- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc (31 Dec 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0374525277
- ISBN-13: 978-0374525279
- Product Dimensions: 21.9 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,201,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Mysteries (Condor Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The arrival in an unremarkable Norwegian town of Johan Nilsen Nagel, wearing a loud yellow suit and toting a violin case, is the first of many mysteries to unfold in Hamsun's masterwork, set and written in the late 1800s. Within the first few pages yet more enigmatic individuals, objects and events are introduced: a death in the woods, a white-haired beauty, a bottle of poison, allusions to a long-dead romance, and documents hinting at great wealth.
Nagel upsets the status quo of life in this "town-of-no-importance", at turns engaging and enraging the citizenry with his curious blend of brutal honesty and wild prevarication. "Man is certainly an ass," says Nagel, "You can lead him by the nose wherever you want him to go." Indeed, Nagel is a master of mind games, not necessarily malicious in nature and often employed in demonstration. Yet, in this, he is a paradox, whose lies are not always lies and whose motivations are often hard to discern.
As the story develops, more mysteries are introduced. There is a veiled woman who visits for a short time, a dead dog, and a broken chair that arouses unfathomable desire. Most mysterious of all though is Nagel himself, his actions fluctuating between the extremely philanthropic and the frighteningly sinister. Nagel is a non-conformist who is often dismayed with the company of his fellow men and seeks communion with nature during extended periods in the wild forests surrounding the town. These mental and physical wanderings provide an insight into the mind of this engaging character.
Despite occasional forays into politics, Mysteries is largely a social commentary and exploration of what it is means for Nagel, and others, to be outsiders - at times satisfied and at times disenchanted by solitude. Detached and voyeuristic, Nagel is highly perceptive but emotionally and socially flawed. He is like a man capable of understanding the structure of a crystal but who would shatter it in clumsy fingers should he attempt to pick it up.
Nagel's obsessions with the town's women, married or otherwise, and his hot-cold relationship with the meek and outwardly-simple `Midget' are central to the novel and contribute to his wild mood swings and descent to the edge of reason. Following a momentous birthday, Nagel's behaviour becomes increasingly eccentric. His drunken rants, in which he expounds on politics and waxes philosophical about the so-called `great men' of the day, become more frequent and controversial.
The crisp and clear narrative of Mysteries is enhanced by occasional first-person streams of consciousness detailing Nagel's daydreams, and vivid descriptions of his frequent hallucinatory nightmares. First published in 1892, Mysteries is just part of Hamsun's remarkable canon, considerably before its time in style and content and of great inspiration to many later writers including literary heavyweights and fellow Nobel laureates Thomas Mann, Herman Hesse, Ernest "Hamsun taught me to write" Hemingway, and Isaac Bashevis Singer, who said "the whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun."
Nagel upsets the status quo of life in this "town-of-no-importance", at turns engaging and enraging the citizenry with his curious blend of brutal honesty and wild prevarication. "Man is certainly an ass," says Nagel, "You can lead him by the nose wherever you want him to go." Indeed, Nagel is a master of mind games, not necessarily malicious in nature and often employed in demonstration. Yet, in this, he is a paradox, whose lies are not always lies and whose motivations are often hard to discern.
As the story develops, more mysteries are introduced. There is a veiled woman who visits for a short time, a dead dog, and a broken chair that arouses unfathomable desire. Most mysterious of all though is Nagel himself, his actions fluctuating between the extremely philanthropic and the frighteningly sinister. Nagel is a non-conformist who is often dismayed with the company of his fellow men and seeks communion with nature during extended periods in the wild forests surrounding the town. These mental and physical wanderings provide an insight into the mind of this engaging character.
Despite occasional forays into politics, Mysteries is largely a social commentary and exploration of what it is means for Nagel, and others, to be outsiders - at times satisfied and at times disenchanted by solitude. Detached and voyeuristic, Nagel is highly perceptive but emotionally and socially flawed. He is like a man capable of understanding the structure of a crystal but who would shatter it in clumsy fingers should he attempt to pick it up.
