Hamsun's Hunger was indeed a sad, sad story. It seemed that at every turn life was conspiring against the protagonist of this story. While starving, this character continues to pursue his literary career, however fails at each attempt. He goes days without food or lodging and is continuously writing, editing, revising, restarting his "article" without ever completing it. Speckled with some small successes, his life is endlessly tortured by the constraints of society and he eventually flees to escape his inability or refusal to become gainfully employed.
This novel is apparently based loosely on the author's own experiences prior to his success as an author. Hamsun does a fine job of painting a vivid image of the decay of the human psyche both as a result of solitude and starvation. He paints a gloomy and depressing picture of a man struggling to keep his integrity to the point of even his own demise.
I enjoyed this novel. I found it to be a far easier read than I intended it to be, and I cared for the protagonist, more than I have cared for other protagonists in similar novels. Hamsun presents us with the inner workings of the mind of an artist. He provides us with a glimpse inside the desires and motivations of the protagonist, and does not censor what we see. It is this honesty that makes Hunger a novel that I will reread in the future, just to continue to peel back the layers of its intricacies.
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