Gjellerup, Karl

Born June 2, 1857, in Roholte, Denmark; died Oct. 11, 1919, in the village of Klotzsche, Germany. Danish writer.

Gjellerup wrote in Danish and German. His first novel, An Idealist (1878), about the life of young people and woman’s position in society, was written in a bourgeois-radical spirit. Early in his work Gjellerup joined the liberal movement headed by G. Brandes, to whom he dedicated his collection of poetry The Hawthorn (1881). Later he came under the influence of decadence; he was attracted to the philosophy of A. Schopenhauer. His novel A Disciple of the Germans (1882) was critical of bourgeois liberalism. The novels Minna (1889) and The Mill (1896) express abstract ethical ideals. Gjellerup’s later work showed an interest in the religious teachings of India (the novels The Pilgrim Kamanita, 1906, and others). Gjellerup was also the author of plays and critical and historical research.