Mothwise

Mothwise, also published in English as Dreamers, is a 1904 novel by Knut Hamsun. Set in a remote Nordland trading post, where everyday bustle and midnight-sun moods tangle into a comic portrait of coastal life and longing.

At its heart is a telegraph operator turned would-be inventor whose restless charm pulls him into the orbit of a powerful merchant family. Between impulsive courtships, half-serious engagements, and schemes for industrial success, his affections flicker and flare like moths at a lamp, giving the book its title’s suggestive glow.

As he pursues a breakthrough in fish-glue and a place in the local factory, ambition collides with respectability: the village pastor’s household, shop clerks, sailors, and traders all play their parts in a lively web of rumor, pride, and opportunity. In this brisk northern comedy, community gossip and commerce drive the plot as surely as desire, turning small decisions into turning points.

Written with Hamsun’s signature mix of irony and compassion, Mothwise offers a sharp, affectionate study of human restlessness. The result is a bright slice of Northern Norway at the turn of the century, where work, love, and chance keep the whole harbor humming.

"Marie van Loos, housekeeper at the Vicarage, stands by the kitchen window looking out far up the road. She knows the couple there by the fence—knows them indeed, seeing ’tis no other than Telegraph-Rolandsen, her own betrothed, and Olga the parish clerk’s daughter. It is the second time she has seen those two together this spring—now what does it mean? Save that Jomfru van Loos had a host of things to do just now, she would have gone straight up to them that moment and demanded an explanation."

This edition of Mothwise is based on the translation by W. J. Alexander Worster.