Background and Private Life
Peter Munch was an illegitimate child, growing up without a father in a small provincial town. The family was quite poor, and from an early age he had to work to help out his mother. He quickly showed great skill in school, and his mother decided to put him through high school, although this placed a great strain on their finances.
After having completed national service Munch attended studies at University of Copenhagen. Being without private means he worked in several jobs to support himself throughout his study time. He graduated with a first-class degree in history in 1895, and achieved a doctoral degree in 1900, writing a thesis on Danish local government in the 16th Century.
Around this time he married the well-known feminist Elna Sarauw with whom he would had one son. By nature Munch was very introvert, and not one who would easily connect with other people. He insisted on always using the most formal forms of address, and even with friends he didn't use first-names. This is also the reason why he became known only as P. Munch. His work ethic was, however, second to none, and his output in terms of books, pamphlets, articles (both academic and for newspapers), letters, diaries and other notes, is immense.
Read more about this topic: Peter Rochegune Munch
Famous quotes containing the words private life, background and, background, private and/or life:
“The others “acted” a role; I was the role. She who was Mary Garden died that it might live. That was my genius ... and my sacrifice. It drained off so much of me that by comparison my private life was empty. I could not give myself completely twice.”
—Mary Garden (1874–1967)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Our democracy, our culture, our whole way of life is a spectacular triumph of the blah. Why not have a political convention without politics to nominate a leader who’s out in front of nobody?... Maybe our national mindlessness is the very thing that keeps us from turning into one of those smelly European countries full of pseudo-reds and crypto-fascists and greens who dress like forest elves.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)