Thoughts on: Pan by Knut Hamsun

I hear exceedingly different profiles of Knut Hamsun, and I doubt none of them.  He was a complicated man, I'm sure.  He has been described as the soul of Norway, but at the same time he was a vehement supporter of the Nazi Regime, going so far as to mail his Nobel Prize to Joseph Goebbels. 

He began his career very much as an "outside artist", much like Henry Darger.  He most certainly did not stay there.  After the success of Hunger, he began to tour and lecture, often condemning his contemporaries for what he believed to be their shortcomings, that there was not enough emphasis placed on the interior voice, the crevices of the human mind.

His choice of narrative style became clear, and was incredibly successful in his 1894 novel Pan:

Thomas Glahn is the main character.  He lives on the edge of a city, and of Nature (capital N).  He often states in the novel that he is a child of the forest, and enjoys solitude.  Nonetheless, he is still a part of society, though he often commits social gaffes.  The novel goes through summer he spent in Nordland, from the voice of his own memory.  Often a rambling and unreliable Narrator, Hamsun creates a vivid and enticing charachter in Glahn, and most remarkably, an erotic one.

One of the most striking aspects of the book, and the plot points that most reveal Glahn as a character, are his relationships with women.  There is Edvarda, the fickle but beautiful highborn lady who loves Glahn for his Animal Eyes.  Eva is sweet, married to the blacksmith, but nonetheless drawn to Glahn and gives up all her other happiness to be with him.  Henriette, a milkmaid, passes through the story fleetingly.  These women define Glahn, although he himself dismisses them quite out of hand.  He somehow attracts women without a thought, but is ultimately unsuccessful at any kind of long lasting relationship. 

Drawn between moments of pathos, serenity and extreme anger, Glahn embodies the myth of Pan.  The eroticism of the myth is combined with a man who is of nature at the same time as society.  The myth weaves through the book and strengthens the overall narrative.

I don't think that ther e is any one way to read this book.  It is SO incredibly subjective.  He could be a psychopath.  Or maybe a Rousseauian man of nature.  Maybe Glahn is meant to be read by Freudian or Jungian theorists.  You can find legitimate examples for each.  For the rest of us, who are content to read the tales and either enjoy them or not, Pan is a must read.  You will never forget the short, but meandering, narrative of Thomas Glahn.  And you will be suprised by his selfishness and sacrifice. 

Ta for now,

ET