Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun.
Born in 1859, Knut Hamsun drew inspiration from the people on the land in his native Norway. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 for Growth of the Soil. He was pilloried late in his life for his German sympathies, which extended to support of the Nazis. In recent times he has been at least partially redeemed after it was revealed he was never a Nazi and pleaded with Hitler to free Norwegian Jews.
Growth of the Soil is the epic story of Isak who takes up residence on a tract of wilderness and over time subdues and cultivates it. He takes a wife, Inger, and they start a family as they expand their farm and build their future through sheer hard work.
Not all goes well, however. There are the travails of drought, and the temptations of an easier life through mining or commerce. Most disturbing of all, Inger - herself disfigured with a harelip - is eventually convicted and imprisoned for murdering a baby daughter born with the same physical deformation.
Throughout the book stands the towering figure of Isak: simple, honest, strong, incapable of deep communication or emotional expression; but a rock for his family and community, and committed to working in harmony with the land.
Hamsun examines many moral issues in the novel, associated with modernity, notions of progress and development. There is also a polemic on discrimination against women in society and the rights of the child, which must have been groundbreaking at the time of writing.
Additionally, there is a close examination of desire and motivation; this is an intimate study of human nature across all phases of life. Indeed, Hamsun pioneered techniques of stream of consciousness and inner dialogue that were used by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.
We see Inger transformed through the opportunities and hardships life offers her; she sins and is called to account, and finally finds solace in Christianity: "once more it is seen that the fear of the Lord and contentment therewith are a precious gain."
There is also a curious character in the novel named Geissler, a former magistrate in the village and entrepreneur. He intervenes in Inger's case securing a pardon; he discovers precious metal on Isak's land and ensures Isak gets a share of the wealth; he turns up at critical moments to reward the good and punish the greedy and gossips and those who are judgmental.
Overall this is a classic of literature which deserves to be more widely read. A new English version of his novels was published this year. For those who see stories as intrinsically linked to the moral development of the read, this is a perfect example. Moreover, the themes of the importance of the land under threat from competing interests - including mining - are just as relevant for Australia in 2010.
