Jacobsen, Jens Peter

Jacobsen, Jens Peter

▪ Danish author
born April 7, 1847, Thisted, Jutland, Denmark
died April 30, 1885, Thisted
 Danish novelist and poet who inaugurated the Naturalist (naturalism) mode of fiction in Denmark and was himself its most famous representative.

      The son of a Jutland merchant, Jacobsen was a student of the natural sciences. He became a follower of Charles Darwin (Darwin, Charles) and translated into Danish both On the Origin of Species, in 1871–73, and The Descent of Man, in 1874. His own literary work was limited to two novels, some short stories, and a few poems.

      He struggled for his last 12 years with tuberculosis until it overcame him. During those years he produced almost all of his works in slow and painful daily stints. He was a master of description, attempting to portray all facets of reality as meticulously as he had observed them in nature.

      While at the University of Copenhagen, he heard the lectures of Georg Brandes (Brandes, Georg), an advocate of realism, naturalism, and socially conscious art. Jacobsen's novella Mogens (1872; Eng. trans. in Mogens and Other Stories), whose protagonist's name gives the book its title, is considered the first Naturalist writing in Danish literature and was greatly admired by Brandes, who hailed Jacobsen as one of “the men of the modern breakthrough.” Jacobsen's first novel, Fru Marie Grubbe (1876; Marie Grubbe: A Lady of the Seventeenth Century), is a psychological study of a 17th-century woman whose natural instincts are stronger than her social instincts and result in her descent on the social scale from a viceroy's consort to the wife of a ferryman. The book was attacked by the conservative press for its crass realism. Niels Lyhne (1880; Eng. trans. Niels Lyhne), his second novel, is a contemporary story of a man's vain struggle to acquire a philosophy of life. The intensity of its atmosphere and the depth of its psychology interested Sigmund Freud (Freud, Sigmund) and Thomas Mann (Mann, Thomas), among others, but its lack of ideological progressiveness was a disappointment to Georg Brandes (Brandes, Georg). Jacobsen's poems were collected and published posthumously in Digte og udkast (1886; “Poems and Sketches,” partially translated into English as Poems [1920]). At the turn of the 20th century, his writings and exquisite style exerted a spellbinding influence upon a great number of writers both in Denmark and abroad. Among his most ardent worshipers were such poets as Stefan George (George, Stefan) and Rainer Maria Rilke (Rilke, Rainer Maria).

Poul Houe
 

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Jacobsen, Jens Peter — (1847 1885)    A Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet, Jacobsen is one of the most important writers of the Modern Breakthrough in Scandinavia. Most of his works are centered on the theme of dream versus reality and offer various… …   Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature and Theater

  • Jacobsen, Jens Peter — ► (1847 85) Escritor danés. Autor de las novelas Marie Grubbe y Niels Lyhne …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Jens Peter Jacobsen — (* 7. April 1847 in Thisted; † 30. April 1885 ebenda) war ein dänischer Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Jens Peter Jacobsen — Foto de Jens Peter Jacobsen Nacimiento 7 de abril de 1847 Thisted …   Wikipedia Español

  • Jens Peter Jacobsen — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Jacobsen. Jens Peter Jacobsen Activités écrivain, poète, botaniste N …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jens Peter Jacobsen — (7 April 1847 ndash; 30 April 1885) was a Danish novelist, poet, and scientist, in Denmark often just written as J. P. Jacobsen and pronounced I. P. Jacobsen . He began the naturalist movement in Danish literature and was a part of the Modern… …   Wikipedia

  • Jacobsen — Jacobsen, Jens Peter Jacobsen, Robert …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Jacobsen — Jacobsen, Jens Peter, dän. Novellist, geb. 7. April 1847 zu Thisted (Jütland), gest. 30. April 1885 in Kopenhagen; Hauptführer der realistischen Schule in Dänemark, schrieb den Roman »Fru Marie Grubbe« (1876), »Mogens og andre Noveller« (1882),… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Jacobsen — ist ein patronymisch gebildeter dänischer Familienname mit der Bedeutung „Sohn des Jacob“,[1] der auch im Norwegischen vorkommt. Namensträger Aase Schiøtt Jacobsen (* um 1925), dänische Badmintonspielerin Adolf Jacobsen (1852–nach 1902),… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • JACOBSEN (J. P.) — Dans les pays nordiques, le Danois Jens Peter Jacobsen s’imposa immédiatement comme rénovateur de l’art de la prose, surtout avec son chef d’œuvre: Marie Grubbe. Mais, pour l’Europe, grâce, entre autres, à Rainer Maria Rilke, il devint le chantre …   Encyclopédie Universelle

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”