The Awakening of the Soil – Knut Hamsun

The Awakening of the Soil was published in Norway in 1917. Isak and Inger, prototypes of humanity, meet on a deserted moor. The domain of Sellanraa is the garden of Eden after the Fall. The man, Isak, works tirelessly on it. Around him, infanticide, lies, jealousy, concupiscence, greed, progress are all temptations to which his wife, his children, his relatives and his enemies succumb in turn. Isak, riveted to his land, has only one goal: to clear the land. It is from this metaphor that Knut Hamsun constructs a novel of redemption, animated by a true biblical inspiration.

The Awakening of the Soil is also a formidable portrait of a woman, Inger is both Isak's reason for living and what radically threatens him. Inger is a testing principle: she must live all possible lives before returning to the one who will not have changed. “Inger has been on the sea, she has lived in the city: she is at home now. The world is vast, teeming with creatures, Inger is, in this teeming, only one human creature among countless others. Here is the evening! »

Son of farmers, self-taught, Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) emigrated twice to the United States. Back in Norway, he published La Faim in 1890, which brought him international notoriety. He won the Nobel Prize in 1920.

ISBN: 978-2-914157-53-7 | 9782914157537

Size: 12.5 x 19 cm; 388 pages