Knut Hamsun was a major Norwegian author who received the Noble Prize for Literature in 1920. Hamsun writing makes excellent use of symbolism. Glahn and Edvarda fall in love in the spring, they are lovers in the summer and their relationship deteriorates in the fall. Hamsun also shows the contradiction of culture and nature. Glahn lives as a part of nature while Edvarda's life in a part of culture.