WAR

Suddenly a shot was heard, two shots. A panic struck the crowd, who rushed into the side streets amid immense screams; at the same time the police used the apartment to ride after the package in different directions, trampling it down, slashing with their sabres. At that moment there was a feeling of war. ("A Street Revolution", Krattskog, 1903)

Hamsun lived through two wars.

During World War I, Hamsun, like several prominent cultural figures, was pro-German. He expressed his views in a number of newspaper articles, including "The Debt to Germany" (1914) and "Letter to the Class Struggle" (1916), in which he defends Germany's war in Europe.

During World War II, Hamsun was early in expressing support for Germany. As early as April 14, 1940, five days after the invasion of Norway, Hamsun wrote the article "A Word to Us" in which he claims that Germany is defending Norway from further attacks from England.

In his fiction, Hamsun does not directly address acts of war, although in Markens grøde (1917) he writes that Isak "sows in blood-stained soil".