Pontoppidan, Henrik

(1857-1943)

   A Danish novelist and short story writer, Pontoppidan came from a staunchly Lutheran background, against which he rebelled with gusto. After studying engineering and teaching at a folk high school, he published the short story collection Stækkede Vinger (1881; Clipped Wings), the stories in which are marked by the pessimism and determinist leanings of the literary movement called naturalism. Two other short story collections, Landsbybilleder (1883; Village Sketches) and Fra Hytterne (1887; From the Cottages), offer naturalistic depictions of Danish rural life. Mimoser (1886; tr. The Apothecary's Daughter, 1890) is the work of a great ironist.

   The core of Pontoppidan's oeuvre is three major novels. Det forjættede Land (1891-1895; tr. The Promised Land, 1896) is a bitter satire on the educational movement inaugurated by N. S. F. Grundtvig, the Danish folk high schools. The young minister who is the protagonist of the novel seeks a sufficiently strong faith to sustain him in an idealistic project. He fails and descends into madness. In Lykke-Per (1898-1904; Lucky Per) the protagonist defies the will of his religious father. Although he is met with outward success, he also experiences an inward failure. De Dødes Rige (1912-1916; The Kingdom of the Dead) tells about a group of characters who pessimistically conclude that their lives are metaphysically scripted, and that free will is an illusion. With a mind-set like that, death equals deliverance.

   Pontoppidan received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1917. He wrote some additional shorter novels as well as a memoir in four volumes (1933-1940).