m:vMAi;K 



others, formed tlifin-rl\i- I 177'-') into II 'Nor- 

 wegian Siifii-i\ at Copenhagen, under the leader- 

 ship of NVessel. It \MUS the literary manifestation 

 of the Norwegian aspiration to separate nation- 

 ality, which afterwaraa led t<> tin- foundation of 

 tin- university of Christiania in 1811. From the 

 death of Weasel in 17Hf> t tlif lic^'innin},' of the 

 present century the literature became entangled 

 in rationalistic ami political polemics, ami pro- 

 duced little that is note\\ orthy. Its chief writers 

 \\cre 1'. A. llcilierg (1758-1841) ami Malte Kon- 

 rad limn (177"> IS-Jti), both of whom were driven 

 into exile in 1799-1800, the latter afterwards 

 famous as a geographer; the critic liahbek (1700- 

 l.s.'W) ; the dramatists Siunso (1759-90) ami Sander 

 ( 17.~>6-1819) ; and the lyrist Thaarup ( 1749-1821 ). 



The poet and humorist Baggesen (1704-1820) 

 forms the link between the 18th century and the 

 early part of the 19th, when Danish 'literature 

 took an entirely new departure, partly owing to 

 the study of Kant, Fichte, and Scnelling, and the 

 influence of Schelling's follower Stettens (1773- 

 iM.'ii; partly also to the strict censorship of the 

 press in force from the year 1799. The educated 

 classes turned from their controversies on points 

 of literary criticism and theology to scientific 

 inquiry ; and the people, whose national feeling 

 had been aroused by the French Revolution, by 

 the share of Denmark in the Napoleonic ware, 

 and especially by the events of 1801 and 1807, the 

 war with Sweden (1808), and the loss of Norway 

 (1814), welcomed with enthusiasm the rise of a 

 new school, led by the romantic poet Oehlen- 

 schlager ( 1779-1850), who was equally distinguished 

 as a lyrical and dramatic writer, and is still 

 regarded by many as the greatest Danish poet. 

 Contemporary with him were the poets Schack- 

 Stalleldt (1769-1826) and Grumltvig (1783-1872), 

 afterwards more eminent as a theologian ; Inge- 

 inann (1789-1862), long the most popular novelw 

 of Denmark; J. L. Heiberg (1791-1860), director 

 of the royal theatre at Copenhagen, writer of 

 numerous vaudevilles, and of the still popular 

 national play, Elves Hill (1828); Hauch (1791- 

 1872), dramatist, novelist, and critic; and lilicher 

 (1782-1848), who in his tales of Jutland was the 

 lirst worker in the field which has since been 

 cultivated in Germany by Jeremias Gotthelf and 

 Bert-hold Auerbach. Of the other novelists of this 

 period the chief are Brosboll (1). 1820); FruGyllem- 

 nourg-Ehrensvard (1773-1851)), mother of J. L. 

 Heiberg; Saint- A u bain, or ' Karl I tern hard ' ( 1798- 

 1H().~>); and the still more popular Winther (1796- 

 1S76), the charming poet of Danish country life. 

 Her/. ( 1798-1870), from the time when his (ihust let- 

 ters ( 1830) surprised the public with a poetic revival 

 of the muse or Baggesen, has, now with his lyric 

 poems, now with his tales, now in romantic ami 

 national tragedies, now in comedies and light 

 vaudevilles, provided his countrymen with artistic 

 and attractive works. Overskou (1798-1874) is a 

 skillul dramatist, ami Hostrup ( 1818-92) a popular 

 author of comedies. All these writers are sur- 

 passed by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75), 

 whose wonderful stories are known throughout 

 the civilised world. I.e-s popular, but more pro- 

 found, was the versatile writer Fr. 1'aludan-M idler 

 ( 1SO!)-7I), who from his play /.<, ,<( >',-( i lv:-_' 

 to his great epic poem At/tun llnmo (1S41-48) has 

 wooed all the muses in succession. Here may he 

 mentioned Bergsoe (b. lH3.~i), writer of novels ami 

 popular works on scientific subjects; Goldschmidt 

 (1819-87), editor of the inilnential democratic 

 journals, The Corsair, Nortli nml ///, and //;/< 

 and Abroad, and afterwards author of numerous 

 romances; Hoist (1811-93), a writer of pleasing 

 lyrics and tales; Kaalund (1818-85), with his two 

 collections of poems, A Spring and An Autumn; 



the erotic and piquant and Mtnictiriir* frivolou* 

 song- writer Aarewtrnp (IHO056); and Lembcke 

 (b. 1815), the trariHlator of Khake*peare. 



