Ludvig holberg 1684 1754 north

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LUDVIG HOLBERG (1684-1754) Learning and Literature in the Nordic Enlightenment Edited 'by

Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754)

Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754) was the foremost representative of the Danish-Norwegian Enlightenment and also a European figure of note. He published significant works in natural law and history, but also a very important body of moral essays and epistles. He authored several engag¬ ing autobiographies and European travelogues, a major utopian novel that was an immediate European success, interesting satires that advocated women’s education and careers, and a large number of comedies. These comedies secured Holberg’s status as the most significant playwright in Scandinavia before Ibsen and Strindberg. Through his extensive oeuvre, but especially through his plays, Holberg had a decisive influence on the formation of modern Danish as a literary language, something that was a self-conscious effort on the part of a man who saw himself as an educa¬ tor of the public. Despite his contemporary impact at home and abroad, and his ongoing popularity in Scandinavia, he remains little known in the wider world of Enlightenment studies. It is the aim of this volume to revive Holberg as a major figure from a minor corner of the Enlightenment world, by presenting the full variety of his work and giving it a European context. Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History, University of St. Andrews, and Long-term Eellow of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt. Sebastian Olden-Jorgensen is Associate Professor at the Saxo Institute, History Section, University of Copenhagen.

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Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754) Learning and Literature in the Nordic Enlightenment

Edited by Knud Haakonssen and Sebastian Olden-

Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a Danish-Norwegian playwright, author, scholar, essayist, and philosopher, who introduced much of The Enlightenment in Denmark. He is mainly remembered for the comedies he wrote for his students at the University of Copenhagen, to perform at the Grønnegade Theatre. Many of his comedies are still among the most popular plays in Danish and he has been named "The father of modern Danish literature" and "The Moliere of the North".

Holberg doubles as a Norwegian author, mainly because he was born in Bergen. Thus, his magnum opus, the tale of Niels Klim, takes place there. But Holberg went to Denmark to take up studies, and came to live there for the rest of his life. In time, he was even made a baron by the Danish king. Most of his plays comment on Danish society at the time.

Notable works include:

• Comedies:
  • Den Politiske Kandestøber (The Political Tinker)
  • Den Vægelsindede (The Indecisive)
  • Jean de France eller Hands Frandsen
  • Jeppe paa Bjerget (Jeppe from the Hill)
  • Erasmus Montanus eller Rasmus Berg
  • Don Ranudo de Colibrados
  • Den Stundesløse (The Planless)
• Other works:
  • The tale of Niels Klim and his adventures in the lands under the earth. An early science fiction story, written and published in latin nontheless. His implied social criticism in this work was so serious he had it published in Prague.

Works by Holberg that don't have their own trope pages provide examples of:

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The sly servant often does at the start of the play. Pernille, who is The Chessmaster in The Planless, even opens the play like this:

  I wager nobody ever wrote a comedy about a planless person before now...

  • The parodic play Ulysses von Ithacien is such a heavy offender on fourth wall smashing that the fourth wall hardly exists. Mostly, it consists of one actor constantly arguing on the Willing Suspension of Disbelie

Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Author.

(1684-1754) Danish playwright, essayist and historian. Born in Bergen, Norway, Holberg studied at Copenhagen and settled permanently in Denmark, where he was appointed professor at Copenhagen University, first of philosophy, later of metaphysics and of Latin rhetoric, and finally of history in 1730. A prolific author, he published several voluminous poems, including Peder Paars (1719; trans Bergliot Stromsoe 1962), which describes the Fantastic Voyage of its protagonist to a god-beleaguered Island, which turns out to be part of Denmark. This long narrative poem, previously translated into English, has been judged to be the first significant work of modern literature in Denmark; it clearly prefigures Holberg's main text of sf interest. He also wrote at least twenty-eight stage comedies (mostly in 1722-1723) before publishing the sf Satire for which he is now best known; it appeared in two distinct versions:

and (under the same title but expanded) as ...

Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum Novam Telluris Theoriam ac Historiam Quintæ Monarchiæ adhuc nobis Incognitæ Exhibens e Bibliotheca B Abelini (1745; trans John Gierlow as Journey to the World Under Ground: Being the Subterraneous Travels of Niels Klim. From the Latin of Lewis Holberg1828; vt Niels Klim's Journey Under the Ground: Being a Narrative of his Wonderful Descent to the Subterranean Lands; Together with an Account of the Sensible Animals and Trees Inhabiting the Planet Nazar and the Firmament1845)

Inconveniently for scholars, the most recent translation of the complete text seems to be the 1845 version listed abo