"[3] The novel was published in 1912, when Hamsun was just over 50 years old and had much of his writing ahead of him, but already knew the weight of age.
The novel is set in the first person; the narrator has lived his life and now has the last joy of opting out of everything and just being with himself in nature.
Two other key figures are the unctuous Solem and Miss Thorsen, whom the protagonist cannot help but fall in love with.
Whereas Pan addresses young love's denial and intoxication, The Last Joy depicts the old.
In Pan, Glahn's unreliability is a consequence of necessity; he is driven into it and it is his defense, whereas the narrator in The Last Joy simply chooses to be wrong.