SEGELFOSS CITY

"A man on the new flagpole, and what is he doing there? It's probably a prank by Theodor on the boat again, but his father, old Per on the boat, should have known! Look, Mr. Holmengraa, the owner of the mill, he had a flagpole and a flag and a flagman, it was reasonable and necessary, he was supposed to fly the flag for the mail ships and when a large freighter came into the dock with grain for the mill. But Theodor on the boat had no shame in his life, he set up a flagpole just because he was a shopkeeper and he flagged for everything and sometimes he flagged for nothing or just because it was Sunday. He made a fool of himself."

1915

Segelfoss by (1915) is the standalone continuation of Barn av tieden (1913).

While Tobias Holmengraa and Willatz Holmsen represented irreconcilable opposites, Segelfoss by depicts how the love between Holmengraa's daughter and Holmsen's son represents reconciliation and hope for the new society. The criticism of the modern era is pronounced, and the author's mouthpiece, telegraphist Baardson, symptomatically commits suicide in Holmengraa's basement.

Children of the Time and Segelfoss Town are said to be the beginning of Hamsun's socially critical writing.

"The youth spent many times more on clothes and luxuries and cigarettes than before and made themselves modern in every bad sense, but character development was left behind."

"We forgive our superior, yes we do. But we do not forgive our equal for surpassing us."

"It probably comes down to this," said Mr. Holmengraa, "that when nature produces leaders, it doesn't always produce the best."

"Funny guys, those two!" he said of the lawyer and the doctor. When they talk, you suddenly understand why the Chinese eat with chopsticks!"

"... you are a jewel in the middle of the dot of time!"

"Imagine, partying in a downpour, it was like painting diamonds on your food."