Knut Hamsun's Pan is considered by some to be his best book. It's certainly entertaining and odd and frightening - just what you'd want from good ol' Knut.
Lt. Glahn lives in the mountains, hunts and fishes for his food, and leads an aesthetic (pantheistic?) life in a brokedown cottage. He meets the daughter of a businessman, Edvarda, takes a shine to her, and they begin a romance where nothing is sacred. They love and hate each other, console and berate each other, publicly and privately praise and chastise one another. They pretend the balling on the side the other does doesn't bother them, and they control their fury until they can't: Evarda's eruptions are met with Glahn's passive aggressive ambivalence, and the cycle begins again. It's a perfect scenario.
In periods of isolation, Glahn drifts between madness and awe at the God who created the Norwegian nature wherein he finds himself. At the novels end, Edvarda asks to take care of his dog Aesop as he prepares to ship out. Glahn agrees - he shoots Aesop in the head and has him delivered to Edvarda. Love is grand.
But that's not the end of the book. A nameless narrator takes over the epilogue. Glahn and the narrator are in India per their orders. They shoot and hunt and make plays for the one sexy Tamil girl. I won't spoil the ending. They book is Gatsby length, so read it your self.
Lt. Glahn lives in the mountains, hunts and fishes for his food, and leads an aesthetic (pantheistic?) life in a brokedown cottage. He meets the daughter of a businessman, Edvarda, takes a shine to her, and they begin a romance where nothing is sacred. They love and hate each other, console and berate each other, publicly and privately praise and chastise one another. They pretend the balling on the side the other does doesn't bother them, and they control their fury until they can't: Evarda's eruptions are met with Glahn's passive aggressive ambivalence, and the cycle begins again. It's a perfect scenario.
In periods of isolation, Glahn drifts between madness and awe at the God who created the Norwegian nature wherein he finds himself. At the novels end, Edvarda asks to take care of his dog Aesop as he prepares to ship out. Glahn agrees - he shoots Aesop in the head and has him delivered to Edvarda. Love is grand.
But that's not the end of the book. A nameless narrator takes over the epilogue. Glahn and the narrator are in India per their orders. They shoot and hunt and make plays for the one sexy Tamil girl. I won't spoil the ending. They book is Gatsby length, so read it your self.
9 comments:
I would but I'm knee deep in Marilynne Robinson's defense of John Calvin and Puritanism and Mike Edison's celebration of his life in porn and punk rock.
7PM at Barclays?
correct, sir
i just read on the internet that bill clinton has been mashing the fair gina gershon. outstanding...
He also just apologized for calling reporter a "scumbag." Hillary is also in the news for reportedly saying that she will accept the VP position "if it helps the Democratic party." What a martyer.
We are dumb. How else can you explain that none of us realized what total creeps the Clintons are?
my head hurts. I think if Obama wins in November, I'm going to celebrate with milk.
where the hell are you guys?Dr., is there any chili left?
scrambling to catch up after my day off yesterday, when all those things I needed to get done did not
the chili is kaput; plenty of broccoli though...
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