LIFE IN THE VOLTAGE

"BLUMENSCHØN: Be careful now, Irene. GIRL: Sure. BLUMENSCHØN: Yes, you say sure, but. GIRL: They told me to hurry too. BLUMENSCHØN: Yes, I did. The man could be here any minute. He's the one who's going to buy the things. GIRL: Are you going to sell everything now? BLUMENSCHØN: No, don't touch that watch so hard. It's the only one of my watches that goes for a few minutes."

1910

Hamsun began work on the drama Life in the Wild (1910) on New Year's Day 1909. He completed the play in the summer of 1910, and it was premiered at the National Theatre that same autumn.

Life in Violence is about the former variety singer Juliane Gihle. She cheats on her rich but old husband with the younger but unsympathetic Alexander Blumenschøn. She is then cheated on herself, before finally ending up with an 18-year-old black servant, "Boy".

The play became Hamsun's greatest dramatic success, and within a short time was performed on stages in both Germany and Russia.