Mysteries - Knut Hamsun
 
"The bitterness, the madness, the hatred, the contempt, the denigrations which are given free rein in "Mysteries" should not make us forget that Knut Hamsun was first and foremost a lover of nature, a loner, a poet of despair. He is capable of making us laugh at the most unexpected moments — sometimes even in the middle of a passionate love scene — and not always for the right reasons. He can, in the blink of an eye, turn a situation around. In fact, he often seems to want to free himself, to escape from his own skin. But however incisive his humor may be, however biting his recriminations may be, that does not prevent us from having the feeling, the certainty , that this is a man who loves, a man who loves love, and who is condemned never to meet a soul attuned to his. Hamsun is truly what one could call an aristocrat of the spirit. " —Henry Miller.