Niels Lyhne - (Penguin Classics) by Jens Peter Jacobsen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Niels Lyhne is an aspiring poet, torn between romanticism and realism, faith and reason. Through his relationships with six women--including his young widowed aunt, a seductive free spirit, and his passionate cousin who marries his friend--his search for purpose becomes a yielding to disillusionment. One of Danish literature's greatest novels, with nods to Kierkegaard and a protagonist some critics have compared to Hamlet, Jacobsen's masterpiece has at its center a young man who faces the anguish of the human condition but cannot find comfort in the Christian faith. Tiina Nunnally's award-winning translation offers readers a chance to experience anew a writer deeply revered by Rilke, Ibsen, Mann, and Hesse.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Review Quotes

"It's a great book. . . . I would highly recommend it."
--John Williams, The New York Times Book Review podcast

About the Author

Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847-1885) made his literary debut with the novella Mogens in 1872. Diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis two years later, he completed several more short stories and two novels.

Tiina Nunnally is an award-winning translator of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Her translation of Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross by Sigrid Undset won the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 2001, and her translation of Peter Høeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow won the American Translator's Association's Lewis Galantière Prize. The Swedish Academy honored Nunnally in 2009 with a special award for her contributions to "the introduction of Swedish culture abroad." In 2013, Nunnally was appointed Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. Nunnally is married to Steven T. Murray.