Dette banebrydende uddrag af tidsskriftet ”Ny Jord”, fra andet bind, 1888, har tilhørt Max Lester (1866-1956), som på verso af fribladet har indklæbet et håndskrevet kort fra Hamsun, som han har modtaget sammen med (formentlig i retur) denne første trykte del af ”Sult”. På kortet har Hamsun i mest vidunderlig, karakteristisk stil skrevet ”Hr. Max Lester,/ dette maa være noget som for 30/ Aar siden stod i Tidsskriftet ”Ny Jord” - / Redaktør Carl Behrens vil kunne si Dem/ Aargang og Nummer./ Forøvrig maa De være Samler for at/ kunne gjemme paa slikt noget, jeg ville brænde/ det levende op./ Med Tak for Deres venlige Hilsen/ Deres ærbødige/ Knut Hamsun/ Larvik, 12/6. 18.”

"Sult" kom først i bogform to år senere, i 1890, og det er med publikationen af denne del i Ny Jord, at Hamsuns ry som en forfatter i verdensklasse bliver slået fast og at hans dage som sultende endegyldigt ophører.

"Knut Hamsuns debutroman fra 1890 er en af de bøger, der har sat skel. Den har virket med til at forme et nyt menneskesyn og en ny skrivemåde. Hamsun hentede stoffet fra sine egne trængselsår, da han uden slægt og venner gik arbejdsløs i Kristiania og kæmpede mod skuffelser, nederlag og sult." (Johannes V. Jensen).

Som 27-årig i 1886 blev Hamsun for anden gang reddet fra en sultende tilværelse og sendt til Amerika, denne gang til Chicago, hvor han bl.a. arbejdede som sporvognskonduktør. Da han blev fyret fra dette job og vennerne havde skillinget sammen til en billet hjem, tog Hamsun i forsommeren 1888 tilbage mod Norden, -men han stod ikke af i Kristiania, han tog skibet videre til København. Da han stod og så skibet sejle fra Kristiania, tænkte han på sine nederlag i denne by, og en af den nyere litteraturs vigtigste sætninger indfandt sig i hans hoved: "Det var i den tid, da jeg gik rundt og sultede i Kristiania", -kimen til et af det 20. århundredes litterære hovedværker var lagt, og Hamsun satte sig med det samme på den nærmeste skibskiste og begyndte at skrive.

Påvirket af Nietzsche og Dostojevski sad Hamsun i sit loftsværelse på Nørrebro og arbejdede døgnet rundt på sit første mesterværk. Efteråret 1888 stod den første del af monumentalromanen "Sult" færdig, men da Hamsun ikke turde risikere en afvisning fra Danmarks førende kulturperson, Georg Brandes, opsøgte han dennes bror, Edvard, som var chefredaktør på "Politiken". Edvard Brandes fik således æren af at være den første, der anerkendte Hamsuns talent. Til den stærkt forhutlede forfatter sagde han som den første: "Der venter Dem en meget stor Fremtid!" og om det manuskript, han præsenterede ham for: "det var ikke bare talentfuldt som så meget andet, det var mere, noget, der rystede mig."

Edvard Brandes var ikke i tvivl om, at dette manuskript skulle trykkes, men da det var for langt til at stå i "Politiken", blev det trykt i tidsskriftet "Ny Jord", og med ét var en ny litterær gigant skabt.

”Tidsskriftredaktør Behrens havde lovet at udstyre fragmentet med følgende underskrift: ”Af en ukendt forfatter”. Samme dag i første halvdel af november 1888 som tidsskriftet nåede frem til sine nogle hundrede abonnenter, holdt det dansk-norske forfatterpar Amalie og Erik Skram i Kroghs gade I i København et selskab. Til stede var blandt andre forfatteren Herman Bang og hans norske kollega Gunnar Heiberg. Efter at have spist blev man enig om at man trængte til åndelig føde, altså højtlæsning. En af de tilstedeværende havde lovet at læse et stykke i Ny Jord som havde gjort et stærkt indtryk på ham. Eftersom handlingen foregik i Oslo, og værtinden og andre nordmænd var til stede, måtte det være en rigtig anledning til at læse ”Sult” højt.

Forfatteren og teatermanden Gunnar Heiberg rømmede sig og begyndte. Efter godt en time var han færdig.

