Sverre Lyngstad Book order (chronological)

The novel features Gabriel Gram, a nearly middle-aged bachelor grappling with an existential crisis and contemplating suicide. Unlike other decadent protagonists, Gram's journey is infused with irony as he navigates his psychological struggles and ultimately seeks solace in a questionable religious conversion. Set in Kristiania (modern-day Oslo), the story vividly portrays Gram's interactions with male friends and the "new women" of Norway, who challenge societal norms yet resist his advances. Garborg's exploration of character depth and societal themes resonates throughout this classic work.

Nineteenth-century Kristiania is an unforgiving place, and work is thin on the ground. Roaming the streets of Norway's capital, a penniless young writer searches for inspiration whilst trying desperately to make ends meet. Driven to extraordinary lengths, sleeping under the stars with his stomach growling, the writer's behaviour becomes increasingly irrational and his world spirals into chaos. Hunger was Knut Hamsun's first novel and earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920. A disturbing and darkly humorous masterpiece of existential fiction, Hunger anticipated and influenced some of the twentieth century's most acclaimed writers including Camus, Kafka and Fante.

The Nobel Prize winner’s lyrical and disturbing portrait of love and the dark recesses of the human psyche A Penguin Classic A lone hunter accompanied only by his faithful dog, Aesop, Thomas Glahn roams Norway’s northernmost wilds. Living out of a rude hut at the edge of a vast forest, Glahn pursues his solitary existence, hunting and fishing, until the strange girl Edvarda comes into his life. Sverre Lyngstad’s superb translation of Hamsun’s 1894 novel restores the power and virtuosity of Hamsun’s original and includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.