Hunger

novel by Hamsun

Also known as: “Sult”

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Hunger, novel by Knut Hamsun, published in 1890 as Sult. It is the semiautobiographical chronicle of the physical and psychological hunger experienced by an aspiring writer in late 19th-century Norway. The unnamed narrator of this plotless episodic work is an introspective young man whose hunger to succeed as a writer matches his intense physical hunger. He lacks human contact and at times seems demented. Although he has occasional hunger-induced hallucinations, he neither feels sorry for himself nor tries to rectify his situation.

The book’s impulsive, lyrical style marked a clear departure from the then-prevalent social realism and had an electrifying effect on European writers.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.