{"product_id":"knut-hamsun-monika-zagar-9780295989457","title":"Knut Hamsun: The Dark Side of Literary Brilliance (New Directions in Scandinavian Studies)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAwarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920, \u003ci\u003eKnut Hamsun\u003c\/i\u003e (1859-1952) was a towering figure of Norwegian letters. He was also a Nazi sympathizer and supporter of the German occupation of Norway during the Second World War. In 1943, Hamsun sent his Nobel medal to Third-Reich propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels as a token of his admiration and authored a reverential obituary for Hitler in May 1945. For decades, scholars have wrestled with the dichotomy between Hamsun's merits as a writer and his infamous ties to Nazism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn her incisive study of Hamsun, Monika Zagar refuses to separate his political and cultural ideas from an analysis of his highly regarded writing. Her analysis reveals the ways in which messages of racism and sexism appear in plays, fiction, and none-too-subtle nonfiction produced by a prolific author over the course of his long career. In the process, Zagar illuminates Norway's changing social relations and long history of interaction with other peoples.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFocusing on selected masterpieces as well as writings hitherto largely ignored, Zagar demonstrates that Hamsun did not arrive at his notions of race and gender late in life. Rather, his ideas were rooted in a mindset that idealized Norwegian rural life, embraced racial hierarchy, and tightly defined the acceptable notion of women in society. Making the case that Hamsun's support of Nazi political ideals was a natural outgrowth of his reactionary aversion to modernity, \u003ci\u003eKnut Hamsun\u003c\/i\u003e serves as a corrective to scholarship treating Hamsun's Nazi ties as unpleasant but peripheral details in a life of literary achievement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Monika Zagar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0295989459\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780295989457\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Washington Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/21\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.94d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChronicle of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/30\/2009 pg. 21\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2010","brand":"Monika Zagar","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44227509321983,"sku":"9780295989457","price":105.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_965241b1-2118-42f5-8801-2fcba2bb0dc6.jpg?v=1692809078","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/knut-hamsun-monika-zagar-9780295989457","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}