This volume presents for the first time the fascinating story of Knut Hamsun's reception abroad. New light is shed on a writer who less than a hundred years ago was celebrated as one of the world's leading literary figures. Hamsun acquired considerable popularity in Germany and Russia from the very beginning, and was described by Isaac B. Singer, as the father of the modern school of literature. Receiving the Nobel Prize in 1920, his international readership expanded considerably, reaching all of Europe and the American continent. However, Hamsun's controversial political allegiance during the 1930s and 40s had dramatic repercussions, resulting in a story of reception whose complexity and variation from one country to another serve as an illustration of how literary history is profoundly interwoven with the larger currents of culture as well as politics.