Pan (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By Knut Hamsun

Hamsun builds his story through the papers of his main character, Lieutenant Thomas Glahn. A complex man, Glahn has rejected society and turned to nature, delving into the recesses of his own psyche. The Lieutenant recounts his relationship with Edvara, who, by rejecting him, utterly destroys him. Hamsun’s Pan is as beautiful as it is disturbing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Feb 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781411436091

Knut Hamsun

Born in 1859, Knut Hamsun published a stunning series of novels in the 1890s: Hunger (1890), Mysteries (1892) and Pan (1894). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 for Growth of the Soil.

Reviews for Pan (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

[bayardus-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hamsun is an interesting writer: I adore Hunger, and I thought Growth of the Soil was a solid work well deserving of the accolades it received, but Victoria, on the other hand, was completely forgettable. One thing these books prove is that Hamsun has range as an author, and isn't one of those writers that can only capture a single type of character.

This proven ability is what makes Pan such a confusing work to me, since the two narrative voices in the book are supposed to be distinct but read almost identically. They're so close that it makes you wonder if (warning: spoiler) Glahn wasn't faking his own death with the letter that comprises the last 20 pages of Pan. It's in general hard to get a handle on this short work, as the text quickly makes clear that Glahn isn't mentally stable, and therefore is likely far from a reliable narrator. He sees things, including the god Pan in the forest, he finds himself stranded in fog and ends up in the exact opposite place he intended, sometimes he feels things that aren't there, he flies into a rage for little reason, and he seems to oscillate between some level of social competence (even claiming great insight into the human mind) and total inability to understand what's going on in social situations. The Doctor is worried about him, and for good reason. This makes it continually unclear what amount of Glahn's experiences are rooted in reality and what are figments of his mind or reimagined instances of the real thing, all we know for certain comes from the closing letter of the book, which makes clear that at least a good chunk of what Glahn has told us is a lie.

This isn't the best use of an unreliable narrator I've ever seen (that's Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun), but it is used to illustrate some interesting things. For instance, Pan makes clear that love doesn't cure all, as the love (infatuation) of Glahn seems to accelerate the loss of his mental stability. The blindness caused by his infatuation turns him into a veritable monster at some points, driving him to become a murderer, not only of an innocent person but his loyal dog as well. Pan is a short book, but in a small number of pages Hamsun manages to have Glahn circle the drain a whole bunch of times.

Unfortunately I'd say Pan is one of the lesser Hamsun books I've read, better than Victoria but less than Growth of the Soil and Hunger.

[questbird · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A man who feels at home in the woods is undone by the love of a local woman. Love of nature shines through in the translation.

[jimmychanga · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wish I had read it a little quicker. I put this down about half way in, some other reading got in the way, and so it took a while to read and the momentum was kinda lost. Nevertheless... a great book, he has a way of creating the strangest voices that are not simple parodies, but are very funny and effective at the same time. There is a lot going on in here beyond the voice, much more going on here than in Hunger actually (though it might take more patience than that book, as there are many passages of very little action). The infatuation and the mind's going back and forth is a similar element, but here it is more muted, and I think more complex. The juxtaposition of the last section, where a different speaker talks about the first speaker is a nice touch as well. This book makes me think, a lot. I don't really know if I can talk about it intelligently, yet. The main characters go through many subtle and violent changes, almost completely out of their own control or understanding (and mine); I pity them.

[joririchardson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Norwegian author Knut Hamsun has created in "Pan" a whimsical, nostalgically dream-like story of bitter, psychotic characters set against a gorgeous forest background.In 1853 Norway, outside the town of Sirilund, a young man named Glahn lives in a small hut with his faithful dog Aesop. He lives in harmony with nature, and his lonely life suits him perfectly until he meets a bewitching young girl named Edvarda. I just loved, loved the descriptions of Glahn's forest. Much of the first third or so of the book is full of them - gorgeous prose and beautiful lines. I kept picturing the wood as something like a fairy-tale Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings movies. I loved these descriptions so much, it elevated the book an entire star. Without them, I would have been hard pressed to think of anything I liked about this book.Lately, entirely by chance, I have been reading a lot of those "unique" type of books. J.G. Ballard, "A Clockwork Orange," etc. And I think that I am coming to see that unique and inventive does not always equal an amazing book - at least not in my opinion, it seems. Well, this was another of those books. Fresh, original, and certainly unique for the time it was written. Does that mean I have to like it? No. As with Ballard and Burgess, I do respect Hamsun's creativity, but I didn't find myself enjoying this book very much.I'm all for living off the land and respecting nature, but Glahn's connection with the forest got so deep sometimes that it was strange. He thinks of a rock as his friend, and at one point he concentrates very hard on a random twig fallen on the forest floor. He pities it so much for having broken off of its tree, he starts to get teary eyed. Wow.If Glahn is strange, his lover Edvarda is more on the creepy, obsessive side. When first introduced, she seems to be quite shy, so it's a shock (to both the reader and to Glahn himself) when she brazenly kisses him in front of all her friends, and announces that she doesn't want to chase anyone else. Sneaking about outside people's houses at night seems to be a specialty of hers, and she does it more than once. The first time, she admits to Glahn that she was watching his house all night, saying "Yes, it was me. I was near you once more. I am so fond of you." How very creepy. For the rest of the book, Edvarda appears to cast Glahn aside, but we are never really sure. She is selfish and extremely jealous, as well as very unpredictable. She appears to have fallen for another man, but by the end I wasn't really sure. I don't think even she was. Glahn's other lover, Eva, is a good contrast to Edvarda. The similarity in their names convinced me that the author wrote the two women to be separate versions of each other. Like their names, Eva is simpler and more "normal" than Edvarda. *Spoilers in this paragraph* I absolutely hated that Glahn would shoot Aesop! It was SO pointless and cruel, and all just to prove a point to Edvarda! I hated him after that, and seriously considered just marking the book 1 star and leaving it.All in all, I would probably try Hamsun again even though I disliked this book. I really was very impressed with his enchanting descriptions of the woodlands. Before Hamsun became a successful writer, he led a humble life as a farmer, and you can tell that he knows about the beauty of nature. Lucky for him - it really saved this otherwise disappointing book.

