Henrik Pontoppidan - Main Works

Main Works

The three novels which are normally considered to be Pontoppidan’s main works were written from about 1890 to 1920. In these works he established on his own terms a Danish version of the "broad description of society" novel in the tradition of Balzac and Zola. Centred around a hero he paints a picture of Denmark in the era of the Constitutional Struggle between Conservative and Liberals, rising industrialisation, cultural conflicts and awakening revolutionary movements.

• Det forjættede Land (I-III 1891–95, English translation of vol. I-II The Promised Land 1896), describes a fantasist and his dream of being a preacher in the country which leads to self-deception and insanity.
• The partly autobiographical Lykke-Per (1898–1904) (Lucky Peter), perhaps his most famous novel, deals with the self-confident, richly gifted man who breaks with his religious family in order to be an engineer and a conqueror, free of heritage and milieu. However, at the height of his success, they at last catch up with him and he gives up his career to find himself in loneliness.
• The bitter De dødes Rige (1912–16, "The Realm of the Dead") shows Denmark after the apparent victory of democracy in 1901, a society in which political ideals are mouldering, capitalism is marching on and press and art are prostituted, all centred about the hopeless love and reform plans of a young progressive squire afflicted by illness.