Eirik Vassenden

Lecture in the Adventure Hall at The Hamsun Centre , Wednesday, August 5

Author and professor

Eirik Vassenden (b. 1971) is a professor of Nordic literature at the University of Bergen. He received his doctorate in 2003 with a thesis on the poetry of Olav Nygard. Vassenden is a well-known literary critic and has been editor of the journals Vagant and Edda and co-editor of the Norwegian Literary Yearbook. 

Vassenden received much attention in 2025 with his research on contemporary right-wing radical movements' embrace of Knut Hamsun and his books. Vassenden is in the process of writing a monograph on Knut Hamsun, which will be published in 2027. Here he studies the development of the desire for power, order and chaos in Hamsun's fiction. He presents and justifies the book plans, including a single study that will be included in it: "Hamsun's wanderers. The August figure between control and chaos." 

Photo: Private