by Knut Hamsun
26 wrote mechanically the date 1848: It is impossible to know why the hero of Hunger is obsessed by the year 1848. It could be related to the political revolutions that broke out in several European countries, including France, Germany, and Austria, during that year.
37 The editor is sitting: This figure may have been modeled on 199 Lars Holst (1848-1915), editor-in-chief of Dagbladet (The Daily Paper), Norway’s principal liberal newspaper at the time. In November 1886, the paper had published a two-part description of Hamsun’s second voyage to America.
38 newsboy holds out a copy of Vikingen: Vikingen (1862-1932) was a comic paper.
38 the water and the Fortress: The beginnings of Akershus Castle and Fortress, situated on a promontory by the Oslo Fjord, go back to mediaeval times. It is an important Oslo landmark.
39 At the Storting: For the Storting, see note to p. 13.
46 “My name is Wedel-Jarlsberg”: The pretensions of the hero are vastly magnified if one knows that the Wedel-Jarlsberg family possessed one of the most aristocratic pedigrees of the nation, with titles of Count and Baron.
47 corner of the Arcades: This old brick building near the Oslo Cathedral is still extant, with vaulted market stalls and boutiques.
62 been moved out to Aker township: Since 1948, Aker has been a part of Oslo. Formerly it was a separate township.
64 really struck home with Morgenbladet: The reason why the hero thinks his pretended affiliation with Morgenbladet (The Morning Paper) is such a good joke has to do with the extreme conservatism of this venerable paper, both politically and cul turally. Its editor at the time, Christian Friele (1821-99)—mentioned by name in the first edition of Hunger—was both feared and hated for his sharp, sometimes malicious pen.
64 Sat at the Prime Minister’s: Stiftsgården, where the “I” fantasizes he had been delayed, was the name of the building where the Norwegian Prime Minister resided at the time. The building no longer exists.
100 and went up to the “Commander’s”: The “Commander” was modeled on Olav Thommessen (1851-1942), editor of the daily Verdens Gang (The Way of the World). He was a person of independent, liberal views and wielded a powerful influence through his paper. After Thommessen wrote a devastating review of Hamsun’s literary lectures in the capital in October 1891, the young author turned against his one-time benefactor and created a maliciously satiric portrait of him through the title character of Editor Lynge (1893).
103 into the Red Room: “Röda Rummet” (in Swedish) may be an allusion to August Strindberg’s famous satiric novel The Red Room (1879), which signified the breakthrough of naturalism in Sweden.
127 I ask for Kierulf, Joachim Kierulf: Again Hamsun uses a distinguished name for his imaginary character. One may mention Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1866), who was a well-known Norwegian composer, and his brother, Theodor Kjerulf (1825- 88), a university professor.
139 how far it might be to Holmestrand: Holmestrand is a town in Vestfold County, some thirty-five miles southwest of Oslo.
139 “Or to Veblungsnæs”: Veblungsnæs is a seaside village at the mouth of the river Rauma in Møre and Romsdal County, about 250 miles northwest of the capital.
155 “at Ingebret’s and Gravesen’s”: Cafés in downtown Oslo popular among intellectuals in Hamsun’s day. The name of the former, which still exists, is also spelled “Engebrets.”
173 called himself Waldemar Atterdag: Valdemar Atterdag, the Danish king (ca 1320-1375), was given his cognomen (Atterdag) because of his habitual saying, “des dages!”—a Low German expression meaning “What times!”
175 outside the Grand Hotel: A ritzy hotel in downtown Oslo, known for its rather exclusive café with a long history as a gathering place for artists and other intellectuals.
196 Then he was probably a Finn: Sweden’s political domination of Finland was initiated in the twelfth century. With varying degrees of control, it lasted until 1809, when Finland was ceded to Russia. However, the Swedish language maintained its importance alongside Finnish.
TEXTUAL NOTES
Hamsun revised the text of Hunger three times, in 1899, 1907, and 1916, Norwegianizing the Danish spelling, grammar, and vocabulary, and making a considerable number of substantive changes. Only the most extensive of these changes—all in all there were several hundred—are given below, for the most part deletions and additions that are deemed significant. Their general effect is to reduce repetition and bizarre expressions and thus temper the emotional stridency of the narrative, while strengthening the impression that the hero is able to view his predicament with a touch of irony. The first edition, published by P.G. Philipsen (Køben havn, 1890) and in facsimile by Gyldendal (Oslo, 1990), will in these notes be indicated by “P,” the collected edition (Knut Hamsun, Samlede verker, vol. 1 [Oslo: Gyldendal, 1992]) by “CW.” The page references to P are listed first.
PART ONE
1 36/21. Here follows in P, after semicolon: if I had found a name like Barabbas Rosebud, it wouldn’t have aroused his suspicion.
2 71/36. The P text continues: to brand your soul with your first little trick, stain your honor with the first black mark,
PART TWO
1 104/48. In P the paragraph continues: If only I hadn’t mixed Morgenbladet up in it! I knew that Friele [the editor—S.L.] was capable of grinding his teeth, and the sound of the key grating in the lock reminded me of it.
