Dreamers - Knut Hamsun

 DREAMERS - KNUT HAMSUN

Knut Hamsun does 'whimsy' and who'd have thought? After the delirium of his masterpiece, Hunger, it would be reasonable to expect more of the same from the writer who Charles Bukowski once described as 'one of the greatest writers ever' but Hamsun is just full of surprises, some of them welcome some of them not so. Against what is probably my better judgement, Knut Hamsun is one of my favourite writers though I wouldn't go so far as Bukowski in saying he was one of the greatest. 

Just as Bukowski could no doubt have explained why Hamsun was so good (and I can probably guess why he would have held that view, particularly after having read Hunger) I could just as easily explain why he's one of my favourites though I don't think it would be very helpful to anyone or even myself. Sometimes something just is, and it's best to just leave it at that. A bit like life, really.

Dreamers was written in 1904 and is set in a small, isolated fishing village in northern Norway where we follow the trials and tribulations of Ove Rolandsen, the village telegraph operator as he drinks, fights, flirts and schemes. He's not the only one though. All the residents of the village are at it even if only within the privacy of their own homes. From housekeepers, factory owners, lay-helpers, curates and even wives of curates, they're all flirting and scheming like cast members of an endless soap opera. Roalandsen the telegraph operator is the biggest, however, albeit all done with an almost innocent charm.

In the way of storyline, there isn't much to say without giving away spoilers only that it's beautifully crafted and misses not a beat. It's precise, subtle, light, wry, amusing and a joy to read. What makes it all very likeable in fact reminded me of the magic realism as captured by Hilary Mantel in her 1989 novel, Fludd. Even more so, it very much reminded me of Federico Fellini's 1973 film Amacord, where the village of Fellini's childhood is depicted as a place of comical, beautiful and magical strangeness. Compare and contrast. Amacord being, in fact, one of my all-time favourite films so comparing Hamsun's Dreamers to it is actually high praise indeed.

John Serpico