THE AFTERMATH

Right now a new and hopeful generation is swirling up from the underground. It is so newly born and innocent, I read about it, but I don't know its name, it could be the same. It is like wandering lights all gathered together, they come, shine a little and disappear. Coming and going, as I came and went. (On Overgrown Paths, 1949)

With his debut novel Hunger (1890), Knut Hamsun established himself as one of Norway's greatest poets.

His fame culminated when he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 for Markens grøde (The Produce of the Field) (1917), and the great national and international attention he received on the occasion of his 70th birthday in 1929 illustrated his supreme status as Norway's leading poet.

But Hamsun was also an active public debater, and throughout World War II he supported Germany. In the immediate aftermath of the war, Hamsun was persona non grata, but already in 1949 Gyldendal decided to publish På grengrode stier – Hamsuns spildring av år från 1945 til det søysterert i 1948. The first edition of 5,000 was immediately sold out. Nevertheless, Hamsun's legacy is still colored by his outspoken sympathy and support for Germany during World War II.