Mysteries
First edition cover
AuthorKnut Hamsun
Original titleMysterier
TranslatorGerry Bothmer
CountryNorway
LanguageDanish
GenrePsychological novel
PublisherGyldendal Norsk Forlag
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Penguin Classics
Publication date
1892 (Norway)
1922 (USA)
1971 (USA)
2001
Media typePrint
Pages352
Preceded byHunger 
Followed byRedaktør Lynge 

Mysteries (Norwegian: Mysterier, 1892) is the second novel by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun.

Plot

The community of a small Norwegian coastal town is shaken by the arrival of eccentric stranger Johan Nagel, who proceeds to shock, bewilder, and beguile its bourgeois inhabitants with his bizarre behavior, feverish rants, and uncompromising self-revelations.[1][2]

Publication

The novel was originally published in Norwegian in Norway in 1892. In 1922, Knopf published the first English translation, a bowdlerized translation by Arthur G. Chater.[3] Another translation by Gerry Bothmer was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1971, with an afterword by Isaac Bashevis Singer, who said, "The whole school of fiction in the 20th century stems from Hamsun."[4] Mysteries is said to have "the shape and spirit of the modern novel, produced at a time when the modern novel did not yet exist".[2] Penguin published a third translation into English by Sverre Lyngstad in 2001.[5]

The novel inspired Paul Juon to write his tone-poem for cello and orchestra, "Mysteries" op.59, written in 1914 and published in 1928. [6]

The 1978 film Mysteries was based on the novel.

References

  1. ↑ James Wood, "Addicted to Unpredictability," London Review of Books, Vol. 20, No. 23, November 26, 1998.
  2. 1 2 Jeffrey Frank, "In From the Cold," The New Yorker, December 26, 2005.
  3. ↑ Hamsun, Knut (2001-01-01). Mysteries. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-118618-4.
  4. ↑ Walter Gibbs, "Norwegian Nobel Laureate, Once Shunned, Is Now Celebrated," New York Times, February 27, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Mysteries by Knut Hamsun: 9780141186184 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  6. ↑ "Nordic Brevity Meets Unknown Russian Symphony from Late 1930s : Seen and Heard International". Retrieved 2020-04-24.


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