Quotes from book
Hunger

Name: Hunger
Author: Knut Hamsun

Hunger is a novel by the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun published in 1890. Extracts from the work had previously been published anonymously in the Danish magazine Ny Jord in 1888. The novel has been hailed as the literary opening of the 20th century and an outstanding example of modern, psychology-driven literature. Hunger portrays the irrationality of the human mind in an intriguing and sometimes humorous manner.

“… I will exile my thoughts if they think of you again, and I will rip my lips out if they say your name once more. Now if you do exist, I will tell you my final word in life or in death, I tell you goodbye.”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“And the great spirit of darkness spread a shroud over me… everything was silent-everything. But upon the heights soughed the everlasting song, the voice of the air, the distant, toneless humming which is never silent.”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“Truth is neither ojectivity nor the balanced view; truth is a selfless subjectivity.”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“I was on the verge of crying with grief at still being alive.”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“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 book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“Keep it, keep it!" I answered. "You are very welcome to it! It is only a couple of small things, doesn't amount to anything—about everything I own in the world.”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“It was not my intention to collapse; no, I would die standing.”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“Small jerks began to appear in my legs, my walk became unsteady precisely because I wanted it to be smooth.”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Source: Hunger

“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 book Hunger

Hunger (1890), p. 110

“It was in those days when I wandered about hungry in Kristiania, that strange city which no one leaves before it has set its mark upon him. . . .”

Knut Hamsun book Hunger

Part One - p.3 (Book opening line) [Page numbers per the 2016 Canongate Books Ltd. paperback edition (which incorporates the 1996 Sverre Lyngstad translation into English).]
Novels, Hunger (1890)