Knut Hamsun

On Overgrown Paths is the English title of a 1949 novel by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, and is seen as the author's attempt at proving his soundness of mind after his sanity was called into question. It was his last literary work. The book is part fiction, part diary, part an old man's apologia and part a pamphlet in …

The main character, like the title says, is a mysterious guy. Nagel arrives in a Norwegian town with plenty of money and goodwill, and though kind of an eccentric, seems to start to fit in with the local crowd. But it's almost as if Nagel only just landed on Earth, and while he wishes to live correctly, has no idea …