Ingen af dem var i tvivl: Norden havde fået en ny digter. Derfor dannede der sig spontant kø foran Amalie Skrams skrivebord i samme rum. Det var skrivende mennesker, de blev nødt til straks at sætte ord på hvilken virkning de ord de netop havde hørt, havde haft på dem.

Forfatteren skulle have det at vide med det samme. Men hvem havde skrevet stykket?...

Mindre end en uge efter udgivelsen måtte Carl Behrens bestille et nyt oplag. Alle 1000 eksemplarer var solgt! I Nordens kulturcentrum ville enhver der foregav at være kulturelt opdateret, nu læse ”Sult” – stykket i Ny Jord. Det var mange år siden noget tilsvarende var sket. Både stilen, temaet og det man opfattede som forfatterens hensynsløse selvudlevering, fascinerede og chokerede.

Hysteriet forplantede sig til Norge… ” (Kolloen, Hamsun, pp. 64-66).  

Er det virkelig muligt, Hamsun har glemt, hvad der må betegnes som det største vendepunkt i hans liv, publikationen af Sult-fragmentet, som Kolloen kalder ”Triumfens øjeblik”? Eller er det rent koketteri fra den da (1918) anerkendte litterære gigant, som netop havde udgivet sin 26. bog samme år, Markens Grøde, og var fejret i hele Europa som et af de største litterære genier? Det er svært at forestille sig andet end, at udgivelsen af Sult-fragmentet har stået prentet lysende klart ind i hovedet på den 59-årige Hamsun.

Det er aldeles unikt at finde denne skelsættende publikation i et eksemplar, der har association til Hamsun, og hvor han selv kommenterer sit banebrydende litterære gennembrud. Os bekendt har der aldrig været lignende til salg.  

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A spectacular copy of the first printing of the the first published part of one of the main works of modern literature, Hamsuns’ groundbreaking novel ”Hunger”. It is here that the famous lines “It was in those days when I wandered about hungry in Kristiania, that strange city which no one leaves before it has set his mark upon him…” appear for the first time, the opening lines to the novel that made Hamsun famous and invoked a new literary era in Europe. The publication of the “Hunger”-fragment not only heralds a turning point in the life and career of Hamsun, it also heralds a turning point in European literature.

The groundbreaking extract of the periodical “Ny Jord” (which one of Hamsun’s later famous novels was interestingly to be named), from vol. 2, 1888, has belonged to Max Lester (1866-1956), who has inserted a visiting card from Hamsun to the verso of the front free end-paper. Max Lester had received this card from Hamsun, together with this first printing of the first part of Hunger (presumably sending it in return to Max Lester). The card is inscribed in wonderfully characteristic Hamsun-style: ”Hr. Max Lester,/ dette maa være noget som for 30/ Aar siden stod i Tidsskriftet ”Ny Jord” - / Redaktør Carl Behrens vil kunne si Dem/ Aargang og Nummer./ Forøvrig maa De være Samler for at/ kunne gjemme paa slikt noget, jeg ville brænde/ det levende op./ Med Tak for Deres venlige Hilsen/ Deres ærbødige/ Knut Hamsun/ Larvik, 12/6. 18.” (i.e. Dear Max Lester,/ this must be something that 30/ years ago was printed in the periodical “Ny Jord” - / Editor Carl Behrens will be able to tell you/ the year and the number./ You must be a collector, by the way, in order to/ be able to keep something like this, I would burn it/ up alive./ With thanks for your kind regard/ your faithfully/ Knut Hamsun/ Larvik, 12/6. 18.).

“Hunger” only appeared in its entirety two years later, in 1890, and it is with the publication of the present part that Hamsun’s reputation as a premier league author is established and that his days as a starving, striving author finally end.

“One of the most important and controversial writers of the 20th century, Knut Hamsun made literary history with the publication in 1890 of this powerful, autobiographical novel recounting the abject poverty, hunger and despair of a young writer struggling to achieve self-discovery and its ultimate artistic expression. The book brilliantly probes the psychodynamics of alienation, obsession, and self-destruction, painting an unforgettable portrait of a man driven by forces beyond his control to the edge of the abyss. Hamsun influenced many of the major 20th-century writers who followed him, including Kafka, Joyce and Henry Miller. Required reading in world literature courses, the highly influential, landmark novel will also find a wide audience among lovers of books that probe the "unexplored crannies in the human soul" (George Egerton).

