Susceptible Souls

It is a common saying that philosophy is the study of leftovers, therefore requiring the most inquisitive and intelligent minds to properly master the art of philosophy. I feel that this aspect of philosophy is what makes the novel Hunger so unique. If the protagonist of the novel lacked this pure absurd intelligence, readers would find no need to continue reading. Personally, the protagonist’s thoughts were what captivated me. His way of thinking, his logic, and everything else was so unique and different from the ‘normal’ human way of thinking. What is interesting about his character is his strength in logical intelligence, but his lacking in other intelligence, or street smarts. Hunger is the journey of a purely intellectual being, who just cannot seem to comprehend the ideals of his own society.

The similarities between Hamsun and his character are not surprising, and many people feel that Hunger was an autobiography. The depiction of raw human emotion is tough to capture, therefore it is only expected that the author must have felt some of these emotions firsthand. First of all, there are similarities in the sense of their living standards. As Wood describes, in ‘Knut Hamsun’s Christian Perversions’, both Hamsun and his protagonist lived in extremely poor conditions, and both contained an obsession with being a great writer, despite many failed attempts. This in itself can explain for a lot of the personality traits that Hamsun and his protagonist share.

What I found interesting was Hamsun’s awareness of his ‘susceptibility of his soul’. Personally, I would assume that a character such as the protagonist in Hunger would not have the maturity to write about his personality in such a manner as Hamsun. In order to do so, the character would have to acknowledge the fact that he was ‘plotting his own demise’, and letting pride and childish behavior get in the way of his own success. For an author so similar to the protagonist, I find it hard to believe that he was able to convey such a character in the manner he did, for I would think that his own personal pride would get in the way of this portrayal.

I also find these ties to Christianity quite peculiar. Especially when discussing existentialism, religion does not play a very significant role. In fact existentialism does not support the belief in a God. Given that, I was a bit confused at Hamsun’s decisions to incorporate aspects of the bible into his novel. Perhaps it was because of societal influences during childhood that gave him these religious concepts, but I still do not understand why he would chose to incorporate that into his novel, especially when depicting similarities between Jesus and the protagonist (who is supposedly based after himself). The only connection I can think of is that the protagonist of Hunger as well as Hamsun are depicted as hubris, and therefore this connection with Jesus just further portrays their own arrogance and pride.