
LOOK BACK ON HAPPINESS - KNUT HAMSUN - Translated from the Norwegian By PAULA WIKING
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A weary city dweller abandons wealth and routine, stepping into a remote forest seeking nothing but the woods themselves. In a modest peat hut, he shares his space with a mouse he calls Madame, and his days unfold in simple rituals—cutting pine twigs for a bed, boiling snow for coffee, and listening to the wind's whispers. The narrator's voice drifts between stark description and philosophical musing, questioning the meaning of success, the nature of truth, and the possibility of true peace.
Through encounters with fleeting travelers, the sudden appearance of reindeer, and the endless cycle of snow and sky, he measures his existence against the vast, indifferent landscape. The book invites listeners to feel the cold breath of winter, the crackle of a fire, and the quiet confidence that comes from living deliberately apart from society's noise. It is a contemplative walk into solitude, offering a gentle challenge to reconsider what we call happiness.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (328K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Eric Eldred, Robert Connal and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
Release date
2005-07-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1859–1952
A restless, psychologically daring novelist, he helped change the modern novel with works like Hunger, Pan, and Growth of the Soil. Awarded the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, he remains one of Norway’s most influential and most debated writers.
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