The Ring Is Closed [Paperback]

Knut Hamsun (Author), Robert Ferguson (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2010

Featuring an iconoclastic hero who refuses to accept the standards of his society, this novel is one of the Nobel Prize–winner’s greatest works. The only son of a miserly lighthouse-keeper and an alcoholic mother, Abel grows up in a remote Norwegian village then travels around the United States. Upon returning from America as a young man, Abel falls in love with his longtime acquaintance Olga, the pharmacist’s daughter. Haunted by the secrets of his travels, however, Abel determines to live on the barest of necessities and pursue a life without desire or ambition. Available in the United States for the first time since the 1930s, this controversial novel features themes that are strikingly contemporary.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The most outstanding Norwegian writer since Ibsen."  —Times Literary Supplement

"Hamsun has the qualities that belong to the very great, the completest omniscience about human nature."  —Rebecca West, author, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

About the Author

Knut Hamsun was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 for Growth of the Soil. He has been recognized as one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century and as the inspiration for much of modernist fiction, especially the work of Ernest Hemingway.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Souvenir Press (July 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0285638688
• ISBN-13: 978-0285638686
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.