Random House Publishing Group
Search
Expand Mobile Menu
Hunger

Hunger

About the Book

A modernist masterpiece: the Nobel Prize winner’s first and most important novel

A Penguin Classic

First published in Norway in 1890, Hunger probes the depths of consciousness with frightening and gripping power. Contemptuous of novels of his time and what he saw as their stereotypical plots and empty characters, Knut Hamsun embarked on “an attempt to describe the strange, peculiar life of the mind, the mysteries of the nerves in a starving body.” Like the works of Dostoyevsky, it marks an extraordinary break with Western literary and humanistic traditions.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Read more
Close

Praise for Hunger

By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

“Knut Hamsun’s writing is magical, his sentences are glowing, he could write about anything and make it alive.” —Karl Ove Knausgaard, The New York Times Book Review

 “The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun.” —Isaac Bashevis Singer

 “The classic novel of humiliation, even beyond Dostoyevsky . . . Lyngstad’s translation restores to the English-speaking reader one of the cold summits in modern prose literature.” —George Steiner
Read more
Close

About the Author

Knut Hamsun
Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun (1859–1952) worked as a laborer in both Scandinavia and America before establishing himself as a successful playwright and novelist. He has been called the "father of modern literature" and is perhaps best well-known for his 1890 novel Hunger. More by Knut Hamsun
Decorative Carat

About the Author

Sverre Lyngstad
Sverre Lyngstad, the preeminent scholar of Norwegian literature, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. More by Sverre Lyngstad
Decorative Carat

About the Author

Sverre Lyngstad
Sverre Lyngstad, the preeminent scholar of Norwegian literature, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. More by Sverre Lyngstad
Decorative Carat

About the Author

Sverre Lyngstad
Sverre Lyngstad, the preeminent scholar of Norwegian literature, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. More by Sverre Lyngstad
Decorative Carat

By clicking submit, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and understand that Penguin Random House collects certain categories of personal information for the purposes listed in that policy, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information and retains personal information in accordance with the policy. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime.

Random House Publishing Group