The Play with Genre : Knut Hamsun's 'I Æventyrland' (1903)

The purpose of this study is to explore Knut Hamsun’s I Æventyrland. Oplevet og drømt i Kaukasien (1903) as a text that interacts with some of the structural elements specific to the genre of travel literature. I have limited the investigation to the writer’s use of comparative rhetoric on a formal level, and to the function of conventional character types, with respect to content. The evaluation of these aspects of the narrative is undertaken with the aim of highlighting Hamsun’s awareness of and engagement with the tradition of travel writing and his talent for challenging its norms.