THE MONK TURNS

"ANIMALS: No, you see – as I said – that's what one does, / one behaves as one should. / That teaching should not be despised by any small people, / even if one, like you, is a member of the awakened."

1902

The Monk Turned (1902) is a verse drama in eight acts, in which Hamsun, like Ibsen in Peer Gynt (1867), uses stilted verse.

The story is set in Nordland at the end of the 18th century. Monk Vendt is the illegitimate son of an innkeeper. He abandons his theological studies and instead devotes himself to a life as a hunter and womanizer, torn between the gentle Blis and the more capricious Iselin. Iselin marries the powerful Didrik, but her feelings for Monk Vendt and his constant fascination with her persist.

The title character Monk Vendt appears in several places in the writing, including in Pan , Victoria and Rosa .

The Monk Turned is in the form of a reading drama, and can only be performed on stage with significant adaptation. However, several of the drama's songs and verses found their way into Hamsun's later poetry collection The Wild Choir (1904). The drama was originally intended as part of a trilogy, but Hamsun abandoned the plans after struggling with the strict form.