Chapter the Last - by Knut Hamsun (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New edition of the 1929 English-language version of Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun's 1923 novel Det Siste Kapitel. Translated from the Norwegian by Arthur G. Chater.

Chapter the Last is set in the Torahus sanatorium, where the sufferings of most of the patients are related to civilization.

The novel has a group of central characters, but no distinct main character. Among the characters is "The Suicide," who entered the sanatorium following the discovery of his wife's infidelity and threatens constantly to take his own life. Another guest is the lovely Julie d''Espard. She enters into a relationship with the bogus Count Flemming and get pregnant. When Flemming disappears one day she turns to Daniel Utby, who runs a small farm near Torahus and who represents the novel's ideological norm.

Chapter the Last is one of Hamsun's darkest novels. It was written at a time when he was much preoccupied by death. The novel is often compared with Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, which was published the year after.

Review Quotes

"Another powerful novel from 'the giant of the North.'"

- Percy Hutchinson, The New York Times, Sept. 22, 1929

"The least chapter in this last book of his puts to shame almost all contemporary American writing."

- Clifton P. Fadiman, The New Hampshire, Jan. 30, 1930

"Norwegian humor and pessimism lend distinction to this bleak novel."

- TIME Magazine, Nov. 25, 1929