Segelfoss Town by Knut Hamsun. Short summary

5 seconds

The quiet life in the town was suddenly disrupted. The consul paid 500 crowns to Tennes Olay, who saw the consul with a married woman. Soon the consul went bankrupt and resigned his position.

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The town is always quiet and peaceful. Here lives Tennes Olay, a bachelor with oddities. No one knows what he does.

Everything changed when Rosen, a one-legged photographer, hanged himself. Olsen stole 300 kroner from the customs office and was fired. Jensen wrote poems about it, but the consul did not approve, and Jensen’s situation worsened.

Captain Olav Wollertsen’s wife stopped leaving the house. Elsa told her friends that Olava was pregnant, although her husband had been sailing for two years.

At night the watchmen saw Tennes Olay going up to the consul’s office. Tennes saw the consul leave Olava’s house at night. They agreed that Tennes would receive 500 kroner each from the consul and Olawa, with him being recognized as the father of the child.

The consul went bankrupt. He hoped that Captain Vollertsen would sell his cargo in New York, but he was coming home.

Consul resigned as director of the bank. He was replaced by Merchant Berg. Over the years he became a consul himself.

The former consul became a trade and life insurance agent and married off his daughter to a wealthy groom.