Lying awake in his attic room, a young aspiring writer prepares himself for the day ahead. He dresses and then descends into the unforgiving streets of Kristiana, one of many journeys he will come to make through this strange city, looking for inspiration and sustenance. As the narrator's behavior becomes increasingly irrational and absurd, the reader is drawn deeper into his intense world. First published in 1890, Hunger is Hamsun's first novel, a disturbing and darkly humorous masterpiece of existential fiction that anticipated and influenced much 20th-century fiction, including the work of Camus, Kafka and Fante.