Literature · 1859–1952
Born: 4 August 1859 · Died: 19 February 1952 · Age at death: 92
Knut Hamsun died aged 92. He was born on 4 August 1859 and died on 19 February 1952.
Norwegian novelist of Hunger and Growth of the Soil who won the Nobel Prize but disgraced himself by supporting the Nazis
Did you know?Despite his literary success, his reputation was severely damaged after the Second World War due to his support for the Nazis.
Knut Hamsun changed the modern novel. He grew up poor in northern Norway and worked as a labourer, including spells in America. Hunger, published in 1890, follows a starving writer's thoughts from the inside. Writers from Kafka to Hemingway admired him. He won the Nobel Prize in 1920 for Growth of the Soil. During the Second World War he supported Nazi Germany's occupation of Norway. That support ruined his reputation.
Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel Growth of the Soil. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective and environment.
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Profile
Norwegian novelist, 1859–1952
Knut Hamsun was born in Vågå, Norway, on 4 August 1859.
He grew up in poverty in northern Norway.
Hunger (1890) made him famous.
He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920.
Career highlights
Did you know?He sent his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels as a gift in 1943.
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