“I suffered no pain, my hunger had taken the edge off; instead I felt pleasantly empty, untouched by everything around me and happy to be unseen by all. I put my legs up on the bench and leaned back, the best way to feel the true well-being of seclusion. There wasn't a cloud in my mind, nor did I feel any discomfort, and I hadn't a single unfulfilled desire or craving as far as my thought could reach. I lay with open eyes in a state of utter absence from myself and felt deliciously out of it.”
--Knut Hamsun, Hunger
2.
“The heavy red roses smoldering in the foggy
morning, blood-colored and uninhibited, made me greedy, and tempted me
powerfully to steal one--I asked the prices merely so I could come as near them
as possible.”
--Knut Hamsun, Hunger
--Knut Hamsun, Hunger
3.
“Love is every bit as violent and dangerous as
murder.”
― Knut Hamsun
― Knut Hamsun
4.
“I sat looking at her with rapt attention. My
heart was thumping, the blood coursing warmly through my veins. What a
wonderful pleasure to be sitting in a human dwelling again, hear a clock
ticking, and talk with a lively young girl instead of with myself!
Why don't you say something?"
Ah, how sweet you are!" I said. "I'm sitting here getting fascinated by you, at this moment I'm thoroughly fascinated. I can't help it. You are the strangest person that... Sometimes your eyes are so radiant, I've never seen anything like it, they look like flowers. Eh? No, no, maybe not like flowers but... I'm madly in love with you, and it won't do me a bit of good. What's your name? Really, you must tell me what your name is..."
No, what's your name? Goodness, I almost forgot again! I was thinking all day yesterday that I must ask you. Well, that is, not all day yesterday, I certainly didn't think about you all day yesterday."
Do you know what I've called you? I have called you Ylajali. How do you like it? Such a gliding sound-"
Ylajali?"
Yes."
Is it a foreign language?"
Hmm. No, it's not."
Well, it isn't ugly.”
― --Knut Hamsun, Hunger
Why don't you say something?"
Ah, how sweet you are!" I said. "I'm sitting here getting fascinated by you, at this moment I'm thoroughly fascinated. I can't help it. You are the strangest person that... Sometimes your eyes are so radiant, I've never seen anything like it, they look like flowers. Eh? No, no, maybe not like flowers but... I'm madly in love with you, and it won't do me a bit of good. What's your name? Really, you must tell me what your name is..."
No, what's your name? Goodness, I almost forgot again! I was thinking all day yesterday that I must ask you. Well, that is, not all day yesterday, I certainly didn't think about you all day yesterday."
Do you know what I've called you? I have called you Ylajali. How do you like it? Such a gliding sound-"
Ylajali?"
Yes."
Is it a foreign language?"
Hmm. No, it's not."
Well, it isn't ugly.”
― --Knut Hamsun, Hunger
5.
In
old age... we are like a batch of letters that someone has sent. We are no
longer in the past, we have arrived.
Knut Hamsun, Wanderers (1909)
6.
And love became the world's origin and the
world's ruler, yet littered its path is with flowers and blood, flowers and
blood.
Knut Hamsun, Victoria (1898)
7.
Nothing helped; I was fading helplessly away
with open eyes, staring straight at the ceiling. Finally I stuck my forefinger
in my mouth and took to sucking on it. Something began stirring in my brain,
some thought in there scrambling to get out, a stark-staring mad idea: what if
I gave a bite? And without a moment's hesitation I squeezed my eyes shut and
clenched my teeth together. I jumped up. I was finally awake.
Knut Hamsun, Hunger (1890)
8.
As one man stopped and set me to
rights rather sharply for my behaviour, I turned round and screamed a single
meaningless word in his ear, clenched my fist right under his nose, and
stumbled on, hardened by a blind rage that I could not control.
Knut
Hamsun, Hunger
9.
It struck five o'clock! Again I sank
under the weight of my prolonged nervous excitement. The hollow whirring in my
head made itself felt anew. I stared straight ahead, kept my eyes fixed, and
gazed at the chemist's under the sign of the elephant. Hunger was waging a
fierce battle in me at this moment, and I was suffering greatly.
Knut Hamsun, Hunger
10.
I raise myself up in bed and fling out my
arms. My nervous condition has got the upper hand of me, and nothing availed,
no matter how much I tried to work against it. There I sat, a prey to the most
singular fantasies, listening to myself crooning lullabies, sweating with the
exertion of striving to hush myself to rest. I peered into the gloom, and I
never in all the days of my life felt such darkness. There was no doubt that I
found myself here, in face of a peculiar kind of darkness; a desperate element
to which no one had hitherto paid attention. The most ludicrous thoughts busied
me, and everything made me afraid.
Knut Hamsun