The aim of the article is to consider an issue of a split between the psychologism which dominates Knut Hamsun’s novel and the harrowing experience of an exhausted body echoing in the narration. The argumentation is based on a polemic with researchers interpreting Hamsun’s work in terms of a modernist urban novel, thereby treating titular hunger purely as a theme of the text, not as a traumatic, somatic experience structuring the entire narration. Focusing on issues often overlooked during cursory readings, brings out the innovative meanings and narrative techniques pioneering later literary turns.
