The Great HungerGrosset & Dunlap, 1919 - 328 pages A novel about the lure and shortcomings of modern technology. |
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asked Aunt Marit beard began boat breath Bruseth Christiania concertina cottar cried dark dear door dreams dress Egypt eyes face farm father fellow felt Ferdinand Holm fire fjord Fröken gazing girl glance glass grey Gudbrandsdal gunwale hair hand happy head heaven hills horse hymn Jehovah Jotunheim Khedive Klaus Brock knew lake Langberg laugh lifted light live Lofoten look Loreng Lorentz Louise machine Merle miracles of science morning mother never night Norway once Peer's pince-nez Raastad Ringeby rocking a little round sæter seemed shap singing sitting Skaal skerries sleep smile smithy snow soon soul staring steel stood suddenly sure talk there's things thought Peer to-day took town Tröen turned uncon Uthoug violin waiting walked wife window young
Popular passages
Page 19 - Peter Ronningen dropped his oars and sent his knife straight in between the beast's eyes. The blade pierced through to the brain, and the grip of the teeth relaxed. "Cc-cursed dd-devil!" stammered Peter, as he scrambled back to his oars. Another moment, and Peer had dragged himself clear and was kneeling by the forward thwart, holding the ragged sleeve of his wounded arm, while the blood trickled through his fingers. When at last they were pulling homeward, the little boat overloaded with the weight...
Page 326 - Honour to thee, 0 spirit of man. Thou givest a soul to the world, thou settest it a goal, thou art the hymn that lifts it into harmony; therefore turn back into thyself, lift high thy head and meet proudly the evil that comes to thee. Adversity can crush thee, death can blot thee out, yet art thou still unconquerable and eternal.
Page 325 - We are flung by the indifferent law of the universe into a life that we cannot order as we would ; we are ravaged by injustice, by sickness and sorrow, by fire and blood. Even the happiest must die. In his own home he is but on a visit. He never knows but that he may be gone tomorrow. And yet man smiles and laughs in the face of his tragic fate. In the midst of his thraldom he has created the beautiful on earth; in the midst of his torments he has had so much surplus energy of soul that he has sent...
Page 322 - This will it was that by and by grew and grew in me, and made me strong. I began to feel an unspeakable compassion for all men upon earth, and yet in the last resort I was proud that I was one of them. I understood how blind fate can strip and plunder us of all, and yet something will remain in us at the last, that nothing in heaven or earth can vanquish. Our bodies are doomed to die, and our spirit to be extinguished, yet still we bear within us the spark, the germ of an eternity of harmony and...
Page 322 - Our bodies are doomed to die. and our spirit to be extinguished, yet still we bear within us the spark, the germ of an eternity of harmony and light both for the world and for God. "And I knew now that what I had hungered after in my best years was neither knowledge, nor honour, nor riches ; nor to be a priest or a great creator in steel; no, friend, but to build temples; not chapels for prayers...
Page 257 - ... passion so deep, any faithfulness so perfect, any suffering so keen, as their own. No wonder Roderick's thoughts soon drifted back from the dead past to the living present, and he wearied himself with troubled conjectures as to what his mother would do next; and, if so, what he must do next, till he came to the conclusion that the best thing would be to do nothing till after Bella's marriage. So, returning home, he took his place there as if nothing were amiss ; helped his mother and Bella as...
Page 325 - I did not do this for Christ's sake, or because I loved my enemy ; but because, standing upon the ruins of my life, I felt a vast responsibility. Mankind must arise, and be better than the blind powers that order its ways ; in the midst of its sorrows it must take heed that the god-like does not die.
Page 17 - ... tackle a man twice his size on dry land. Once more Peer was jerked almost overboard. He thought of the forest fire the year before — it would never do to have another such mishap on his shoulders. Suppose the great monster did come up and capsize them — they were ever so far from land. What a to-do there would be if they were all drowned, and it came out that it was his fault. Involuntarily he felt for his knife to cut the line — then thrust it back again, and went on hauling. Here it comes...
Page 322 - I began to feel an unspeakable compassion for all men upon earth, and yet, in the last resort, I was proud that I was one of them. "I understood how blind fate can strip and plunder us all, and yet something will remain in us at the last, that nothing in heaven or earth can vanquish. "Our bodies are doomed to die, and our spirit to be extinguished, yet still we bear within us the spark, the germ of our eternity, of harmony and light both for the world and for God. "And I knew now...
Page 127 - To help mankind to make quicker progress — is that nothing?" "Lord! What I'd like to know is, where mankind are making for, that they're in such a hurry." "That the Nile Barrage has doubled the production of corn in Egypt — created the possibilities of life for millions of human beings — is that nothing?" "My good fellow, do you really think there aren't enough fools on this earth already? Have we too little wailing and misery and discontent and class-hatred as it is? Why must we go about to...