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THREE GENERATIONS AFTER Where does art end and politics begin? And who draws the fine line? A winner of the Nobel Prize for literature finds himself in the white-out isolation of psychiatric scrutiny, accused of national treason. Where did he slip up? After 60 years of hatred, shame and distrust, there has still been no reconciliation. The performance lets the writer talk again to someone who, three generations later, perhaps has a different viewpoint on the minefield known as freedom of thought and expression. ABOUT KNUT HAMSUN Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) was a Norwegian writer whom many regard as the father of modern literature. In 1920, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for Markens grode (The Growth of the Soil). He insisted that the intricacies of the human mind ought to be the main object of modern literature, to describe the "whisper of the blood, and the pleading of the bone marrow." Hamsun pursued his literary program, debuting in 1890 with the psychological novel Suit (Hunger). Hamsun was a prominent advocate of Germany and German culture. During WWII he supported Vidkun Quisling's National Socialist party (Nasjonal Samling) and government. He demonstrated respect for Adolf Hitler and, after Hitler's death, wrote an obituary in the leading Norwegian newspaper, describing him as a "warrior for mankind." After the war, Hamsun was accused of treason, and a mass boycott of his works ensued. Hamsun was confined for several months in a psychiatric hospital. A psychiatrist concluded he had "permanently impaired mental abilities," and on that basis the charges of treason were dropped. Instead, a civil liability case was brought against him, and in 1948 he was fined substantially for his alleged membership in the Nasjonal Samling but was cleared of any direct Nazi affiliation. Whether he was
Production The Writer has provoked a forum Quislings in the Arts with local and foreign participants, which will take place after Meeting the Authors on the 23rd September.
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