THE ARTIST'S ROLE

He had to rehabilitate himself by deception; when he pretended that he was like others, that he was commensurable, the poor man had to use his own standard and persuade himself to believe it. He might have had his little happiness in this, at least he had no other. All art then? All art. But not a bad work of art. (The Women at the Water Fountain, 1920)

Several of Hamsun's novels feature artists, including writers ( Hunger and Victoria ), musicians ( Mysteries and Segelfoss by ), painters ( The Women at the Water Fountain ) or actors ( Life in the Wild ).

In Ny jord (1893) the action takes place in the artistic community, but the portrayal of poets, actors and painters is unflattering. The role of the artist is treated more metaphorically in the portrayal of Oliver in Konene ved vannposten , a character who bases his existence on lies and deceit. In the August trilogy, August appears as an artistic figure with his creativity and joy of storytelling. Hamsun was not himself interested in being an artist.

After he bought the farm Nørholm, he preferred to be titled "Farmer Knut Hamsun" rather than "The Author".