A great impulse wan given to all branches of 

 science from the beginning of the 19th century. 

 The leading theologians were Grundtvig, the en- 

 thusiastic champion of the faith of hi* father* 

 against rationalism, and advocate of a union of 

 the Scandinavian kingdoms, but with the church 

 separated from the state; Myimter ( 1775 1H50), 

 Mishop <if /calami; ClauHcn (1793-1877), the 

 disciple of Schleiermacher, and theological op- 

 ponent of Grundtvig ; Mar tcrinen ( 1808-84), Hi-hop 

 of /ealand, and author of standard works on 

 systematic theology and ethi.s; and Kierkegaard 

 (1813-55), the most original thinker of Denmark. 

 The chief exponents or philosophy were Sihheni 

 (1785-1872), Nielsen (b. 1809), and Broclmcr 

 (1820-76); and in natural science the greatest 

 names were those of Oersted ( 1777-1851 ), the dw- 

 coverer of electro-magnetism, the botanist Schouw 

 (1789-1852), the geologist and chemist Forch- 

 hamnier (1794-1804), and the zoologist and archae- 

 ologist Steenstrup (b. 1813). \lucli has been 

 done for the stucly of Scandinavian antiquity by 

 the Sagabibliothek of Miiller (1776-1834), ami the 

 researches of Finn Magnusson (1791-1840) in 

 mythology, and of Thomsen (1785-1865) and 

 \Voreaae (1821-85) in archieology. The chief 

 19th-century writers of national history have l*een 

 Werlauff (1781-1871), Molljech (1783-1857), Allen 

 (1811-77), Schiern (b. 1816), and K. P. Paludan- 

 Muller ( 1805-82) ; and of the history of the 

 national literature and language, Petersen (1781- 

 1862). In philology, Rask ( 1787-18:^1 ) and Mail- 

 vig 1 1804-86) have a European fame. 



About 1850 the enthusiasm for the national 

 past, which had been excited by Oehlenschhip-r 

 in Denmark, and by Tegner, Geijer, and others 

 in Sweden, together with the hatred of Germany 



1 aroused by the war of 1848-50, rose to a pitch of 

 fanaticism. 'The northern force which had con- 



! trolled the world ' was extolled by Ploug and 

 others as ' the only means whereby the victory of 

 the Cause of Humanity could be achieved.' After 

 IMoiig (b. 1813) the cliief exponents of this great 

 historic mission of the northern kingdoms were 

 C. K. F. Molbech (1821-88), a euphonious lyrist 

 and skilful dramatist, and translator of Dante ; 

 and Erik Bogh (b. 1822), a fertile writer of 

 fi'iti'lli'tiiim anu adapter of plays. A cosmopolitan 

 reaction set in about 1870, led by Georg Brandes 

 (b. 1842), who proved in his lectures on literature 

 that I lerimark was only a side-chapel in the temple 

 of Kuropean thought and art, and that this over- 

 strained ' Scaudinavianism ' was hut the northern 

 phase of the reaction from the tendencies of the 

 ISth century, which had been exjierieiiced in Eng- 

 land, France, and Germany many years 1 

 Hrandes withdrew to Berlin for some years from 

 the storm of popular opjiosition. Not only in Den- 

 mark, but in Norway and Sweden also, bis followers 

 are now the prevailing party. The ino>t cmi-picu- 

 ous of these have UHMI .laeolisen i 1S47 So), the 

 translator and adherent of Darwin, nnd author of 

 Moaens ( 1872) and other novels; and (till in 1883 

 he liecaiiie a I 'oiiserx alive i Draclimann (b. 1846). 



I Of recent writers, the most noteworthy are S<-han- 

 dorpli ( b. 1836), who is equally happy in his 

 sketches of the /ealand peasant and the <'OJHII- 

 hagen .-nob; the versatile writer Hermann liang 

 (b. 1H58); and the dramatist Kdvard Unuules (b. 

 1847), brother of Georg Uramles. 



Of the three Scandinavian nations, the Danes 

 have si-own the greatest aptitude for the imita- 

 tive arts, and their art is comparatively the i 

 independent. While the painter* of Norway have 

 been mostly trained at Diiaseldorf, and those of 



