Peter Urpeth's story about Hunger by Knut Hamsun

At the age of 16 I found myself commuting to a shipping insurance office in the City of London to toil as a junior in accounts. I had just left school with virtually no qualifications and very disillusioned having hated the experience of schooling. But I knew I wanted to read. One lunchtime, I came across a bookshop near the Leadenhall Market which had a stand of colourful books all published by a firm called Picador. I liked the cover of a book called 'Hunger' by a Norwegian author, Knut Hamsun. The book was also very short, and seemed a good proposition for the daily train rides. Within two days I was staying on the train in the morning reading this gem, and now found myself riding up and down the line between Romford and Liverpool Street, phoning in sick to cover my new found love. This compelling, intense book changed everything for me. I think in my unhappy and dissatisifed mental state at that time I connected quite personally with the interiority of the main character, his struggles and his ebbing narratives of pleasure and disappointment. Through this book I had suddenly connected with the immense open field of literature and the imagination. Later that year I started an English A-level nightclass, and books have been my life since. I still have that original copy. Its pages have fallen out, the cover is brittle and brown but it remains a treasure. After Hunger I read Hamsun's Mysteries and found the joy of rebelliousness both witty and latent with possibilities.