Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847–1885)
Author of Niels Lyhne
About the Author
Jens Peter Jacobsen, Denmark's foremost novelist of naturalism, expressed in his small body of work his rejection of religion and his enthusiasm for the new doctrine of evolution. In his autobiographical novel Niels Lyhne (1880), sometimes called by contemporaries "the bible of atheism," he wrote show more that "there is no God and man is his prophet." During his troubled life, cut short by tuberculosis, he translated into Danish nearly all the writings of Charles Darwin. His own work---two novels, a book of short stories, and a few poems---strove to "bring into the realm of literature the eternal laws of nature" and to free the concept of nature from the distorted concept of romanticism. The novella Mogens (1972) was Jacobsen's first publication; it became famous as an example of the new naturalistic current in literature. In it, life is seen as perceptions of the instant, and people are motivated by natural laws and drives. In Marie Grubbe (1876), externally a seventeenth-century historical romance, the life of Marie is determined by her erotic needs; although born into nobility, she finally finds happiness in life as the wife of a coarse stableman. Jacobsen's concern with anxiety and inner torment brings to mind the great nineteenth-century Russian novelists, while his naturalism and interest in psychology are reminiscent of Gustave Flaubert. Jacobsen's influence on major European writers who followed him, such as Rainer Maria Rilke, is well documented. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy of the Royal Danish Library/ Dept. of Maps, Prints and Photographs (image use requires permission from the RDL).
Works by Jens Peter Jacobsen
Samlede Skrifter 19 copies
Jens Peter Jacobsen Collection: Marie Grubbe, Niels Lyhne, Mogens, The Plague in Bergamo, & Other Stories (2021) 6 copies
Breve fra J.P. Jacobsen 4 copies
Aksel Larsen 2 copies
Livets dilemmaer 2 copies
Udvalgte noveller 2 copies
Samlede noveller og udvalgte digte 2 copies
Un disparo en la niebla 2001 2 copies
Mogens Eine Novelle 1 copy
Erzählungen 1 copy
MARIE GRUBBE 3 1 copy
La signora Fönss 1 copy
Gudenå 1 copy
Store Nordiske 1 copy
Et ¤bjerg af løgne 1 copy
Når de døde vågner 1 copy
Trofæ 1 copy
Menneskets psykiske sygdomme 1 copy
Drie verhalen 1 copy
MARIE GRUBBE 1 1 copy
Romanzi e novelle 1 copy
MARIE GRUBBE 2 1 copy
Gedichte II 1 copy
Kormak und Stengerde 1 copy
Irmelin Rose og andre Digte 1 copy
Poems 1 copy
Historisk Billedatlas 1 copy
Las mejores novelas de la literatura universal. Vol. 20, La novela escandinava en el siglo XIX 1 copy
The Seagull Library 1 copy
Digte af J.P. Jacobsen 1 copy
Et Skud i Taagen : Fru Fønss 1 copy
Skrivnost z barja 1 copy
Dva světy 1 copy
Siren voices 1 copy
Associated Works
Oogst Der Tijden. keur uit de werken van schrijvers en dichters aller volken en eeuwen (1940) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Masterpiece Library of Short Stories Vol. XIX: Scandinavian & Dutch — Contributor — 6 copies
Dansk litterær kritik fra Anders Sørensen Vedel til Sophus Claussen — Author, some editions — 3 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Jacobsen, J. P.
- Legal name
- Jacobsen, Jens Peter
- Birthdate
- 1847-04-07
- Date of death
- 1885-04-30
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Copenhagen
- Occupations
- poet
novelist
botanist - Nationality
- Denmark
- Birthplace
- Thisted, Denmark
- Places of residence
- Thisted, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark - Place of death
- Thisted, Denmark
- Associated Place (for map)
- Thisted, Denmark
Members
Reviews
J. P. Jacobsen's Niels Lyhne was a very positive surprise. His nature descriptions are unique, perhaps matched only by those of Turgenev, by whom he was influenced. To a degree Jacobsen even surpasses Turgenev in the way his delineations of nature are so masterly integrated into the book’s thematic. I was glad to be able to read this in the original Danish, as many of those outstanding passages must be really hard to translate (and even to my native Norwegian.) I read in the very useful show more afterword in this edition that the particular work by Turgenev that Jacobsen was influenced by for this book was Fathers and Sons, but of course, by combining both of the main characters of that book into one, the result is something entirely different.
