The engineer, the natural philosopher and the hermit

Henrik Pontoppidan’s dual vision of science and scientists

Abstract

When Henrik Pontoppidan left his engineering studies to become a writer, he did not abandon his interest in science and scientists – quite the opposite. Pontoppidan devoted a substantial part of his authorship to portraying and discussing various forms of science and scientists. In major novels such as Det forjættede Land and De Dødes Rige, as well as in shorter works like Den gamle Adam, Højsang and Det ideale Hjem, Pontoppidan depicts a dual vision on science and scientists. Although this ambivalence has dominated Pontoppidan scholarship since literary historian Vilhelm Andersen, Pontoppidan’s representation of science and scientists has not previously been analysed explicitly through this concept. In this article, I argue that Pontoppidan’s dual vision is particularly relevant in Lykke-Per, where Pontoppidan portrays three conceptions of science and scientists: (1) the world-conquering engineer, (2) the romantic natural philosopher and (3) the existentialist hermit. Through an analysis of Lykke-Per, I argue that Pontoppidan’s authorship occupies a central place within a broader literary tradition in which Danish writers use fiction to engage with ideas about science and scientists. His key contribution was to make the relationship between science and existence the main theme.