Born: 24-Jul-1857
Birthplace: Fredericia, Denmark
Died: 21-Aug-1943
Location of death: Charlottenlund, Denmark
Cause of death: Natural Causes
Remains: Buried, Rørvig Church, Rørvig, Vestsjaelland, Denmark

Gender: Male
Religion: Lutheran
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Author

Nationality: Denmark
Executive summary: Lucky Peter

Military service: Danish Army Corps of Engineers (1880)

Raised in a family of 16 children, Henrik Pontoppidan's father was a Lutheran minister, but young Pontoppidan rejected religion, studied engineering, and taught high school before finding success as a writer. His works are generally regarded as realistic but pessimistic, often bleakly political and just as often sharply critical of the church. His best-known work is the five-volume novel Lykke-Per (Lucky Peter), in which the protagonist, like the author, rejects his religious upbringing. Among the best of his shorter novels, which often dealt with political, psychological and sexual issues, is his 1887 novel The Polar Bear, about the conflict between an outspoken, free-thinking vicar from Greenland and the more closed-minded clergymen of Denmark.

Pontoppidan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1917, for "for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark". His Nobel honors were shared with another Danish writer, Karl Gjellerup. Long after death Pontoppidan remains an influential figure in Danish humanities, respected by experts and "required reading" for students. His older brother, Morten Pontoppidan, was a respected writer of non-fiction, including a biography of Martin Luther and a history of the United States.

Father: Dines Pontoppidan (minister)
Mother: Marie Kirstina Oxenbøl Pontoppidan
Brother: Morten Pontoppidan (author)
Brother: Knud Pontoppidan (physician)
Wife: Marie Hansen (m. 1881, div. 1888)
Wife: Antoinette C.E. Kofoed (m. 1892, two children)

    High School: Randers Latin School (1873)
    University: BS Engineering, Copenhagen Polytechnic Institute (1877)
    Teacher: Frersley Folk High School, Zealand, Denmark (1879-82)

    Nobel Prize for Literature 1917 (with Karl Gjellerup)

Author of books:
Clipped Wings (1881, collected short stories)
Sandinge Parish (1883)
Village Pictures (1883, collected short stories)
Young Love (1885)
Mimosas (1886)
From the Cottages (1887)
The Polar Bear (1887)
Ghosts (1888)
The Apothecary's Daughters (1890)
Clouds (1890)
Memories (1893)
The Old Adam (1894)
Night Watch (1894)
The Promised Land (1895)
Judgment Day (1895)
Song of Songs (1896)
Emanuel; or, Children of the Soil (1896)
Little Red Riding Hood (1900)
The Ideal Home (1900)
Lucky Peter (1904)
Mayor Hoeck and Wife (1905)
Merry Andrew and Melusina (1907)
The Royal Guest (1908)
The Church and its Men (1914)
The Kingdom of the Dead (1916)
A Winter Journey (1920, travelogue)
Man's Heaven (1927)
Boyhood Years (1933, memoirs)
Sloughing (1936, memoirs)
Inheritance and Debt (1938, memoirs)
Family Life (1940, memoirs)
On the Way to Myself (1943)

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