gone