Customer Reviews

Victoria (Sun & Moon Classics)

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While one of Hamsun's other novels such as "Mysteries" or "Hunger" might be artistically superior to "Victoria", this novel is a favorite of Hamsun readers because of its lyricism and beauty. I cannot help but think of the passionate but doomed loves of my own life when reading this book, and so perhaps will you. This novel was a favorite of Henry Miller, who has a reputation as a sex-hound but was actually, like Hamsun, an old-fashioned romantic. "Victoria" does not succeed as a complete depiction of love, because the book describes a love that never came to fruition. Readers searching for an epic representation of mature, complex love might find "Victoria" to be too flowery and adolescent in its approach to romance...those looking for the final word on love will be disappointed. Instead, Hamsun's success lies in his capturing for all time the nature of passion and longing, the rawness of emotion and soaring of the heart that many of us, sadly, have forgotten. Anyone who has become numbed over the years by life's events may find that their long-slumbering heart awakens again upon reading this novel. Hailed as a classic in its day, "Victoria" may be even more valuable now in this era of cynicism and hearts that have forgotten the majesty of love.

There is not a more poetic or lyrical work in existence. I have read it nine times in three years, and love every letter in it as if I were reading for the first. Not as perplexing or challenging as its predecessors, but exceptional in its own right. A perfect and pleasing introduction into Hamsun's unique and monumental world. For those already enamoured with Hamsun, don't miss this one. The subtle changes to his style in the final chapter have massive implications for his later works.

This was the first of the Knut Hamsun novels that I read, and my favorite. It's a love story like no other, there's a mixture of emotions throughout the novel, which makes it a scarcely unwritten type of love story. The use of words in this novel is excellent. You feel like you really learn when you're done reading this book, which will not take long because it's hard to put down.

Arthur Koestler called this book "One of the greatest love stories of world literature". This is the beautiful, powerful and simple story of young love, between Johannes, the miller`s son, and Victoria, daughter of the lord of the manor. First published in 1898, this is one of the finest works among Knut Hamsun`s more than thirty books, and the story has its roots from his own dreams and experiences as a boy and young man. No others, before or after him, have been able to put words to paper like he did, though many have tried. Hamsun`s novels from the 1890s have more than anything had an influence on the modern fiction of the 20th Century. "What, then, is love?" Read Victoria and find out!

this is one of the most beautiful love stories ever written. we all fall in love at a young age, but not too many of us continue to remain faithfully in love with one person throughout our lives.

Hamsun's writing is simple, but yet the words are powerful, but however, sad.

Knut Hamsun at his finest.A brillant observer of people, with a keen eye for human emotions. This is about love,intense love.And excepting the options,with a wavering reluctance.The genius of Hamsun is that he implies so much in the most simple and humblest of styles.Excellent read.Class distiction? Love? What is one to do.Enjoy. Good Health!
Happy New Year
BDf


Excerpts

"...It was a heart's naive,fervent confession,eruptions that couldn't be held back but leaped up from the lines like stars coming out of the sky..."


"...Work will force me to be calm,and in a few hours I may be cheerful again..."

I will agree with what has been said so far. This is a beautifully written novel by an extraordinary writer. I don't know if a movie was made from this novel, but I certainly hope there won't be. I don't know how the thoughts Hamsun puts down on paper can be conveyed through film. It would take a director greater than any living today.

I would have a hard time saying whether this or Hunger represents Hamsun's greatest work of fiction. No matter, get them both. And thanks to Oliver Stallybrass for a magnificent translation.

For years I carried this book around with me. It never went into storage with the other things, but graced many a bedside table in a temporary shelter. Hamsun knows about men and women, love and suffering. In Victoria he explores a story in essence more about unrealized than unrequited love. Class distinctions keep lovers apart, and one loves more than the other for many years, but ultimately the lovers are guilty themselves- of missed moments/opportunities squandered and gone forever. Hamsun decries the ways of love to be strewn with "blossoms and blood", and in this book the reader wants to reach out and shake the lovers into seizing their moment before his prophecy becomes true for them too.

Would the the doomed lovers depicted in Victoria be as heart wrenching in a 21st century United States setting as they were in Norway in the 1800's? Would honor,social standing, duty and stubborness still doom Johannes to a life of yearning for the unattainable Victoria? Through the years,as he sublimated his unrequited passion into poetry, Johannes the lowly miller's son became a modest literary celebrity. Meanwhile Victoria's self worth plummeted, the result of promising to marry a wealthy suitor able to provide desperately needed funds necessary to save her father's deteriorating castle and land. Thus, loyalty and duty toward her father drove her to repress her strong attraction to Johannes. The tragedies which resulted perhaps triggered her subsequent illness. In an outpouring of love in the letter to Johannes which she insisted be withheld until her death, she declared the love which she had denied him in life. Was the ending poetic justice for two persons whose adherence to rules outweighed their willingness to "risk it all for love"? In this novel, originally published in 1898, Knut Hamsun has demonstrated that the conflicts and consequences of love and life are universal. I enjoyed every page of this timeless masterpiece.

I first read Victoria five years ago. I wept like men simply aren't meant to weep. Without using ant kind of language that extends beyond three syllables Hamsun has given us possibly the most authentic, and tragic, love story of them all. I should really buy another copy, because the one I have is more akin to papier mache. Spellbinding, heart-aching and utterly wonderful.