born July 24, 1857, Fredericia, Den.
died Aug. 21, 1943, Ordrup, near Copenhagen
Danish realist writer of novels and short stories.
He studied engineering and worked as a teacher before taking up writing. His works, typically written in a cold, aloof, epic style, present a comprehensive picture of his country and his epoch. His earlier works are informed with a desire for social progress; his later ones despair of its realization. His major novels include the semiautobiographical Lucky Peter (1898–1904) and the five-volume cycle The Realm of the Dead (1912–16). He shared the 1917 Nobel Prize for Literature with Karl Gjellerup .