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In this study I shall consider the principal character of Knut Hamsun's Hunger (1) as a patient and present an explanation of some of the underlying mechanisms which caused his strange behavior. In a similar study, that of Franz Molnar's Liliom,(2) I discussed the question of sadistic behavior. The study of Hunger leads to a consideration of the other side of the medallion, masochism. The two conditions are always associated, yet in one instance the aggression will predominate and in the other the suppression of the sadistic impulse causes the masochism alone to be seen—on the surface.
There is little plot in Hunger. We see the introspective thoughts of a hungry man seeking employment. Some of Dostoevsky's works resemble this one, yet they usually move forward while in Hunger we only see the principal character moving in an ever narrowing circle, with final flight on a foreign vessel. The hero tries to write and lives in one squalid hovel after another. Glimpses of life among the lowly are caught here and there. Whenever a bit of money is secured for services or in an inadvertent, illicit manner, or as a loan or gift, a method is always found to dispose of it in a rapid, apparently irrational manner. Whenever success is threatening either in the achievement of the love object or of security in the form of money or employment, an unconscious withdrawal is seen. Step by step misery and want, hunger and pain, creep up and overtake….
A casual reading makes it seem that circumstances were always adverse, A careful reading shows-that there was a constant search for complete dependence—complete and abject poverty. An effort is made to be rid of the last farthing, the last button. Knowing this, we are obliged to substitute understanding for pity. The patient is unconsciously striving to accomplish his own downfall. How then are we going to reconcile this with the idea that each person is constantly striving to better his condition? What folly this, the man trying to bring suf