Hamsun Critique

I find it hard to categorize this piece as experimental. While I would not call it mainstream by any means, I do not see it exploring any new styles or techniques. It in fact seems reminiscent of Earnest Hemingway’s plain style, just simple facts and observations. There is no description of what the men are doing while they are talking; it simply relates the events as they occurred. It was the somber tone which pulled me to this piece in particular. I liked how it felt like a story someone older would tell you. Not as a bedtime story, but as equals, the kind of story they would hide from you as a child. The setting also helps with this image of something distant from my understanding that fascinates me, knowledge yet untapped.  Not much details or descriptions, just what happened. Ironically, this is probably the most common type of storytelling available, though perhaps not so much in writing. I enjoyed the piece. It felt complete in an incomplete way. Less like a chapter ripped out of a book but more like a story that ended too soon due to a tragedy, such as the one depicted. That’s what I really like about it.  I hope to imitate that someday, but I do not feel ready to attempt it just yet, as I find endings the most difficult part of a piece.  I find it successful as a piece, but not as a piece of experimental fiction.