Jens Peter Jacobsen (7 April 1847 - 30 April 1885) was a Danish writer, who is credited with beginning the Naturalist movement in Danish literature.
As a young man, he originally intended to pursue a scientific career, studying botany and translating Charles Darwin's work into Danish, but, while collecting plants, he contracted tuberculosis which would leave him ill for the rest of his life. Unable to continue with his scientific work, he turned to his other love and began writing fiction and poetry. He introduced a new style to Danish literature that, no doubt influenced by his scientific work, emphasized what was specific over what was general, and focused on his characters' interior lives.
Jacobsen's work has maintained a cult following including writers such as Henrik Ibsen, Rainer Maria Rilke, James Joyce, and Thomas Mann, and Hermann Hesse.
Works
- Mogens
- Marie Grubbe
- Niels Lyhne
