Henrik Pontoppidan

Henrik Pontoppidan
Pontoppidan c. 1913
Born	(1857-07-24)24 July 1857 Fredericia, Denmark
Died	21 August 1943(1943-08-21) (aged 86) Charlottenlund, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Genre	Realist writer
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Literature 1917 shared with Karl Gjellerup
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Henrik Pontoppidan (Danish: [ˈhenˀʁek pʰʌnˈtsʰʌpitæn]; 24 July 1857 – 21 August 1943)^[1] was a Danish realist writer who shared with Karl Gjellerup the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1917 for "his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark." Pontoppidan's novels and short stories — informed with a desire for social progress but despairing, later in his life, of its realization — present an unusually comprehensive picture of his country and his epoch. As a writer he was an interesting figure, distancing himself both from the conservative environment in which he was brought up and from his socialist contemporaries and friends. He was the youngest and in many ways the most original and influential member of the Modern Break-Through.