Pan (novel)
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Pan is an 1894 novel by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun. Writing it while he lived in Paris and in Kristiansand, Norway, Hamsun was directly influenced by the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky. It remains one of his most famous works today.
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[edit] Plot summary
Lieutenant Thomas Glahn, a hunter and ex-military man, lives alone in a hut in the forest with his faithful dog Aesop. Upon meeting Edvarda, the daughter of a merchant in a nearby town, he is strongly attracted to her, but she is fickle, having affairs with several of the town's young men. Overwhelmed by rejection, Glahn behaves childishly toward Edvarda and humiliates her friend, the Doctor, whose affection for her has created a love triangle. Glahn, wearing his fine military uniform, visits Edvarda for the last time. She asks for the dog as something to remember Glahn by. Instead of graciously allowing her to have Aesop, he is afraid that she will abuse the dog, so he shoots Aesop and sends her the corpse before he sails off for duty.
[edit] Symbolism
The changing seasons are reflected in the plot: Edvarda and Glahn fall in love in spring; make love in the summer; and end their relationship in the autumn.
The contradicting symbols of culture and nature are important in the novel: Glahn belongs to nature, while Edvarda belongs to culture.
Much of what happens between Glahn and Edvarda is foreshadowed when Glahn dreams of two lovers. The lovers' conversations also foretend the future.
[edit] Epilogue
The Epilogue: Glahn's Death is a number of stories told about Glahn ending with his "accidental" shooting and death. However, this is contradictory, since the body of the novel was narrated by Glahn, and thus it can be theorized that he wrote this as well. It is possible that he faked his death, simply for the purposes of the novel. Another possible reason for the "death" is that Glahn was ultimately getting back at Edvarda for their failed attempts at love.
[edit] Film adaptations
The novel has been adapted for film four times. The first was a Norwegian silent film directed by Harald Schwenzen in 1922. In 1937, a German-made version was produced under the sponsorship of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who considered Hamsun one of his favorite authors. Goebbels had initially attempted to get Greta Garbo for this film, but was unsuccessful, and he did not like the finished film, which became the first foreign film to be released in Norway with its soundtrack dubbed into Norwegian. The next version, a color production by the Swedish studio Sandrews, was directed by Bjarne Henning-Jensen and released in 1962 under the title Kort är sommaren (Summer is short). A Danish/Norwegian/German version, directed by Danish director Henning Carlsen, was released in 1995.[1] The book is also the basis of Guy Maddin's 1997 Canadian film Twilight of the Ice Nymphs.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Arne Lund, "Knut Hamsun at the movies in transnational contexts", Nordlit, vol. 25, pp. 43-49 (2009).
- ^ William Beard, Into the Past: The Cinema of Guy Maddin (University of Toronto Press, 2010), ISBN 978-1442610668, pp.131ff. Excerpts available at Google Books.
[edit] External links
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