
A Fortunate Man
Henrik Pontoppidan(Author)
Museum Tusculanum Press
Published on 1. June 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
773 pages
978-87-635-4424-5 (ISBN)
Description
At the height of his powers, the son of a poor religious minister, Per Sidenius, is a 'Fortunate Man'. He has the whole of the approaching twentieth century in his grasp: a fabulously rich Jewish heiress as a soon to be wife; burgeoning fame as a forward and free thinking man of the 'New Age'; success in having put his sorry childhood behind him. But just as he reaches the lofty heights of bourgeois success, Per begins to deeply question his life. A series of events then unfold which Nobel Prize winning author Henrik Pontoppidan describes with unflinching honesty and intensely human passion. Here is the hectic foment of social debate, the unrepentant greed of finance sharks, the hot coals of pure and illicit love. Then the biggest questions of all -- who am I and what have I to do? With A Fortunate Man [Lykke-Per] one of Denmarks greatest ever writers manages not only to sound the depths of his nations soul but also to paint a huge European canvas stretching from vintage Copenhagen to the sultry heat of Rome at the turn of the nineteenth century. A truly breath-taking novel, heralded by such influential figures as Thomas Mann and Georg Lukacs as a seminal work, which places Henrik Pontoppidan alongside Dostoevsky and Charles Dickens as one of the true greats of modern European literature. Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943) was a major Danish realist writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1917 for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark. His novels include The Promised Land, A Fortunate Man and The Kingdom of the Dead.
Reviews / Votes
The author of A Fortunate Man is a full-blooded storyteller who scrutinizes our lives and society so intensely he ranks within the highest class of European writers. As a true conservative, he maintains the grand style of narration in a world of stunted spirituality; as a true revolutionary, he sees in prose above all a judicial power. With that charming, indeed gripping, stringency which is the secret to art, he judges his time and, as a true poet, points to a purer humanity.Thomas Mann (1927) An impressive, fluent achievement. It presents the first real opportunity for English-language readers to encounter one of the most reread and talked about novels in Danish literary history. A Fortunate Man, while being one of the great novels about modernity, never once buckles under the weight of the ideas and currents it depicts. Pontoppidan is repeatedly drawn out into the abundance, the noisy pluralism of life, even as his hero travels deeper and deeper into the small privacy of his own being. The narratives spaciousness, Pontoppidans humane breadth and tolerance, remains deeply affecting throughout. New York Review of BooksMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Denmark
Dimensions
Height: 25 mm
Width: 15 mm
Thickness: 5 mm
Weight
1332 gr
ISBN-13
978-87-635-4424-5 (9788763544245)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Paul Larkin is a full-time translator and author.