Growth of the Soil
Knut Hamsun's 1917 novel of a man who settles in rural Norway, which won him the Nobel Prize, in Sverre Lyngstad's translation for Penguin Classics.
Growth of the Soil (Markens Grøde) was published in 1917 and won Knut Hamsun the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature. It follows Isak, a man who settles and lives in rural Norway, and sets the agrarian life against the encroaching modern world. Roy Jacobsen says every Norwegian writer is an offspring of Hamsun, while also noting his Nazi politics. The Penguin Classics edition is translated by Sverre Lyngstad, with an introduction by Brad Leithauser.
Recommended by 1 Person
Roy Jacobsen
As every Russian writer is rolled out of Gogol’s coat, every Norwegian one is an offspring of Hamsun, admittedly or otherwise.
Interview · June 2017
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.