Watch: talk on Hamsun and psychoanalysis

Here is a video taped talk on Nobel Laureate Knut Hamsun’s On Overgrown Path and his relation to psychoanalysis. After the war Hamsun was accused of treason and subjected to involuntary psychiatric examination. The humiliation he experienced has led some scholars to argue that Hamsun was mistreated at the hands of his fellow Norwegians. This talk puts forward the perspective that not only was it reasonable to investigate Hamsun’s sanity; his ongoing relation to the burgeoning science of psychoanalysis enabled him to write several works of art that have since become regarded as literary classics. This is a taped version of a talk given at the Centre for Scandinavian Studies’ Conference in Lund, Sweden, on 17 May, 2019. The video is approx. 25 minutes.

Posted 6 Jun, 2019. Modified 13 Jun, 2026.
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About Torgeir Fjeld
Torgeir Fjeld is a writer, publisher, and educational administrator, holding PhDs in Philosophy (EGS, 2017) and Cultural Theory (Roehampton, 2012). His publications include Introducing Ereignis: Philosophy, Technology, Way of Life (2022) and Rock Philosophy (2019), with articles in Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, International Journal of Žižek Studies, and elsewhere. He serves as Head of Ereignis Center for Philosophy and the Arts, Publisher at Tankebanen forlag, and Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Inscriptions, and has taught at universities across North America, Europe, and Africa. Torgeir Fjeld‘s latest talk was “Snow blind: on inoperativity and desolation in Askildsen, Fosse, and Naess” at 50 years of Scandinavian studies in Gdańsk, University of Gdańsk, Poland in November 2025. Here is section dedicated to poetry in translation. This page has a cookie policy.
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