Product Description

'Mysteries' is a classic of European literature, one of the seminal novels of the twentieth century. It is the story of Johan Nagel, a strange youg man who arrives to spend a summer in a small Norwegian coastal town. His presence acts as a catalyst for the hidden impulses, concealed thoughts and darker instincts of the local people. Cursed with the ability to understand the human soul, especially his own, Nagel can foresee, but cannot prevent, his own sef-destruction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45100 in Books
• Published on: 1992-02-27
• Original language: Norwegian
• Binding: Paperback
• 340 pages

Henry Miller
Mysteries "is closer to me than any other book I've read."

Rebecca West
Hamsun has the qualities that belong to the very great, the completest omniscience about human nature.

Times Literary Supplement
The most outstanding Norwegian writer since Ibsen.

Customer Reviews

Mysteries is one of my favourite books
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."

On the edge of the world.
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.

beautiful and strange
This is the third book by Hamsun that I have read and it has strengthened my admiration and liking of him. His prose is as clean and crisp as white snow, as clear as a bell at an invalid's bedside. The main character, Nagel, is strange and unpredictable. He unsettled me, but I felt compelled to read on - I wanted to know what he would do next. The people in the town, although they seem normal on the surface, all have their mysteries and secrets, some of which are never fully revealed. Nagel is vividly alive, yet unlike any person I have ever met. For him alone the book is worth reading.