Johannes Vilhelm Jensen

Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950), Danish author. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1944.

Born 20th of January, 1873 in a village in North Jutland, Denmark. He died 1950.

Johannes V. Jensen's literary career began near the turn of the century with the publication of Himmerland Stories[?], (1898-1910) comprising a series of tales set in that part of Denmark where he was born. He also wrote poetry, a few plays, and many essays, chiefly on anthropology and the philosophy of evolution. He developed his theories of evolution in a cycle of six novels, Den lange rejse (1908-22) The Long Journey[?], which was published in a two-volume edition in 1938.

Like his compatriot Hans Christian Andersen he travelled extensively, even to the United States. A poem of his, "Paa Memphis Station" [At the train station, Memphis, Tennessee] is well known in Denmark. Walt Whitman was among the writers who influenced Jensen.

For many years he worked in journalism, writing articles and chronicles for the daily press without ever joining the staff of any newspaper.