Growth of the Soil [Mass Market Paperback]

Knut Hamsun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1972

The story of an elemental existence in rural Norway.

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

When Hamsun won the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1920, it was mostly because of this 1917 novel, an epic vision of peasant life in Norway’s backcountry. The saga of Isak and Inger (born with a harelip) and their hard times is by turns affecting and ponderous; the somewhat overheated first-person narrators of Hamsun’s extraordinary early novels—"Hunger" and "Pan"—are replaced by a stately, almost distant third person. Yet Hamsun’s eye and ear were still sharp; even his trees have special qualities ("Everybody knows that aspens can have an unpleasant, bullying way of rustling"). In this overdue new version, Lyngstad, Hamsun’s heroic translator, splendidly captures the author’s voice as he guides his large cast into the stresses of the modern age.
Copyright © 2007 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker --This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

Review

"Growth of the Soil impresses me as among the very greatest novels I have ever read. It is wholly beautiful; it is saturated with wisdom and humor and tenderness."
-H. G. Wells

"The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun."
-Isaac Bashevis Singer --This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (May 12, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394717813
• ISBN-13: 978-0394717814
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 0.9 x 7.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic portrait with great human insight, June 20, 1999

By 

Frank-Tommy Olsen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growth of the Soil (Mass Market Paperback)

People have different opinions of which was the greatest of Knut Hamsun's novels, and very often one of the works from the 1890s will range highest. People also have a lot to say about Hamsun's terms with Nazi-Germany and which made the common Norwegian to see him as a betrayer. He was their greatest hero, up there with King Haakon and Fridtjof Nansen. All these circumstances are more complex to be drawn up here, so let's stay with the fact that Hamsun was one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time. "Growth of the Soil" is the book that secured him the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920, the book the common man of the day valued more than any other of his works, the book that the Germans had printed in "field-editions" to send with their soldiers to the fronts. But this is not an ideally portrait of the values in life - it is a very accurate description of how the life was in the outback for these early settlers, how extremely simple they were. It was not because they had achieved a great understanding of the meaning of life, readers in that belief are totally wrong. They had no choice, were not on terms with their inner-self at all, did not know comfort and beautiful music, could not afford to be fastidious. I can't think of any other book in world literature that comes anywhere near "Growth of the Soil" in portraying these simple, unsophisticated people breaking the land and struggle to live. I am sure this could be the life story of several of my ancestors in North-Norway, the diaries of their lives, but they (like Isak) could not read or write or tell their story. Instead Knut Hamsun has done it with such wisdom, humour and tenderness and most of all his great talent, that in many respects this is his best work

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Tale of the Human Experience, December 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Growth of the Soil (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked up this novel many years ago, unfamiliar with its history or the Nazi associations of the author, and began reading it during one of the bleakest periods of my life. I found great comfort in the humanity of the characters, their imperfections, their struggles with nature, with each other and with themselves. Knut Hamsun did not turn away from the dark side of human nature. He accepted it. This is not a literary review, just a heartfelt one for a book that was able to reach out across time and provide enlightenment and comfort.

83 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a 20th-century masterpiece, April 24, 2000

By 

Bruce Kendall "BEK" (Southern Pines, NC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Growth of the Soil (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is in my top-twenty list of 20th-century novels. I can't fathom how anyone with any literary sense could call the prose "stilted." Simple, yes, prosaic, perhaps; but spare and lean does not mean devoid of grace. Hemingway strove all his life to write this way. And let's not forget, Henry Miller held Hamsun and Celine (another politically incorrect master-novelist) in the highest possible regard and wrote that they both influenced him greatly. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough to anyone who loves literature. As far as the political context is concerned, let's remember that Zubin Mehta performed Wagner in Israel after a long ban and received an enthusiastic reception. I'm a little weary of those politically sensitive souls that want to remove Twain from school reading lists and find Shakespeare too chauvenistic, etc. etc. I certainly can find no evidence of Hamsun's political views expressed in any of his novels. Give this one a chance and decide for yourself. Don't be put off by the thought-police.