The Short Version
- Knut Hamsun’s voice has been recreated with AI to read ‘Hunger’ in English.
- The author’s grandchild calls the project speculative rubbish and abuse.
- The publisher defends the use as legal and pleasing for new audiences.
It is the small Norwegian publisher Legatum Publishing that has used AI – artificial intelligence – to recreate Knut Hamsun’s voice so that he himself reads the audiobook in English.
On Sunday, August 4th, it will be launched in conjunction with the opening of Hamsun Days on Knut Hamsun’s birthday. The author’s grandchild, Regine Hamsun, has previously described the project as “utterly grotesque” and “an abuse.”
She is not milder in her criticism now.
– We find it incredibly tasteless to create an AI-generated voice of our grandfather considering that he was hearing impaired, with a voice influenced by that. When we as a family clearly express that this is a cynical exploitation, I think it is extremely thoughtless not to respect that, Hamsun tells VG.
Listen to an excerpt from the audiobook here:
Read also: Recreating Knut Hamsun’s voice: – It is utterly grotesque
Publisher Tore Rasmussen at Legatum Publishing expresses wonder at the strong criticism. He – and everyone else – is free according to the copyright law to use Hamsun’s works now that the copyright was released in February 2022, he points out.
– On a general basis, I believe authors want their works to live on and follow the modes of dissemination that the times bring, he explains.
– I am questioning how our project could be considered an “abuse.” Giving Hamsun’s authorship a new life, to the delight of new audiences, such as people with reading difficulties, should be something we can all recognize as entirely positive, he tells VG and adds that he has not succeeded in contacting Regine Hamsun.
Read also: Jon Fosse says no to more Nobel events: – It gives me no joy
Director Solveig Hirsch at the Hamsun Center and festival manager Anita Overelv at Hamsun Days emphasize that they have not invited Legatum Publishing to Hamsun Days.
– They are not part of our program. We were not informed that they planned to come to the festival until VG informed us about it today, they say in a joint statement.
– We have good dialogue with the Hamsun family, including about this. We stand behind Regine Hamsun’s previous statements regarding Hamsun and the AI matter, say the two custodians of Knut Hamsun’s artistic legacy.
This is what the head of expertise and research at the Hamsun Center, Alvhild Dvergsdal, thinks about the AI version of Knut Hamsun:
The Hamsun Center on the AI version of Knut Hamsun
What makes audiobook readings good is that there is a human behind the voice, bringing the text to life and clarifying its artistic qualities. To think that voice similarity with the author itself provides a good listening experience seems naive. And when this is also in Oxford English, which represents a British culture Hamsun strongly disliked throughout his life, it seems at best comical, at worst a violation of the author.
Another contentious aspect is that Norwegian media refer to Legatum Publishing as “far-right.” Regine Hamsun repeats this.
– That Legatum Publishing is described as far-right by most in the publishing industry makes it even more unappetizing. It is only a year ago that the industry wanted to exclude Legatum from the Publishers’ Association, she claims.
– We cannot choose what labels others wish to place on us, but we will fight every time that manipulation techniques and rhetorical manipulations are used against our publishing company, responds Tore Rasmussen.
– Legatum Publishing aims to highlight that there is a rich and diverse European spiritual tradition, which receives a step-motherly and tendentious treatment in today’s media landscape and academic environment. More and more realize this and thirst for an alternative, he believes.
Knut Hamsun was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1920, but has become highly controversial because he was a Nazi sympathizer and supported Hitler during World War II.
Read also: Found sensational wartime photo of Hamsun
A third aspect of the matter is whether the author’s own voice can be used legally, even though the text itself is now free to be used by anyone.
Regine Hamsun says that the family has considered taking legal action against the publication of the audiobook.
– Now it is such that grandfather’s works are no longer protected, so I would believe that pursuing this legally will be a heavy process. In any case, it is cynical and ugly that Legatum chooses to misuse grandfather’s works in this way, she says.
– Ideally, I would wish there were guidelines on how to use an artist’s legacy. At least while the immediate family is alive. I fervently hope that people do not waste their money on this speculative rubbish, Regine Hamsun says.
Read also: Our Hamsun trauma
Tore Rasmussen backs statements from copyright specialists such as law professor Olav Torvund and lawyer Jon Wessel-Aas regarding the legality of using the author’s voice.
– We can like it or dislike it. But there is unlikely to be any legal basis to prevent it, writes Olav Torvund on Rett24.
– It takes a lot to stop the imitation of the voices of famous people if there is no intention to mislead, Jon Wessel-Aas stated to Klassekampen earlier this year.
– So legally, there is much to suggest that we are well within our rights to publish AI-generated audiobooks of authors who have fallen into the public domain, says Tore Rasmussen.
He aims to publish the entirety of Knut Hamsun’s oeuvre, as well as works like “Eskimo Life” by Fridtjof Nansen and “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling.