Shallow Soil [Paperback]

Knut Hamsun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

He does not write for the masses, no," answered the Attorney. "He writes for the chosen few. But his friends know that he has many beautiful things unpublished. Good God, what a master! It is impossible to place one's finger on a single thing he has done and say that it is below par. He is sitting in the corner now. Do you wish to meet him? I can arrange it for you. I know him well; no preliminaries are necessary.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419146904
• ISBN-13: 978-1419146909
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,494,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an all time great..., May 25, 2004

By 

Irgens (Christiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shallow Soil (Paperback)

To many hamsun readers this one will seem to be quite a departure for Hamsun, as it is an urban tale centering around a bohemian clique, rather than the usual tale of the Norwegian peasantry. As I know only those that are already Hamsun fans will ever read this, let it suffice to say that this book is as good as any of his works (even Pan), so hurry up and get a copy...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars SMILINGLY bad translation WTF :), October 27, 2010

By 

B. Sabiston - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shallow Soil (Kindle Edition)

I haven't finished the book yet, but one thing is DRIVING ME INSANE. It is the fault of whatever moron translated this book.

Have you ever read a translated book, and some weird quirk of the translator stands out and practically ruins the experience? Well, it's happening to me with this book and it is so FUNNY I just wanted to warn people.

Whoever translated from Hamsun's original repeatedly and unceasingly uses the word "smilingly". As in, "he added smilingly", "She asks me smilingly", "answered Coldevin smilingly".

Now, I don't know if that even is a word, and the first time I read it I thought it was cute, but then it started occurring every few pages! I mean, the guy must just associate some common word in Norwegian with the very UNCOMMON "smilingly" in English! He doesn't stop to think that in English, running across the word smilingly on every friggin' page is WEIRD. It has gotten so that now I am just cringing as I read along, waiting for him to use it again.

Anyway, just a warning! "Beware!", he said smilingly.

Bob