![]() All humans are in fact unique individuals even though they do not always appear so in the external social environment. Thus the intended objectivity in realist portrayals of human beings is only an illusion: literature cannot avoid being subjective. In contrast to this, the modernists, including the young Hamsun, thought that people as certain types within a societal context are merely an artificial construction that is used to make reality more tangible. ![]() This was one of the ways in which literature guaranteed objectivity and closeness to reality. ![]() In spite of their individualised character and their frequent psychological depth, realist and naturalist literary figures were representatives of certain human types, and one of the basic functions of these figures was to illustrate general social conditions. ![]() ![]() Hamsun was of the view that contemporary realist and naturalist novels described human beings superficially. In other words the author emphasises themes that primarily concern the human soul or the human mind. Several typical modernist themes can be found in the novels of Hamsun mentioned above: feelings of alienation, dividedness, existential emptiness and a yearning for an authentic way of life. ![]()
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