Slik var kjærligheten. Den kunde ruinere sin mand, gjenreise ham og brændemeærke ham igjen; den kunde elske mig idag, dig imorgen og ham imorgen nat, så ubestandig var den. Men den kunde også holde fast som et ubrytelig segl og blusse like uutslukelig til dødens stund, for så evig var den.

Hamsun was eventually invited to meet with Hitler; during the meeting he complained about the German civilian administrator in Norway Josef Terboven and ask that imprisoned Norwegian citizens be released enraging Hitler. The semiautobiographical work described a young writer's descent into near madness as a result of hunger and poverty in the Norwegian capital of Kristiania (modern name Oslo). The melodramatic story follows a poet Bjørger and his love for Laura.

The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun". The young Hamsun objected to realism and naturalism. Hamsun is considered the "leader of the Neo-Romantic revolt at the turn of the [20th] century" with works such as Hunger (1890) Mysteries (1892) Pan (1894) and Victoria (1898).