About this title: In this epic, semi-autobiographical novel of poverty and despair, Hamsun's narrator is a poor writer who depends upon the sale of articles and stories to the press for his living. He is usually destitute and often hungry, and during the long intervals when he is underfed, his mood swings wildly between euphoria and bleak, self-destructive ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780374525286ISBN:0374525285
Description: Good. Minor shelf wear with previous owners name on outer page edges. Minor markings. Corner wear and curl. GoodwillnyBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. You may return new items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. read more
Description: Near fine stiff wraps with strong spine and clean text throughout. Some age tone. Excellent reading copy. Photograph of author on inside cover. NOT a remainder copy: former owner's personalized fleck mark to top edge which bothers none of the text. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374531102ISBN:0374531102
Description: Good. 0374531102 Earlier smaller paperback same content exactly-Same translation by Robert Bly-Aside from newer introduction by Auster, original text has never changed, Standard Used Condition, some cover wear, different cover, No writing or Highlighting, some minor spine creases, minor age tan-well bound and solid, sold for content. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Farrar
Date Published: 2000
Description: Translated by Robert Bly. Introduction by Paul Auster. Near fine stiff wraps with strong spine and clean text throughout. A lovely reading copy. read more
Edition: Eighteenth Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, VA
Date Published: 1986
ISBN-13:9780374505202ISBN:0374505209
Description: Very Good+ 0374505209. 232 pages; Very Good Plus condition. No creases. Covers are age tanning. Just a bit of shelf rub at the edges. Solid, clean. A later printing of the translation by Robert Bly, with introductions by Isaac B. Singer and the translator. "Hunger was considered in its day, and must still be consdiered, in this new translation from the Norwegian by the American poet Robert Bly, a great Book. " D. R. Slavitt. read more
Edition: Second Avon Printing
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Avon, New York
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780380420285ISBN:0380420287
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Fiction. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. An intense, impassioned novel of a young writer's struggle for life. Translated from the Norwegian by Robert Bly. This book is in great shape and does not appear to have been opened. There are two thin black lines along the bottoms of the pages. The spine is not creased. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Audience: General/trade. Small amount of highlighting. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780486431680ISBN:0486431681
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Description: Good. 1406838241 Paperback with moderate shelf-wear, creases, rubbing, fraying, tears, fading, chipping and bumping to the cover, edges, corners, and spine. Binding is tight and square. Inside pages are free from underlining, note taking, and/or highlighting. Book is in stock and ready to ship same or next business day. Select Expedited shipping and receive your book within 3-5 business days. Buy with confidence! Please leave feedback after your purchase. It helps other buyers know we are a ... read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Slight wear and scuffing to covers. Binding is tight. Internally clean and unmarked. 256 p. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin USA, E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.A., 1998.
ISBN-13:9780141180649ISBN:0141180641
Description: Octavo, softcover, occasional pencil underlinging else VG in black and grey pictorial wraps. 240 pp, Set in Norway and Iceland at the beginning of the eleventh century, this is the story of the beautiful, spoiled Vigdis Gunnarsdatter, who is casually raped by the man she had wanted to love. A woman of courage and intelligence, Vigdis is toughened by adversity. Alone she raises the child conceived in violence, repeatedly defending her autonomy in a world governed by men. Alone she rebuilds her ... read more
"Very short little book, but really shows what a life is like when
you are starving. It gives you more compassion for the starving
people in the world."
"This is the story of a young author who struggles to find enough to eat and keep a roof over his head and he becomes more destitute, ending up homeless and starving. As he becomes more hungry, his ability to write coherent thoughts becomes more and more difficult. He becomes not only hungry but ill and unable to eat when he finally does get some money. He tries to hold onto his dignity, even when he is reduced to attempting to sell the buttons from his only coat. It's a classic, I'm not sure why but I read it because I needed to read a transgressive classic. I still don't know what that genre is. This book is depressing and sad.
"This is an existentialist sort of novel about a starving writer who struggles to maintain his dignity and sanity in the face of extreme poverty. The reader follows the novel's anonymous narrator, whose fragile state of mind is easily agitated and prone to bouts of blaspheming, as he makes his way about town, encountering various folks and grasping at anything that might inspire his writing. There is very little plot and character development, typical of the modernist novel, I suppose.
As much as I would love to join the ranks of the quirky "emo" crowd that worships this book, I have to admit that I found it to be a little boring. Actually, "little" is an understatement; the last time I remember being this bored by a novel was when I was forced to read Farewell to Manzanar in the eighth grade. Normally I'm a fan of existentialist literature, but this novel seemed to be lacking whatever it is that made books like The Stranger, The Plague and The Immoralist compelling to me.
In addition, I found the author's writing style to be a bit uninspiring. Sentences like "My heart fluttered like a bird in my breast..." (41), "...my heart beat like a sledgehammer," (78) and "Everyone of her words intoxicated me, fell on my heart like drops of wine" (124) didn't seem all that amazing to me. Perhaps the author intentionally employed maudlin and tired-out language to achieve some end, but if he did, I certainly didn't get the irony.
The latter half of the book was a bit more engaging. I started to think that perhaps this is the kind of novel that is best served when read in a literature class with a suave professor, clad in an elbow-padded coat, leading the way. The secret parts of the novel, if they do exist, remained mostly inaccessible to me."
"I liked this book more than I would normally have because I used to live in Oslo, and even though it's a very different place today, the streets and squares of the city centre are the same and a lot of the descriptions took me back:
"Winter had come, a raw and wet winter with hardly any snow, a dark and foggy everlasting night..."
It was recommended to me by a Norwegian as a classic, and I can see why. The style and theme reminded me a lot of Crime and Punishment, but the one-word nicknames he gives to everyone makes it a lot easier to remember who's who... So if you like 19th century descriptions of a man's descent into madness then this is for you!"
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