Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

'And the leaves turn yellower, autumn is approaching, more stars have appeared in the sky, and the moon now begins to look like a shadow of silver dipped in gold. There was no frost, nothing, only a cool stillness and an abundance of life in the forest'


Writing of his new novel in a letter from Paris, in 1893, Knut Hamsun noted, "My new book will be beautiful; it takes place in Nordland, a quiet and red love story. There will be no polemics in it, just people under different skies." He did indeed live up to his letter, it's precisely that.
The Scandinavian wilderness comes alive so vividly, and there is something in the narrative that almost makes it read like a mystical fable, or even a dream within a dream.

Set deep in the forests of Norway, it follows Lt. Glahn in a deeply psychological form as he struggles to juggle his unity with nature and the feelings and experiences that defines humanity. Told in the first person he comes across as a figure of immense complexity. Enigmatic, intriguing, and carrying within him a deep melancholy. First off, I loved the straightforward narration, it's lyrical and beautifully told, sometimes in the present tense, sometimes contemplative and poetic. The story is breathtaking in its simplicity , but also strangely compelling, and so effective. Like Hamsun's words are growing from tiny seeds sewn into the earth, leaving a trail on the forest floor for the reader to follow.

Glahn is a hunter who with his dog, lives in a small hut buried in the Norwegian woods. He's closer to nature than he is to culture, and his descriptions of the natural world turns the forest into a character itself. "....I'm filled with a mysterious gratitude; everything befriends me, intermingles with me, I love all things. I pick up a dry twig, hold it in my hand and look at it as I sit there having my own thoughts. The twig is nearly rotten, its poor bark affects me, pity stirring my heart. And when I get up to go, I do not throw the twig away but lay it down and stand there feeling sorry for it." There are some achingly beautiful passages of writing, especially when Glahn is in solitude, and he is a bundle of changing emotions, with his soul rising before sinking again into a dark mood. He may have compassion for the surrounding landscapes, but when it comes to people, it's a different story. He would end up in an affair with a young woman, Eva, but shows little genuine affection for her. Like he would rather be off in the woods, making love to a log.

There is also the character of Edvarda, who is somewhat shadowy, almost like a figure seen through a slightly opaque veil. She seems unreal, and the motives behind most of her actions are inexplicable. Between the lines, there seems to be a battle between the sexes. Glahn being romantically awkward, expresses his passions for Edvarda in a way that is both fervent and hateful. You kind of want him to disappear off into the wilderness and be happy on his own. There is something in the way Hamsun writes that compels his reader onward, a spellbinding effect that not many writers can reach. Pan could be read many times, and probably should, each time retaining all its seductive charm from that first encounter.

By its finale, things are complicated somewhat, casting more light on Glahn's apparent self-destructiveness. You kind of start to realise that he is a rather unsavory character, the sorrow and likable tendencies from earlier on starts to suffer from fatigue. Throughout, the actions of Glahn are sometimes hard to fathom, and his relations with women were frustrating to me as a reader. This clearly isn't meant to read like a conventional story, and even though on the outside it's easy to read, Hamsun does require the reader to think long and hard on what is happening.

When in poetic flow with his stunning descriptions of nature, he really does hit the heights, I just would have liked there to be more of it. And at times the other characters mystified me. Having said that, this was my favourite of the four Hamsun books read so far. Just wish I could have had a gathering of trees for company.