Customer Reviews

In Wonderland

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Hamsun writes of his travels through Russia, or more accurately the Caucus region. Hamsun as always combines his sharp perceptual powers with honesty and humor. I was surprised how favorably Hamsun wrote of the mountain people, both Muslims and Christians. He seemed taken with the landscape and the way these people dealt with the harshness of life in this area, their fitness and fatalism. Along the way, Hamsun encounters conmen, police, armed villagers, beggars, oil drillers, peasants and nobles.

This is especially interesting reading given the importance this region now has geopolitically. Altogether, a fascinating bit of travel writing, worthwhile for Hamsun lovers and anyone looking for an easy adventure travel read.

This book is a very much condensed version of the original, as told to me by old-timers, which detailed Knut Hamsun's trip through Russia in 1900. The original book was about 4 times longer and was worthy of a Nobel prize winner. This book only has a few stupid anecdotes, and portrays Knut Hamsun as an idiot.

I have read a number of books by Knut Hamsun who is certainly an interesting writer. Recently I read several accounts of his travels in America where he freely expressed his opinions of the USA and various aspects of its' culture circa the 1880's. He has a keen sense of observation and a unique perspective of his fellow man. This is true in his book "In Wonderland" where he details an account of his travels in Russia just before the turn of the previous century. He details a lot of interesting observations from food to ethnic groups to travel accommodations. It comes across as a very interesting trip (with his "companion") and an interesting look at a world that has changed greatly since his visit. That look at a world that no longer exists is the real greatness of "In Wonderland".

Hansun was a gregarious individual with freely expressed opinions that will (or, at least, SHOULD) ruffle some feathers. His disdainful comments about Jews keep popping up. However, looking past that you'll find he is disdainful of others as well. The bedbugs kept me from wishing I was along for the ride but I was able to appreciate the scenery nonetheless thanks to Hamsun's candid literary skills.

All in all not my favorite Hamsun book, but this can be read with enjoyment like any of his novels due to his engaging style.

I'll admit that at some times in this book that Hamsun comes off as a bit of a pompous jerk, but one has to consider at the time that he was a young literary star with *four* great books under his belt. (Hunger, Mysteries, Pan, and Victoria) so I can forgive him a little bit of arrogance.

Another reviewer alluded to the anti-semitism in the novel. To me it was confined to the beginning and was a tad jarring to be sure considering his rep, however not intrusive enough to make me discount the overall value of this work. At other points he is equally dismissive of America and shows a general xenophobia that is fortunately laced with heavy doses of irony. Yep, good old irony.

All in all this is the book where you most see Hamsun laid bare, so if you are seriously interested in him and his work I would definitely say its worth a read.

This means you, "Gill Doyle". You are an idiot.

Hamsun's "In Wonderland" is not an anti-Semetic diatribe. The tired old charge of Hamsun's "collaborationism" during WWII has been discussed to death and has been proven to be a red herring. Drop it, please.

Nothing to add, review wise. It's a damned fine read, although something of an afterthought in the Hamsun canon. Be sure to read the more famous works, and come back to this as a completist, if thou art so inclined.

The publisher calls this a "loving portrait of the people and culture of Russia." Hamsun's anti-Semitism, though, leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It is more evident here than in any of his other writings.

I'll give a few examples. I translate directly from my own Norwegian edition of the book:

"Two Jewish ladies, apparently mother and daughter, complain to the waiter that their napkins are not clean. Other napkins are brought to them on a plate, but neither do these seem clean to them, and they must have new napkins for a third time. Then they wipe glass, knife, and fork before they use them. Their fingers are fat and dark, covered with jeweled rings. Then they eat. They are obviously very rich, and they sit and act so fine with their thick fingers. When they've eaten, they demand water bowls and wash their hands. It is as though they do this every day at home when they eat with their Abraham or Nathan. Then each takes her toothpick and cleans her teeth with it, while she covers the toothpick with her other hand as she has no doubt seen other fine folk in Batum do."

"I thank the officer. He's a fat, slightly older man with strangely foppish manners. He speaks many languages loudly and boldly, but incorrectly. His face is unpleasant, Jewish [ubehageligt, jødisk]."

"One hears singing from the Armenian Jews farther back in the car. It's a really fat old Jew [en rigtig fed gammel Jøde] and that fat eunuch who are singing a kind of call and response song. The unseemly behavior goes on forever, for two hours. Now and then they both laugh at what they've sung, then begin again with their monotonous song. The eunuch's voice is more a bird's than a person's voice."

"He was a swindler, a Jew who tried to blackmail me."

"A Jew can swindle ten Greeks."

Lyngstad's translation is fine. He doesn't hide anything. All of the passages that I've translated here appear in Lyngstad's translation. Perhaps he softens Hamsun's ugly racism here and there. Take Hamsun's description of the Jewish ladies at table. Hamsun wrote:

"De sidder og bærer sig saa fint ad med deres tykke Fingre."

Lyngstad translates this:

"They use their thick fingers so daintily."

My translation is closer to the original and suggests, as I think Hamsun meant to suggest, that these women are not at all fine. They are merely aping their betters.

It's interesting that Hamsun describes in this book his encounter with a Jewish peddler who attempts to sell him a cheap and useless watch that has one special feature that makes it valuable -- "there is a highly obscene picture in there. The picture seems to amuse him. He lays his head to one side and looks at it." I find the incident interesting because Hamsun resurrects the Jewish peddler of cheap watches ("klokkejøden" -- really a swindler) in Landstrykkere (Vagabonds), one of his better novels.

This book (In Wonderland) should be of interest primarily to Hamsun enthusiasts who may not know about the writer's anti-Semitism. In his preface, editor Lyngstad acknowledges "the prejudiced and reactionary attitudes displayed in certain passages of the book." He points to Hamsun's "racial and other slurs on Jews." One has to take Hamsun as he is. Those interested in Hamsun as a stylist would be better off reading the novels -- Pan, in particular. Those interested in the Caucasus can no doubt find better books on the subject. Those interested in Hamsun as flawed human being should read this book.