Nagel's obsessions with the town's women, married or otherwise, and his hot-cold relationship with the meek and outwardly-simple `Midget' are central to the novel and contribute to his wild mood swings and descent to the edge of reason. Following a momentous birthday, Nagel's behaviour becomes increasingly eccentric. His drunken rants, in which he expounds on politics and waxes philosophical about the so-called `great men' of the day, become more frequent and controversial.
The crisp and clear narrative of Mysteries is enhanced by occasional first-person streams of consciousness detailing Nagel's daydreams, and vivid descriptions of his frequent hallucinatory nightmares. First published in 1892, Mysteries is just part of Hamsun's remarkable canon, considerably before its time in style and content and of great inspiration to many later writers including literary heavyweights and fellow Nobel laureates Thomas Mann, Herman Hesse, Ernest "Hamsun taught me to write" Hemingway, and Isaac Bashevis Singer, who said "the whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun."
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If William Blake had written reasonably accessible novels it may well have turned out like this.
It's dangerous, powerful and beguiling, describing an existence precariously balanced on the edge of the world. It feels like a novel going beyond literature, written by a man seeking to break out of humanity.
Sorry about the hyperbole, but it is the greatest book I've ever read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A: Almost always involuntary.
An intriguing book which triggers all manner of after-thoughts and resonances.
One of the deepest-page turners I've ever read and I try to only read deep page-turners. It had me marvelling at the possibilities presented by each new person I am yet to encounter in my life.
This is my favourite Hamsun so far. It's easy to see why Isaac Bashevis Singer was such a fan even though Hamsun was big mates with Hitler.
An intriguing book which triggers all manner of after-thoughts and resonances.
One of the deepest-page turners I've ever read and I try to only read deep page-turners. It had me marvelling at the possibilities presented by each new person I am yet to encounter in my life.
This is my favourite Hamsun so far. It's easy to see why Isaac Bashevis Singer was such a fan even though Hamsun was big mates with Hitler.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Another tale of a lonely outsider
I should mention at the beginning of this review that I read this in the original Norwegian, so I unfortunately can't tell you if this translation is any better than others might... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Blackbeard
Norses for courses
Part way into this novel, the only mystery to me was how it attracts such glowing reviews. But on re-reading them carefully I see it appeals to a certain audience. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2010 by Top Banana
hamsun's magical mysteries
To dissect Knut Hamsun's Mysteries as one would an ordinary novel is impossible. This is a book in which nothing is quite as it seems to be, and the more closely the reader... Read more
Published on 4 May 2009 by P. Evans
Certainly a mystery
I enjoyed this book for all the reasons mentioned in the earlier reviews. The style is contrasting and somewhat mysterious like the plot itself. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2009 by H. Tee
Why should you read this book?
Because it's undoubtedly one of the finest novels ever written. And that comes from someone who loathes hyperbole. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2009 by G. Lewis
Knut Hamsun - Mysteries
Remarkable! After reading Hunger, I thought anything I read by Hamsun could only be nearly as good. I was quite wrong. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2008 by RachelWalker
Hamsun's Greatest Work
As the other reviewers have described, this is a novel on the edge: a book on the cusp of the death of the old order of certainty, and the birth of a new and frightening one of... Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2007 by Riddley
Flawless.
This book is one of the few that will genuinely change your life.
I have never read anything before that so acutely captures the absurd fluctuations within the human frame, and... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2000 by Robert Johnson
beautiful and strange
This is the third book by Hamsun that I have read and it has strengthened my admiration and liking of him. Read more
Published on 11 July 2000
Living on the edge, an existential masterpiece.
A timeless novel written by a craftsman. What strikes you and keeps you alive throughout the whole novel is the overwhelming sense of risk and unpredictability. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 1998
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