Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
There is a quiet power in the rhythm of the seasons that Knut Hamsun captured with startling clarity in his 1917 novel, Growth of the Soil. Long before the…
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There is a quiet power in the rhythm of the seasons that Knut Hamsun captured with startling clarity in his 1917 novel, Growth of the Soil. Long before the modern world accelerated into its current frenetic pace, Hamsun looked toward the Norwegian highlands to find a different measure of time. His Nobel Prize-winning work stands as a monumental meditation on the bond between humanity and the earth, presented not as a simple pastoral idyll but as a demanding, often brutal covenant. The narrative follows Isak, a solitary settler who builds a homestead from barren wilderness through sheer will and physical labor. As he cultivates the land, he also cultivates a family, navigating the complexities of marriage, community, and the encroaching shadow of industrialization. Hamsun’s prose moves with the slow, deliberate cadence of agricultural life, employing early stream-of-consciousness techniques to reveal the inner lives of characters deeply rooted in their environment. This is a story of resilience, where the soil itself acts as a silent witness to joy, tragedy, and the passage of generations.
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Public domain & narration
Growth of the Soil was first published in 1917. Works first published before 1931 are in the public domain in the United States, so the text is free to read, share and adapt. This English edition is the translation by W. W. Worster. The edition shown here comes from Project Gutenberg, which publishes only books that are in the US public domain.
The narration is the LibriVox recording read by Greg W.. LibriVox volunteers dedicate their recordings to the public domain.
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Chapters
- 01 - Book One, Chapter I (19:33) · watch
- 02 - Book One, Chapter II (17:37) · watch
- 03 - Book One, Chapter III (21:30) · watch
- 04 - Book One, Chapter IV (25:54) · watch
- 05 - Book One, Chapter V (19:49) · watch
- 06 - Book One, Chapter VI (29:24) · watch
- 07 - Book One, Chapter VII (25:02) · watch
- 08 - Book One, Chapter VIII (22:45) · watch
- 09 - Book One, Chapter IX (24:02) · watch
- 10 - Book One, Chapter X (22:44) · watch
- 11 - Book One, Chapter XI (18:55) · watch
- 12 - Book One, Chapter XII (24:49) · watch
- 13 - Book One, Chapter XIII (22:57) · watch
- 14 - Book One, Chapter XIV (32:00) · watch
- 15 - Book One, Chapter XV (28:01) · watch
- 16 - Book One, Chapter XVI (31:00) · watch
- 17 - Book One, Chapter XVII (29:17) · watch
- 18 - Book One, Chapter XVIII (30:41) · watch
- 19 - Book One, Chapter XIX (29:43) · watch
- 20 - Book Two, Chapter I (29:43) · watch
- 21 - Book Two, Chapter II (31:52) · watch
- 22 - Book Two, Chapter III (36:16) · watch
- 23 - Book Two, Chapter IV (39:15) · watch
- 24 - Book Two, Chapter V (33:03) · watch
- 25 - Book Two, Chapter VI (33:55) · watch
- 26 - Book Two, Chapter VII (40:32) · watch
- 27 - Book Two, Chapter VIII (25:43) · watch
- 28 - Book Two, Chapter IX (34:16) · watch
- 29 - Book Two, Chapter X (33:47) · watch
- 30 - Book Two, Chapter XI (34:43) · watch
- 31 - Book Two, Chapter XII (29:51) · watch
Full text
This work is too long to show on one page. Read it on Project Gutenberg · download ebook.txt