Henrik Pontoppidan

A representative Danish naturalist writer. Born to a rural pastor. He studied at the Normal School in Copenhagen, but dropped out in 1879. In the same year, he published his first novel, The Church Boat, and began his career as a writer. He briefly worked as a teacher at the National High School, run by his older brother. He became known for his naturalistic works that depicted gloomy rural life, such as the short story collection Screens from a Country Town (1883), From the Cottage, Ghosts, and Clouds, but he gradually became critical of the early Grundtby-esque glorification of rural life. His trilogy The Promised Land (1891-95) is a masterpiece that depicts the tragic struggle of a religious popular movement and its leader in his search for truth, and its fame established the author as a national writer. Records (1890) is a collection of romantic fairy tales, which was rare for him. His later works include The Happy Pale (1898-1904), The Kingdom of the Dead (1912-16), and a four-volume memoir. In these works, Pontoppidan seems to have left the church and Christianity and pursued the development of the individual. In 1917, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature along with fellow Danish author Gjellerup.

[Yamamuro Shizuka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

デンマークの代表的自然主義作家。田舎(いなか)牧師の子に生まれる。コペンハーゲンの師範学校理工科に学ぶが、1879年中途退学、同年処女作の小説『教会の舟』を発表して作家の道に入り、一時実兄の経営する国民高等学校教師を務める。短編集『田舎町の画面』（1883）をはじめ『小屋から』『幽霊』『雲』など暗鬱(あんうつ)な農村生活を描く自然主義的作品で知られたが、しだいに初期のグルントビー的な農村賛美に批判的となる。三部作『約束された土地』（1891～95）は宗教的民衆運動とその指導者の真理探求の悲劇的苦闘を描く大作で、その名声により作者は国民作家の地歩を築く。『記録』（1890）は彼には珍しい浪漫(ろうまん)的童話集。それ以後は『幸福なペール』全8巻（1898～1904）、『死者の王国』全5巻（1912～16）、4巻の回想録などが代表作。これらの作品ではポントピダンは教会とキリスト教を離れ、個我の展開を追求しているかにみえる。1917年、同じデンマークの作家ギェレルプとともにノーベル文学賞を受賞。

［山室　静］

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