Quite a short book, written in 1890 by a young Norwegian writer who went on to won the Nobel Prize (and in his old age became a Fascist). It seemed to me to fit fairly comfortably between Dostoyevsky and Joyce, with the former’s existential angst and the latter’s intimate but also intensely geographical observation of humanity. Hamsun’s hero is prettty deranged but very convincing in his derangement.
My edition also features a 20-page essay by translator Sverre Lyngstad explaining why an earlier translation, by Robert Bly, is terrible.
Maybe it comes of having once been a cryptic crossword person, but I immediately saw that “pride” had two meanings: a Deadly Sin, and a bunch of lions. I didn’t see it as a trick: just a clever question!
But, of course, I failed the pop culture quiz thoroughly and absolutely!