The Fall of the Sun God

Full title: The Fall of the Sun God. Knut Hamsun - a Literary Biography

Few other Norwegian authors have been more loved than Knut Hamsun, yet he has also been one of the most controversial figures in Norwegian literary history. His name was a topic of dispute for as long as he lived, and the debate has continued long after his death. On the one hand, Hamsun was a great author and Nobel Prize winner; at the same time he was a Hitler-sympathizer and a traitor to his country. Hamsun has become a riddle, but also a trauma, a wound in the collective soul of the Norwegian population.

Jørgen Haugan closely follows both Hamsun the man and the phases of his work as an author. He sees Hamsun's history as inextricably connected to the history of Norway and the young nation's use of poets in the building of a national identity. His biography lets the interaction between life and work, and the interaction between the man, the spirit of the time and the cultural leaders, become the starting point for an exciting portrait of Hamsun.

First published: 2004, Aschehoug Non-Fiction

Jørgen Haugan: Biography and bibliography