One of many Scandinavian writers who won the Nobel Prize for Literature during its early years, Knut Hamsun (1856-1952) was among the highest regarded of the laureates. Objecting to the naturalistic fiction of his time, he adopted modernistic literary techniques in novels that were distinctively Norwegian in their humor and depiction of rural life. His reputation was damaged severely during World War II, when he publicly supported the Nazi cause, but he remains a profound influence on world fiction.