Chapter the Last

<p>New edition of the 1929 English-language version of Nobel Prize winner Knut Hamsun's 1923 novel <em>Det Siste Kapitel</em>. Translated from the Norwegian by Arthur G. Chater.</p><p></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 0.9); color: rgba(60 60 60 1)>Chapter the Last</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 0.9); color: rgba(60 60 60 1)> is set in the Torahus sanatorium where the sufferings of most of the patients are related to civilization.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 0.9); color: rgba(60 60 60 1)>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.</span></p><p></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 0.9); color: rgba(60 60 60 1)>Chapter the Last</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 0.9); color: rgba(60 60 60 1)> 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 </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 0.9); color: rgba(60 60 60 1)>The Magic Mountain</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 0.9); color: rgba(60 60 60 1)> which was published the year after.</span></p><p> </p>