Henrik Pontoppidan
Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943) was a prominent Danish author and Nobel laureate in Literature, awarded the prize in 1917. Born in Fredericia, Denmark, he initially pursued engineering studies in Copenhagen before realizing his true passion lay in writing. His literary career is marked by a deep critique of societal complacency and a poignant exploration of the struggles faced by the peasantry and the disillusionment with liberal politics. His notable works include "The Promised Land," which highlights injustices in rural life, and the ambitious "Lykke-Per," a multi-volume narrative reflecting modern Danish experiences through autobiographical elements. Throughout his career, Pontoppidan's writing evolved into a more pessimistic tone, particularly evident in "De dødes rige," where he expressed disappointment in social progress. His later works, including "Mands himmerig," served as a sharp critique of the failures of Danish society during World War I. Pontoppidan's writing is characterized by realistic portrayals of various social groups and a smooth, effortless style, positioning him among the most significant modern thinkers in Danish literature. He spent his final years in relative withdrawal from public life, continuing to influence Danish cultural discourse through his literary legacy.
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Henrik Pontoppidan
Danish novelist
- Born: July 24, 1857
- Birthplace: Fredericia, Denmark
- Died: August 21, 1943
- Place of death: Charlottenlund, Denmark
Biography
Much of the major writing done in Scandinavia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was in some degree pessimistic, for writers there have been very much aware of the intellectual currents flowing through Europe, chiefly of scientific materialism, which conflicted with the traditional values of a Christian society. Most of the intellectuals accepted the methods of scientific inquiry and were disillusioned with democracy because of the people’s reluctance to accept social change that would bring the social organization into harmony with scientific principles. Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, and Knut Hamsun are all, to some extent, tragic artists. Henrik Pontoppidan (pawn-TAWP-ee-dahn) also protested against the complacency of his society, for it refused to be honest in facing the new knowledge.
Born in Fredericia, Denmark, on July 24, 1857, Pontoppidan, son of a provincial clergyman, went to Copenhagen to study engineering. At the age of twenty, while engaged in scientific studies, he suddenly realized that he wished only to be a writer. He left college and supported himself by teaching high school. He hated the facile religious sentimentality prevalent in the school, and he disliked the easygoing way of life of the Danish people because it lacked the emotional and intellectual intensity that he respected.
Pontoppidan’s early work, of which The Promised Land is representative, protests against the injustices of peasant life; his hopes for reform rest with liberal politics, though he is aware that the hardness of human hearts cannot easily be overcome. A little later, in the eight volumes of Lykke-Per (lucky Peter), he used autobiographical material to portray the life of a representative Dane in modern Denmark. In De dødes rige (the kingdom of the dead) Pontoppidan reached the nadir of his pessimism: In five volumes he shows his disappointment with the results of liberalism and despairs of social progress. He never fully emerged from this pessimism. Though he had entered politics and had served a short time in the Danish legislature, he withdrew from public life entirely during his last years. He wrote little after his retirement; his last important novel, Mands himmerig (man’s heaven), is a bitter attack upon those who failed Denmark during World War I: the politicians, the journalists, the isolationists, and the war profiteers.
Pontoppidan, under the influence of Georg Brandes, took up the techniques of realism and wrote with great accuracy of various social groups. His style is smooth and apparently effortless. He represents the most modern elements in Danish thought; it was for this that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1917. He died at his home at Ordrup, Charlottenlund, Denmark, on August 21, 1943.
Bibliography
Ingwersen, Niels. “The Modern Breakthrough.” In A History of Danish Literature, edited by Sven H. Rossel. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. This excellent chapter on Danish realism and naturalism offers a brief but precise introduction to Pontoppidan, stressing his pessimistic worldview, but his plays are not mentioned.
Marker, Frederick J., and Lise-Lone Marker. A History of Scandinavian Theatre. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996. This richly illustrated overview of Scandinavian drama from the Middle Ages to 1990 gives special emphasis to Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg but does not discuss Pontoppidan.
Mitchell, Phillip Marshall. Henrik Pontoppidan. Boston: Twayne, 1979. A full-length monograph and an excellent introduction to the writings of Pontoppidan; not much detail, however, is given to the plays. The volume contains a selected bibliography of primary and secondary sources.