EDITOR LYNGE

"So many, so many things that can happen in the world..." Editor Lynge (1893) deals with the political situation in Norway from the time the Liberal Party split in 1888 until the spring of 1893.

1893

The main character Alexander Lynge is the editor of the left-wing radical newspaper Gazette . He is ruthless in his zeal to increase the newspaper's circulation and reputation, and abuses the young Ihlen's trust. Lynge's opponent is Høibro, who, out of love for Ihlen's sister, Charlotte, is guilty of embezzlement. Alexander Lynge is a caricature of the famous editor of Verdens Gang, Olaf Thommesen.

The novel is in the tradition of the many journalistic novels of naturalism, of which Strindberg's Røda rummet (1879) is perhaps the best known. The book received sensational attention and was the first of Hamsun's novels to be reprinted.