2 110/51. Deleted in CW: Now I really had to laugh! If I might ask:
3 113/52. Deleted in CW: I felt it was the daylight, felt it with every pore in my body.
4 141/64. Deleted in CW: half-formed inward yelps about a certain stigma, the first black mark on my honor,
5 145/65. The rest of the paragraph was added in CW.
6 152/68. Deleted in CW: I had turned myself into a dog for the most wretched bone and not gotten it.
PART THREE
1 174/77. The preceding two sentences were added in CW.
2 175/77. Deleted in CW: Saved her from ruin once and for all!
3 184/81. The rest of the paragraph was added in CW.
4 184/81. Deleted in CW: I spoke quite unconsciously, involuntarily, without myself being aware of it.
5 187/82. Deleted in CW, after comma: reveled swinishly in each mouthful.
6 196/86. Deleted in CW: The poetry of the unconscious . . .
7 203/89. Deleted in CW: Just once, quick, bewilderingly quick, smack on the lips.
8 221/96. Here I follow P in starting a new section.
9 228/99. Long passage omitted in CW: “I say to you, I would rather be a flunky in hell than a free man in your mansions; I say to you, I am filled with blissful contempt for your heavenly meanness and choose the abyss, into which the devil, Judas and the Pharaoh were hurled, for my eternal abode. I say to you, your heaven is full of earth’s most coarse-headed idiots and poor in spirit, I say to you that you have filled your heaven from down here with fat dead harlots, who abjectly fell on their knees before you in the hour of death. I tell you,”
10 228/99. Expletive deleted in CW: “you omniscent cipher,”
11 228/99. These two rhetorical questions were added in CW.
12 229/99. In P, the preceding sentence read: “I say to you, my whole frame, every cell in my body, every power of my soul thirsts to mock you, you merciful scum up on high.” From there on, a substantial passage is deleted in CW: “I say to you that I would, if I could, shout this loudly into your heaven and all over the earth; I would, if I could, breathe it into every unborn human soul that will some day arrive on earth, every flower, every leaf, every drop in the sea. I say to you, I will mock you on Judgment Day and curse you till the teeth fall out of my mouth for the infinite cowardice of your godhead. I tell you,”
13 229/99. In P, the sentence continues: “for ever and ever, I say goodbye with my heart and kidneys, I say to you my final irrevocable goodbye,”
14 230/99. The preceding sentence was added in CW.
15 237/102. The preceding sentence was added in CW.
16 237/103. Here I follow P in starting a new section.
17 242/104. Deleted in CW:“Try to catch me,” she said.
And amid much laughter I tried to catch her. While she was running about,
18 244/105. The rest of this sentence was added in CW.
19 246/106. The rest of this sentence was added in CW.
20 248/107. This sentence was added in CW.
21 250/108. The last two paragraphs were added in CW. Instead, P continues after “So, go on and tell me”: “Sure, if you let me kiss your bosom first.”
“Are you crazy? So, go on and tell me!”
“No, please, let me do it first!”
“Hmm. No, not first. . . . Later perhaps. . . . I want to hear what sort of person you are. . . . I’m sure it’s something awful!”
It also pained me that she should think the worst of me. I was afraid I might completely alienate her, and I couldn’t bear the suspicion she harbored about my way of life. I would clear myself in her eyes, make myself worthy of her, show her that she was sitting beside a person who was pure as an angel, or nearly so. Good Lord, after all I could count my lapses to date on the fingers of one hand.
22 252/108. An entire paragraph was deleted in CW here:Hee, she asked me what I wanted! Push on, that’s what I wanted, push straight on! It wasn’t only at a distance that I was in the habit of pushing on; that was not the sort of person I was. I made a point of holding my own, refusing to be punctured by knitted brows. No, by George, I had never yet walked away from such an affair without having accomplished my purpose. . . .
And I pushed on.
23 253/109. The second half of this sentence was added in CW.
24 253/109. Here P contains the sentence: Up with the flannel!
25 253/109. Here follows in P: Live the King and the fatherland!
26 255/110. This sentence was added in CW. Instead, P reads: Why hadn’t she left me alone, since nothing could come of it anyway? What had got into her just now?
27 256/110. This sentence was added in CW.
28 261/112. In P, the following sentence started: I embraced her violently,
PART FOUR
1 278/118. The P text goes on: I was, so to speak, very much in my right mind! My head was clear, nothing was lacking, thank heaven!
2 283/120. In starting a new section here, I follow P.
3 287/122. Here a paragraph is deleted in CW: “No, I said I had made a slip of the pen once, a date, a trifle, if you would like to know, a wrong date on a letter, a single wrong stroke of the pen—that was my whole offense. No, thank God, one can still tell right from wrong! Anyway, what would become of me if I stained my honor to boot? It’s just my sense of honor that keeps me afloat now. But I trust it will be strong enough; at any rate, it has preserved me to date.”
4 304/128. In starting a new section here, I follow P.
5 309/130. This sentence was added in CW.
6 315/133. The phrase honorably or with honor (after oneself ) was dropped in CW.
7 331/140. This sentence was added in CW.
8 333/140. The participial phrase was added in CW.