THE RING ENDED

"When people show up at the pier for the coastal boat, it gives them no income but also no expense, it balances out, perhaps with a deduction for a little shoe wear. It doesn't exactly hurt, but it's rare that someone has a little left over for it. A special experience, a sight for the gods, some true blessing? No, no! Some people and boxes ashore, some people and boxes aboard. Nobody says anything, neither the mate at the row nor the clerk on the quay need a single word, they look at the papers and nod. That's it."

1936

The Ring is Broken (1936) is the last of Hamsun's traditional novels. The title thus refers both to the completion of his writing career and to the depiction of the life of the main character, Abel Brodersen.

The novel is set in a small-town community Abel returns to after his father, a ship captain, dies. Abel inherits money and a connection to his father's young wife, Lolla. But Abel appears resigned and an outsider, and not even his erotic relationships with Lili and Olga give him the spark of life back. The thought of how he is responsible for the death of his wife Angèle torments him, and he exposes himself to an increasingly evident decline. The novel ends with him setting sail for America, supposedly to atone for his misdeeds.

Atle Kittang has argued that in The Ring is Broken, social criticism is replaced by disillusionment.