Perhaps then, this “uncompromising nature” would be the proof of the sublime (for F. Knutsen according to which it is Glahn’s “pride” that refrains him from coming back to Edvarda and becomes a “cage” in which he is willingly locked and in which he will “eventually perish”, and interpret them AGAINST themselves, that is, to the advantage of the Hamsunian protagonists. Nettum’s argument concerning Nagel’s “inability to compromise” as a reason of his failure/death, add to it the opinion of Nils M. The article presents a philosophical and psychological interpretation of two spectacular Hamsunian protagonists: Thomas Glahn (Pan) and Johan Nagel (Mysterier). Keywords: Knut Hamsun, På turné, critique, Norwegian literature, “the great four”, realism, psychology This approach enables one to grasp some of its paradoxes, e.g.: the discrepancy between Hamsun’s early literary stance (neo-romanticism and militant, anti-bourgeois views) and the shape his work assumed later on (didacticism, the tendency to morally judge his heroes, support for the vulgar ideology of fascism, etc.). In the final part of the paper 'På turné' is evaluated with regard to the ways of how Hamsun’s own oeuvre has evolved in time. These insights, however, have to be separated from Hamsun’s hasty generalizations concerning the work of Bjørnson, Lie, Kielland, and Ibsen which I defend against Hamsun’s malicious argumentation. I argue that some of Hamsun’s opinions concerning the function and the mode of making literature are still up-to-date and thought-provoking. The final part of the article involves a critical assessment of Hamsun’s endeavor. In two first sections of the text I follow Hamsun’s scornful arguments against Norwegian realistic literature (as represented mainly by “the great four” writers: Bjørnson, Ibsen, Lie and Kielland) in an attempt to concisely present Hamsun’s reformatory plan according to which Norwegian literature should be freed from its entanglement in didacticism and social bias and redirected onto a path of a deeper psychology.

These texts constitute Hamsun’s theoretical and literary manifesto (1891), which up to this day has remained an important introduction to his early and most acclaimed work. The article presents a critical reading of Knut Hamsun’s På turné – the collection of Hamsun’s three polemic lectures entitled: “Norsk litteratur”, “Psykologisk litteratur” and “Modelitteratur”.

Knut hamsun glad