Knut Hamsun published only three collections of short stories in his lifetime, and abandoned the form entirely in 1906. Yet these stories form a fascinating commentary on the novels he was writing at the time (including 'Hunger') and contain echoes of his much later work. Containing humour, melancholy, tenderness and rough lawlessness, the variety of his stories is constantly refreshing and sparkling with psychological insights.
Knut Hamsun is recognised as one of the greatest literary figures of the twentieth century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 for his novel Growth of the Soil.