A scientist by education, Jacobsen translated Darwin's The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man to Danish in the early 1870's and also introduced Darwin to the larger public through magazine articles before publishing his first novel in 1876. Writing about "bad" freethinkers ("daarlige Fritænkere") in Niels Lyhne (1880), Jacobsen was in a way being a "bad" naturalist, and the leading Danish critic Georg Brandes didn’t really like the book all that much, perhaps mainly because it might throw a bad light on the contemporary intellectual movement. Though he did (rightly) admire Jacobsen's style of writing and his mastery of the Danish language, and as for 'provoking debate' ("sætte Problemer under Debat") which was Brandes' main slogan, Niels Lyhne surely qualified eminently. The novel starts out in an almost classic naturalistic vein, but soon develops into something quite other than that, which can perhaps be described as impressionistic realism/naturalism. By focusing on particular stages in the life and development of the protagonist, Jacobsen sticks tightly to his theme of dreams versus reality, religion versus reason, and a young man’s struggles to get a firm grasp on his life and find his place within it. So, this is a Bildungsroman of sorts, but being a naturalist Bildungsroman, the protagonist doesn't reach the big moment of clarity or find his bourgeois vocation, he is rather slowly grinded down by life as he sheds illusion after illusion and as he is moved along by unconscious drives and urges, both his own and those of others. Sigmund Freud wrote to a friend that he was "profoundly moved" by the novel, and Henrik Ibsen thought it among the very finest contemporary contributions in its field. Jacobsen has also been lauded by great writers like Sigbjørn Obstfelder, Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Mann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Hermann Hesse and James Joyce. They weren’t wrong.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. show less
A scientist by education, Jacobsen translated Darwin's The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man to Danish in the early 1870's and also introduced Darwin to the larger public through magazine articles before publishing his first novel in 1876. Writing about "bad" freethinkers ("daarlige Fritænkere") in Niels Lyhne (1880), Jacobsen was in a way being a "bad" naturalist, and the leading Danish critic Georg Brandes didn’t really like the book all that much, perhaps mainly because it might throw a bad light on the contemporary intellectual movement. Though he did (rightly) admire Jacobsen's style of writing and his mastery of the Danish language, and as for 'provoking debate' ("sætte Problemer under Debat") which was Brandes' main slogan, Niels Lyhne surely qualified eminently. The novel starts out in an almost classic naturalistic vein, but soon develops into something quite other than that, which can perhaps be described as impressionistic realism/naturalism. By focusing on particular stages in the life and development of the protagonist, Jacobsen sticks tightly to his theme of dreams versus reality, religion versus reason, and a young man’s struggles to get a firm grasp on his life and find his place within it. So, this is a Bildungsroman of sorts, but being a naturalist Bildungsroman, the protagonist doesn't reach the big moment of clarity or find his bourgeois vocation, he is rather slowly grinded down by life as he sheds illusion after illusion and as he is moved along by unconscious drives and urges, both his own and those of others. Sigmund Freud wrote to a friend that he was "profoundly moved" by the novel, and Henrik Ibsen thought it among the very finest contemporary contributions in its field. Jacobsen has also been lauded by great writers like Sigbjørn Obstfelder, Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Mann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Hermann Hesse and James Joyce. They weren’t wrong.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. show less
I decided to read ‘Niels Lyhne’ as Rilke recommended it very highly in [b:Letters to a Young Poet|46199|Letters to a Young Poet|Rainer Maria Rilke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1321994947s/46199.jpg|1208289]. He went into raptures about it, actually. Thus it surprised me to find the novel initially rather stolid and difficult to get into. I wonder if this might have something to do with the translation I read? I got a copy from the university library that was published in 1920 and show more translated by Hanna Astrup Larsen. The style of the translation, which may accurately reflect the original Danish for all I know, is extraordinarily melodramatic to the point of incoherence, like a Victorian moral fable.
The novel is a biography of the eponymous hero’s disappointments and tragedies. Rather surprisingly, it is also a paean to atheism, which seems incongruous with the traditional, fussy style. The most powerful passages focussed on this aspect of Lyhne’s character, such as:
He continues in this vein for some while. I definitely enjoyed the second half of Niels Lyhne’s story more than the first, as he became a somewhat more sympathetic and definitely more convincing character. I also liked the wonderfully-named Fennimore, especially her rant in chapter eleven, which included the comment:
Other than this interlude, the roles played by female characters are wearyingly submissive, despite the characters themselves seeming interesting. For the most part I was puzzled by this novel. Although there are some lovely passages, I had the nagging feeling that I wasn’t reading the same book as Rilke did. Perhaps it was the translation, or perhaps it was me. show less
The novel is a biography of the eponymous hero’s disappointments and tragedies. Rather surprisingly, it is also a paean to atheism, which seems incongruous with the traditional, fussy style. The most powerful passages focussed on this aspect of Lyhne’s character, such as:
“There is no God, and man is his prophet,” replied Lyhne bitterly and rather sadly.
“Exactly,” scoffed Hjerrild. “After all, atheism is unspeakably tame. Its end and aim is nothing but a disillusioned humanity. The belief in a God who rules everything and judges everything is humanity’s last great illusion, and when that is gone, what then? Then you are wiser; but richer, happier? I can’t see it.”
“But don’t you see,” exclaimed Niels Lyhne, “that on that day when men are free to exult and say: ‘There is no God!’ on that day a new heaven and a new earth will be created as if by magic. Then and not until then will heaven be a free infinite space instead of a spying, threatening eye…”
He continues in this vein for some while. I definitely enjoyed the second half of Niels Lyhne’s story more than the first, as he became a somewhat more sympathetic and definitely more convincing character. I also liked the wonderfully-named Fennimore, especially her rant in chapter eleven, which included the comment:
”You may be sure that women are not the ethereal creatures many a good youth fancies; they are really no more delicate than men and not very different from them. Take my word for it, there has been some filthy clay used in the shaping of them both.”
Other than this interlude, the roles played by female characters are wearyingly submissive, despite the characters themselves seeming interesting. For the most part I was puzzled by this novel. Although there are some lovely passages, I had the nagging feeling that I wasn’t reading the same book as Rilke did. Perhaps it was the translation, or perhaps it was me. show less
Once again I'm reading this so far after the reference leading me to it that I have completely forgotten what the reference was. Doesn't matter. A Dane who likes Darwin and influenced some of my early favorite writers? I'm in. The stories are fascinating and intense and lovely, there's a current of individualism and madness and nature... if nothing else, it's so so nice to find a 'classic' where all the people, women included, get to be full characters.
Roman d'apprentissage, roman d'amour ou roman social, Niels Lyhne navigue en différentes eaux sans jamais réellement s'y engager pleinement. Les expériences malheureuses de Niels n'amènent que trop peu d'introspection ; les déceptions amoureuses s'enchaînent, sans remise en question profonde ou changement notable ; le talent poétique et littéraire de Niels n'est que mentionné ; les idées nouvelles du Copenhague du XIXe sont à peine effleurées, sans qu'on n'en comprenne la nature show more ou les enjeux. Même les passages les plus captivants que sont les prises de parole sur le féminisme et la défense de l'athéisme ne font qu'un effet de cheveu sur la soupe. Sans fil conducteur, le lecteur est ballotté à travers les pages, comme Niels lui-même dans son existence.
Le roman est malheureusement très inégal, que ce soit en matière de rythme qu’en matière d’écriture. Autant certains passages, fort ampoulés, dénonçant le botaniste en l’auteur, s’étirent à n’en plus finir à coups de phrases démesurées, de champ lexical des plantes omniprésent et d’envolées lyriques sans fin, autant d’autres contiennent des tournures poétiques prégnantes et subtiles. Cette dissonance se renforce d’autant plus que de longues descriptions détaillées côtoient des ellipses imprévues et nombreuses tout au long du récit. En résulte une étrange sensation, à mi-chemin entre l’envie irrépressible de refermer le livre et le besoin de vérifier si d’autres perles se trouvent dans le reste des pages.
Première pérégrination dans la littérature danoise, ce roman n'a pas eu sur moi l'impression favorable et marquante que j'attendais, très probablement formée à la suite des nombreux avis et critiques positifs. Je recommande cependant la lecture, le roman étant court, de ce classique de la littérature danoise. show less
Le roman est malheureusement très inégal, que ce soit en matière de rythme qu’en matière d’écriture. Autant certains passages, fort ampoulés, dénonçant le botaniste en l’auteur, s’étirent à n’en plus finir à coups de phrases démesurées, de champ lexical des plantes omniprésent et d’envolées lyriques sans fin, autant d’autres contiennent des tournures poétiques prégnantes et subtiles. Cette dissonance se renforce d’autant plus que de longues descriptions détaillées côtoient des ellipses imprévues et nombreuses tout au long du récit. En résulte une étrange sensation, à mi-chemin entre l’envie irrépressible de refermer le livre et le besoin de vérifier si d’autres perles se trouvent dans le reste des pages.
Première pérégrination dans la littérature danoise, ce roman n'a pas eu sur moi l'impression favorable et marquante que j'attendais, très probablement formée à la suite des nombreux avis et critiques positifs. Je recommande cependant la lecture, le roman étant court, de ce classique de la littérature danoise. show less
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