Ravings of a Mad Gentlewoman Book

First published in 1894, Pan is an early example of the influence of psychology upon literature - certainly early for Scandinavian writers. The book is translated from the Norwegian. For the author this emphasis on psychology is very deliberate. Hamsun wrote to a friend and critic about his best-known book, Hunger (1890), "If we add it up, I don't think you'd find more psychical emotions in Raskolnikov than in my book."



In Hamsun's case psychology shows up primarily as impulsiveness for reasons unknown to the actor. First, shortly after she has met the main character, the girl kisses him full on the lips in front of all the church ladies at a picnic - that raises eyebrows in a small village in mid-1800's Norway. (Although a 28-year old man having an interest in a 15-year-old girl was apparently ok back then, even to her father, who encouraged the relationship. Later in the book we learn she lies about her age and may be older.) At another community event, two boats full of people are rowing back from another picnic on an island and he impulsively grabs her shoe and throws it into the water. He has no idea why he did this. Later, alone in his cabin, he impulsively shoots himself in the foot. She, in a fury for no obvious reason, tramples on a brooch another suitor had given her. Later he detonates an explosion that dislodges a huge rock, overturning a boat that results in someone's death. (There are two murders in the book disguised as accidents.)

The other way psychology shows up is in the mutual stand-off-ishness of the young woman and the man who obviously love each other but seem to think that showing disinterest and even distain for the other will somehow 'bring them around.' So they avoid each other, insult each other, flirt with other people, and never get their act together. At one point he thinks "It occurred to me, moreover, that I had perhaps got closer to her precisely by treating her with scorn and indifference."

The main character is a military officer living for a year in a rural hut in far northern Norway near the Arctic Circle. He must be on leave since he has no duties. He leads a primitive life, hunts with his dog every day, and communes with nature - a very Waldenesque existence: "The monotonous sighing of the wind and the familiar trees and stones mean much to me; I feel a strange sense of gratitude, everything reached out toward me, blends with me, I love all things." Pan of the title is the half-goat Greek god of the wild, of nature, shepherds, flocks, mountains and the companion of nymphs.

The story is structured a bit like Russian dolls. It starts out as a memoir written by the main character "for his own amusement" a couple of years after the events. Why you would write about killing someone with an explosion is a psychological study in itself. And there is an epilogue, telling of the main character's tragic death, written by a 'friend' who found the manuscript, and who says of the now-deceased main character: "[He] was in many ways an unusual and likeable man. In justice to him I must admit this, in spite of the fact that in my soul I still feel hostility toward [him] and the memory of him rouses my hatred."



Hamsun won the Noble Prize in 1920. He's best known for his work Hunger, about a poverty-stricken writer wandering through Oslo looking for his next meal. But Hamsun is not honored very much in Norway due to his collaboration with the Nazis during their occupation of the country in WW II. He actually met with Hitler, who thought of Hamsun as a 'genius.' Although the meeting turned into a shouting match, the author's reputation never recovered in his home country and some Norwegians still consider him a traitor. (There's a good article about Hamsun in the Dec. 26, 2005 Atlantic: "In From the Cold" by Jeffrey Frank from which I have taken some of the thoughts in this review.)

Actually a pretty good read for something written in 1894. Perhaps it's the translation but it didn't seem stilted or old-fashioned in writing style. A good but strange story.

Photo of Skudeneshavn, Norway from blog.routeperfect.com
Painting of the author by Alfredo Andersen from Wikipedia