”Hamsun is considered to be "one of the most influential and innovative literary stylists of the past hundred years" (i.e. 1890–1990) (Robert Ferguson). He pioneered psychological literature with techniques of stream of consciousness and interior monologue, and influenced authors such as Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Maxim Gorky, Stefan Zweig, Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse, John Fante, James Kelman, Charles Bukowski, and Ernest Hemingway. Isaac Bashevis Singer called Hamsun "the father of the modern school of literature in his every aspect—his subjectiveness, his fragmentariness, his use of flashbacks, his lyricism. The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun".”

In 1886, Hamsun was saved from starvation for the second time and was sent to America, this time Chicago, where he worked as a streetcar conductor. When he was fired from his job, his friends had joined forces and all chipped in to buy him a ticket home. This, in the spring of 1888, he set sail back North; but he did not get off in Oslo as planned, he sailed on to Copernhagen. It was when he was standing on deck watching the ship sail away from Oslo (the Christiania, contemplating the defeats he had suffered here that one of the most important sentences of modern literature popped into his head: “It was in those days when I wandered about hungry in Kristiania, that strange city which no one leaves before it has set his mark upon him…” – the seed for one of the main works of the 20th century had been sown, and Hamsun sat down on the nearest sea-chests and began writing.

Influenced by Nietzsche and Dostojevski, Hamsun sat in his loft chamber in Nørrebro (part of Copenhagen) and worked around the clock on his first masterpiece. In the autumn of 1888 the first part of the monumental novel “Hunger” was finished. But Hamsun was afraid of being rejected by the leading cultural persona in Denmark, Georg Brandes, and went to his brother Edward, who was chief editor of the paper “Politiken” instead. Thus, Edvard Brandes got the honour of being the first to recognize Hamsun’s talent, famously bursting out in front of the grossly shabby author: “A great future awaits you!”, adding, about the manuscript he had been presented with (i.e. the first part of “Hunger”): “It was more than just talented as so much else, it was more, something that shook me.”

Edvard Brandes had no doubt that the manuscript needed to be printed, but as it was too long to be printed in “Politiken”, Edvard Brandes had it printed in “Ny Jord”.

“The editor of “Ny Jord” Behrens had promised to the piece accompany by the lines “By an unknown author”. On the same day that the periodical reached its few hundred subscribers, in the first half of November 1888, the Danish-Norwegian author couple Amalie and Erik Skram had one of their saloon evenings in their home in Krogs Gade in Copenhagen. Among their gusts were some of the most famous Scandinavian authors of the period, eg. Herman Bang and Gunnar Heiberg. After having eating, the ensemble decided that it was time for spiritual nourishment, i.e. reading aloud. One of the gusts had promised to read a piece from “Ny Jord” that had made a strong impression on him. And seeing that the piece tool place in Oslo and that the hostess and several other guests were from Norway, it seemed appropriate for him to read “Hunger” aloud to the other guests.

The author and theatre man Gunnar Heiberg began his reading. After about an hour he had finished. None of the guests had a shadow of a doubt: The North had been given e new, world class author. A spontaneous lined formed in front of Amalie Skram’s desk. They were all people of the pen. They had to put their emotions to paper. The author had to know immediately how strongly they felt. But who was he? Who had written the piece?

Less than a week after the original publication, Carl Behrens had to have another printed. All 1.000 copies had been sold! In the cultural centre of the North, anyone who had just the slightest wish to be culturally up to date had to read the “Hunger”-piece in “Ny Jord”. It had been years since something like this had happened. The style, the theme, and what was comprehended as the crude self-exposition fascinated and shocked.

The hysteria traveled to Norway…” (Own translation from Kolloen, Hamsun, pp. 64-66).  

Is it really possible that Hamusn could have forgotten what is arguably the greatest turning point in his life, the publication of the ”Hunger”-piece, which Kolloen appropriately calls “the moment of triumph”? Or is it pure coquetry from the 20 years older now world-wide famous, extremely succesful literary giant, who was celebrated all through Europe as one of the greatest literary geniouses, and who had just published his 26th celebrated book, Marken Grøde, that same year (1918). It is difficult to imagine that the publication of the Hunger-piece in “Ny Jord” could have been anything but a event that was clear as the light of day in the head of the 59-year old Hamsun, who wrote to Max Lester.

It is utterly unique to find this epoch-making publication in a copy associated to Hamsun, and in which he even comments on his groundbreaking literary breakthrough. As far as we know, nothing like it has ever been for sale.