His themes range from lyrics and poetry to language disputes, infanticide, tourism, agriculture, industry and Norway as a nation among other nations. He wrote letters to the editor, public commentaries, travelogues, reviews, essays, feature articles, obituaries, appeals, speeches, lectures, prefaces, portraits, leaflets and more.
In the course of 70 years, Hamsun authored many articles in the myriad genres and mazes of factual prose, from the modest “Kirkesangen i Vikør” (Church Singing in Vikør) in the newspaper Søndre Bergenhus Folkeblad (1879) to the speech in Sand Magistrate’s Court, which was incorporated into the book On Overgrown Paths (1949). His political engagement, however, is most evident in his essays. But already the next two novels, Shallow Soil (1893) and Editor Lynge (1893), belong to the genre of “novel with a purpose” in the tradition of critical realism, whose tendencies and representative types were to distinguish Hamsun’s later novels. Nor is Mysteries (1892) a typical contribution to social debate, despite the protagonist Nagel’s discussions of politics and his attempts to convince others of his political views. Hunger (1890) was hardly intended as a contribution to social debate, even though the novel rests on the naturalist premise of writing straight from one’s own life. His writings may well be seen in the context of the social development he himself was a part of, but not all of his writings are equally relevant from a political point of view.
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