Tropic of Cancer
The clearest ancestor of Miller’s hungry, humiliated writer wandering a city.
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Hunger
by Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun’s feverish portrait of a penniless young writer walking Kristiania while hunger dismantles his reason and pride.
- 1890
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeA nearly penniless writer wanders Kristiania trying to preserve his dignity while hunger makes his thinking increasingly irrational. The novel turns deprivation, artistic obsession, pride, and humiliation into an intensely modern interior voice.
What's inside
A starving writer walks the city, attempts to work, refuses help, and repeatedly sabotages his own chances of stability as hunger closes in.
Why we recommend it
The starving writer before Miller
Its pride, artistic obsession, irrationality, and humiliation established the broke-writer novel decades before Tropic of Cancer.
What this book explores
Book editions
- Paperback
- Penguin Classics
- 2003
- 9780141180649
Reader reviews
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document Hunger, its publication, and its place in literary history.
1Hunger
NovelP.G. Philipsen, 1890Used forPrimary source for the novel and its publication record.
i
Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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