Uskyldige gleder, farlige slutninger. Selvhat og fundamentalisme i Knut Hamsuns roman Den siste Glæde (1912)

Anotace: Knut Hamsunʼs prose fiction around 1890 fulfills his programmatic intention to represent modern complex individuals. Two decades later the author steps forth to chastise the nation with simplistic reactionary truths. The hero of Hamsunʼs “wanderer” novels 1906 to 1912 may be taken to parody the protagonists of Hunger, Mysteries, and Pan 1888–1894. The hysteric tone in the narratorʼs criticism of modern society in Hamsunʼs 1912 novel, The Last Joy, points to a personal motivation. The ultimate pleasure in this book seems to be indulging in his own self, an experience of nothingness associated with literature. Interpreting the authorʼs U-turn from modernist to reactionary as fueled by fear of his own findings, the lack of foundation in a world where subjectivity reigns uninhibited, this paper will focus on the implications of the narratorʼs professed but unclear conclusions, the reasons for and the nature of the authorʼs political involvement.