This existential novel by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun is often compared to works by Dostoevsky or Émile Zola, two of his main influences. Hunger has been called the "literary opening of the 20th century" and is a psychological narrative of a man whose interior is in a state of decay. Knut Hamsun won the Nobel Prixe for litereature and Hunger is one of his finest novels.