Early Life and Career
The son of a Jutlandic vicar and belonging to an old family of vicars and writers, Pontoppidan gave up an education as an engineer, worked as a primary school teacher and finally became a freelance journalist and full-time writer, making his debut in 1881.
The first phase of his work constitutes rebellious social criticism, and as such was also a revolt against his own privileged family background. In a famous quote, Henrik Pontoppidan mocked the historic latinisation of his own surname Pontoppidan from its original Danish root Broby
In matter-of-fact short stories he mercilessly describes the life of the peasants and country proletarians, with whom he lived in close contact. He was perhaps the first Danish progressive writer to break with an idealised portrayal of farmers. The tales from this era are collected in Landsbybilleder ("Village Pictures", 1883) and Fra Hytterne ("From the Huts", 1887). An important part is his 1890 political collection of short stories Skyer ("Clouds"), a biting description of Denmark under the authoritarian semi-dictatorship of the Conservatives both condemning the oppressors and scorning the Danes’ lack of disaffection. After this period he increasingly concentrated on psychological and naturalist problems without giving up his social engagement. Pontoppidan's 1889 review "Messias" and 1890 piece "Den gamle Adam" were anonymously published and triggered a controversy after being denounced as blasphemous. The editor, Ernst Brandes, was fined 300 kroner for "Messias" in December 1891 and committed suicide in 1892.
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