[michiy_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was my introduction to Knut Hamsun and he writes beautifully! His voice is distinct penetrates the reading. Definitely one of the top writers out there. Looking forward to reading his other books.

[williamcostiganjr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a good book--and it's short enough to read in one sitting.The way Knut Hamsun is able to draw right from the unconscious in his blend of his character's dreams, fantasies and realities is uncanny. Not only is his prose excellent, he clearly understands human psychology.If you're interested in him, I would start with Hunger and then try this one.

[vaellus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The very promising first few chapters readied me to love this, but sadly the novel stagnates a little bit with its catalog of the protagonist's absurdities. Clearly there is the influence of Dostoyevsky hovering about Hamsun's works at this stage of his scribbling life, but Dostoyevsky didn't get stuck in one groove with his characters like Hamsun. Pan essentials: a nutter of a protagonist, plenty of nature imagery, dream sequences, and erotic encounters bewitchingly depicted. Sounds good, but the protagonist's obsessions get old very quickly, and that is the problem. A short book, yet it's repetitive. Summary: Hunger part 2, an Edvard Munch exhibition comes alive. Alternative tags for the Dostoyevskial-minded: ear, whisper, Stavrogin.

[ganeshaka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wonder how people summed up the experience of "first love" before roller coasters were invented? Holding that analogy for a moment.... I've come across three novels over the years that attempt to take the reader along for the dizzying ride. Turgenev's "First Love", Spencer's "Endless Love", and Hamsun's "Pan." I think teenagers should read all three as a sort of shotgun flu vaccine. Maybe one of these tales will help shorten the time inevitably spent in romantic sick bay. Pan is a swift read, two hours at most, nicely set against the seasons of a Northern sky and Norwegian wood. Think of it as a Goethe/Thoreau mix... "The Sorrows of Young Walden". It would make a pretty film, maybe in the cinematic style of "The Atonement". In thinking of it as a film, the epilogue "Glahn's Death" seems less superfluous because we are accustomed by now to stories that are completed and tailored to satisfy focus groups. I feel though, that the novella is better without the epilogue. For in real life, most victims of first love, like victims of the flu, survive. Hahaahhh..choo!

[endreel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Deliciously romantic and ecstatic, earnest and mysterious - very gleeful, yet inhabited by fluctuating notions of enormous melancholia. As a whole, I don't know if I like it as much as the two others I've read by Hamsun (Sult and Mysterier), but it contain passages of uniquely sincere, frantic and passionate outbreaks impossible to resist.

[william345 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As if you needed to revisit it, friends, yet here it is: Hamsun's excruciatingly true-to-life depiction of the exaltation and despair of young love. In his later years, the novelist Anthony Burgess had a pat blurb for certain novels he liked. Of them he would say: "Almost unbearably moving!" That blurb applies perfectly to Pan. This novella is so emotionally affecting! It is so on the money! The reader goes through the entire exhausting emotional cycle here. From initial lusting, to growing interest, to first titallations of physical contact, to record-breaking Olympic coitus, to a sense of routine and boredom, to the first bickerings of leave taking, to heartbreak, heartbreak, heartbreak and yearning that only makes one's suffering worse. The novella is mercifully short--120 pages. I simply can't imagine 300 pages of this. It's brilliance lies in how it neatly crystallizes the entire range of emotions experienced in erotic love affairs. The magnificent heights of lovemaking, the impossible megalomania of it all, to the lowest lows. That it's set in northern Norway and narrated by a man who lives in a bucolic setting with his hunting dog, all that's interesting too. The man, Lt. Glahn, records his trips into the woods to hunt. There's beautiful description of the Norwegian countryside that reminded me of Per Petterson and Hallidór Laxness, though the latter was an Icelander. Glahn's love object is a silly fickle girl-child called Edvarda. My God, the hatred! The vindictiveness they mete out to each other! Finally, the book is about how such "love" changes us forever. It's a life event for which there is no closure. We become, all of us, the walking wounded. Quite a story. Highly recommended.

[proustitute_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Magical, melancholic, perhaps Hamsun's finest.

[ghost_boy-691444 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kind of a short novel. I love the parts about nature and his dog. The romance part were interesting too. This has some great quotes in the book as well. I still like Hunger better, but this was better than Victoria IMO.