Growth of the Soil

When Knut Hamsun won the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1920, it was mostly because "Growth of the Soil," an an epic vision of peasant life in Norway's backcountry. "Growth of the Soil" is the book that the common man of the day valued more than any other of his works, the book that the Germans had printed in "field-editions" to send with their soldiers to the fronts. But this is not an ideally portrait of the values in life - it is a very accurate description of how the life was in the outback for these early settlers, how extremely simple they were. It was not because they had achieved a great understanding of the meaning of life, readers in that belief are totally wrong. They had no choice, were not on terms with their inner-self at all, did not know comfort and beautiful music, could not afford to be fastidious. In "Growth of the Soil," Knut Hamsun has told the story of the simple, unsophisticated people breaking the land and struggling to live in Norway, and done it with such wisdom, humor, tenderness, and talent, that in many respects this is his best work.