Victoria

About “Victoria”

When it first appeared in 1898, Victoria was the fourth novel by Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun. It received immediate recognition for its poetic and psychologically intense depiction of love in a class-bound society. The story is set in a coastal village in late nineteenth-century Norway and follows two lovers whose relationship is doomed by social barriers. Johannes, the son of a miller, is inspired by his deep love for Victoria, an impoverished aristocrat bound by family obligations. They are separated by class and social pressure, and they part ways, only to realize too late the sorrow of their lost chance. The novel was recently translated by Sverre Lyngstad.