UNDER THE AUTUMN STAR

"The sea was mirror-clear yesterday and it is mirror-clear today. It is Indian summer and warm on the island – and oh how gentle and warm it is! – But there is no sun. Many years have passed since I was in such peace, perhaps twenty or thirty years, perhaps in a previous life. But once before, I think, I must have tasted this peace since I walk here humming and being delighted and caring for every stone and every blade of grass and they seem to care for me in return. We are familiar."

"Of course I drink. It's so boring just to eat... (Under the Autumn Star, 1906)"

"Where are you going? I don't know. East or west. We are wanderers."

1906

Under the Autumn Star (1906) is the first volume of the so-called Wanderer Trilogy. Here the main character appears under Hamsun's real name, Knut Pedersen. Pedersen is a middle-aged poet who escapes the city and modern times. He wanders around, taking work on random farms, before wandering on. On the farm Øvrebø he witnesses the unhappy marriage between Captain Falkenberg and Mrs. Lovise. When he himself develops feelings for the lady, he flees the place, and only much later does he learn that his feelings were reciprocated.

The novel's low-key and melancholic style is characterized by longing and sorrow for the youth that disappeared, as well as a mixture of intense descriptions of nature and sharp psychological portraits.