Danish writer
"Epigonos" redirects here. For the ancient Greek sculptor, see
Epigonus
.
Karl Adolph Gjellerup
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Karl Adolph Gjellerup
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Born
| (
1857-06-02
)
2 June 1857
Roholte
vicarage at
Præstø
, Denmark
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Died
| 11 October 1919
(1919-10-11)
(aged 62)
Klotzsche
, Germany
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Nationality
| Danish
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Notable awards
| Nobel Prize in Literature
1917
(shared)
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Karl Adolph Gjellerup
(
Danish:
[?k???l
??ː?t?l?f
?kel????p]
; 2 June 1857 ? 11 October 1919) was a
Danish
poet and novelist who together with his compatriot
Henrik Pontoppidan
won the
Nobel Prize in Literature
in 1917. He is associated with the
Modern Breakthrough
period of
Scandinavian literature
. He occasionally used the
pseudonym
Epigonos
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Youth and debut
[
edit
]
Gjellerup was the son of a vicar in
Zealand
who died when his son was three years. Karl Gjellerup was raised then by the uncle of
Johannes Fibiger
, he grew up in a national and romantic idealistic atmosphere. In the 1870s he broke with his background and at first he became an enthusiastic supporter of the
naturalist
movement and
Georg Brandes
, writing audacious novels about
free love
and
atheism
. Strongly influenced by his origin he gradually left the Brandes line and 1885 he broke totally with the naturalists, becoming a new
romanticist
. A central trace of his life was his
Germanophile
attitude, he felt himself strongly attracted to German culture (his wife was a German) and 1892 he finally settled in Germany, which made him unpopular in Denmark on both the right and left wing. As years passed he totally identified with the German Empire, including its war aims 1914?18.
Among the early works of Gjellerup must be mentioned his most important novel
Germanernes Lærling
(1882, i.e.
The Germans' Apprentice
), a partly autobiographic tale of the development of a young man from being a
conformist
theologian to a pro-German atheist and intellectual, and
Minna
(1889), on the surface, a love story but more of a study in woman's
psychology
. Some Wagnerian dramas show his growing romanticist interests. An important work is the novel
Møllen
(1896, i. e.
The Mill
), a sinister
melodrama
of love and jealousy.
Later years
[
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]
In his last years he was clearly influenced by
Buddhism
and Oriental culture. His critically acclaimed work
Der Pilger Kamanita
/
Pilgrimen Kamanita
(1906, i.e.
The Pilgrim Kamanita
) has been called 'one of the oddest novels written in Danish'. It features the journey of Kamanita, an Indian merchant's son, from earthly prosperity and carnal romance, through the ups and downs of the world's way, a chance meeting with a stranger monk (who, unbeknownst to Kamanita, was actually
Gautama Buddha
), death, and reincarnation towards
nirvana
. In
Thailand
, which is a
Buddhist
country, the Thai translation of
The Pilgrim Kamanita
co-translated by
Phraya Anuman Rajadhon
was formerly used as part of the school textbooks.
Den fuldendtes hustru
(1907, i.e.
The wife of the perfect
) is a versified drama, inspired by
Dante
's
Divine Comedy
, about
Buddha
's earthly life as
Siddharta
, being inhibited in his spiritual efforts by his wife,
Yasodhara
. The giant novel
Verdensvandrerne
(1910, i.e.
The world roamers
) takes its contemporary starting point in a German female academic on a study tour in India, but evolves across chronological levels, in which characters re-experience what has happened in former eons, thus featuring souls roaming from one incarnation to another.
Rudolph Stens Landpraksis
(1913, i.e.
The country practice of [physician] Rudolph Sten
) is set in the rural Zealand of Gjellerup's youth. The main character develops from a liberal, superficial outlook on life, including youthful romantical conflicts, through years of reflection and ascetic devotion to duty towards a more mature standpoint, hinting at the author's own course of life.
Das heiligste Tier
(1919, i.e.
The holiest animal
) was Gjellerup's last work. Having elements of self-parody, it is regarded as his only attempt at humour. It is a peculiar mythological satire in which animals arrive at their own Elysium after death. These include the snake that killed
Cleopatra
,
Odysseus
' dog Argos,
Wisvamitra
(the holy cow of India), the donkey of
Jesus
and the horses of various historical commanders in field. The assembly select, after discussion, Buddha's horse
Kantaka
as the holiest of animals, but it has left without a trace to follow its master to nirvana.
Aftermath
[
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]
In Denmark, Gjellerup's Nobel award was received with little enthusiasm. He had long been regarded as a German writer. During various stages of his career, he had made himself unpopular with both the naturalist left surrounding
Georg Brandes
and the conservative right. His nomination for the Nobel award was, however, supported from Danish side for several times. Because
Sweden
was neutral during
World War I
, the divided prize did not arouse political speculations about partial decision, but showed on the other hand allegiance between the Nordic neighbors.
Today Gjellerup is almost forgotten in Denmark. In spite of this, however, literary historians normally regard him as an honest seeker after truth.
Gjellerup's works have been translated into several languages, including German (often translated by himself), Swedish, English, Dutch, Polish, Thai and others.
[
citation needed
]
The Pilgrim Kamanita
is his most widely translated book, having been published in several European countries and the United States.
[
citation needed
]
In Thailand, a Buddhist country, the first half of the Thai translation of
Kamanita
have been used in
secondary school
textbooks.
[
citation needed
]
Biographies
[
edit
]
- Georg Nørregard:
Karl Gjellerup ? en biografi
, 1988 (in Danish)
- Olaf C. Nybo:
Karl Gjellerup ? ein literarischer Grenzganger des Fin-de-siecle
, 2002 (in German)
- Article in
Vilhelm Andersen
:
Illustreret dansk Litteraturhistorie
, 1924?34 (in Danish)
- Article in Hakon Stangerup:
Dansk litteraturhistorie
, 1964?66 (in Danish)
External links
[
edit
]
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1901?1920
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1921?1940
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1941?1960
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2001?2020
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2021?present
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