Johannes V. Jensen
1873–1950
Biography
Johannes Vilhelm Jensen was a Danish writer who lived from 1873 to 1950. He is counted among the leading Danish writers of the first half of the twentieth century. In 1944 the Swedish Academy awarded him the Nobel Prize in Literature, citing the richness of his poetic imagination and his wide intellectual range. His sister Thit Jensen was also a writer, and an outspoken early feminist.
He began with popular fiction and by the end of the 1890s was writing more serious novels. His early books show disappointment with the large modern cities. Later he wrote historical novels, and The Fall of the King, published in 1933, is set around the reign of King Christian II of Denmark. It is often read as a sharp criticism of Danish hesitation and a lack of national energy, which Jensen saw as a kind of sickness in the nation.
The catalogue holds the Danish text of Kongens Fald, so readers can meet the novel in the language Jensen wrote it in. Its historical setting shows a side of Jensen that differs from the city novels of his early career.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
Kongens Fald
by Johannes V. Jensen
Mikkel Thøgersen, a poor and brooding student in Copenhagen at the start of the sixteenth century, crosses the path of the reckless nobleman Axel and is drawn into the service of King Christian II. Over a lifetime he follows the king through the wars in Sweden, the bloodbath in…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.