Sinners in Summertime

Originally published in English in 1930, Sinners in Summertime takes a satirical look at sex, psychoanalysis, and the arrogance of youth. A group of students spend the summer along the Norwegian coast, determined to be honest about the nature of sex, in order to avoid the self-delusions they feel have plagued previous generations. What follows is a complete undermining of all their “enlightened” values, as they find themselves ensnared by romantic mischief. A novel of manners in an era when standards where about to break down, Sinners exposes the folly of youthful intellectualism, while also demonstrating the connections that bind all generations.

Born in 1890 near Oslo, Norway, Sigurd Hoel was one of the leading literary and cultural voices of Norway in the first half of the twentieth century. His work as a novelist, journalist, editor, and literary and social critic demonstrated an interest in the psychological make-up of the mind matched at that time in Norway by only Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun.