Apr 7, 2021
Among local writers from Thy, none is held in higher regard than Jens Peter Jacobsen, or J.P. Jacobsen as we Danes know him. He was born April 7, 1847 in Thisted, and died a short 38 years later from tuberculosis…
His novels have been translated into many languages, including English (Niels Lyhne is a Penguin Classic title). He was always held in high regard abroad: Freud read him; Arnold Schönberg set him to music. Rilke learned Dansih so he could read him; Joyce and Thomas Mann were admirers of his work. Jacobsen himself was a fine translator, and the first to render Darwin’s titles into Danish.
Above: Portrait of J.P. Jacobsen by Ernst Josephson, a Swedish painter and poet, 1879 (Faaborg Museum)
#literature#danish writer#j.p. jacobsen#1870s#1880s#niels lyhne#fru marie grubbe#det moderne gennembrud#the modern break-through#danish literature#tuberculosis#thisted#sigmund freud#arnold schoenberg#rainer-maria rilke#james joyce#thomas mann#free thinker#charles darwiin#translator#biologist#symbolist poet#novelist#bildungsroman#ernst josephson#faaborg museum
