Pontoppidan, Henrik (hăn`rēk pôntô`pĭdän), 1857–1943, Danish novelist. He shared the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature with Gjellerup. Pontoppidan devoted himself to engineering, journalism, and travel before the appearance of his first major work, The Promised Land (tr. 1896), originally published as a trilogy (1891–95). His outstanding novel, Lucky Peter (5 vol., 1898–1904), depicts, in philosophical terms, revolt against the bourgeois life in Copenhagen. In his pessimistic Kingdom of the Dead (5 vol., 1912–16) he explores the problem of human weakness.

Pontoppidan, Henrik

(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.