Knut Hamsun was a major Norwegian author who received the Noble Prize for Literature for his novel Growth of the Soil in 1920. Hamsun writing makes excellent use of symbolism. Hamsun saw man and nature united in a strong bond that could almost be considered mystical. In Shallow Soil a group of bohemian friends were living in Oslo circa 1900. Unlike most of Hamsun's writing this book centers around life in Oslo and urban society. Hamsun writes about infidelity, decadent artists economic maneuvers and money lending. For any serious reader of Hamsun's novels this will be a definite change of pace.