Familiestriden i 1872-73 om N. F. S. Grundtvigs efterladte papirer

Abstract

The Family Quarrel in 18J2-J 3 about the Posthumous Papers of N. S. F. Grundtvig

By Steen Johansen.

Towards the end of 1872 Professor Svend Grundtvig, the son of N. F. S. Grundtvig, wrote an account, as yet unpublished, about the strained relations that arose between him and Mrs. Asta Grundtvig, his stepmother, concerning their conflicting views of the question of access, for literary and financial purposes, to the posthumous papers of Grundtvig. Certain letters supplementing the account, which is preserved in The Royal Library of Copenhagen, are also referred to in the treatise. The quarrel is followed from the middle of September 1872 to January 1873 when the parties were reconciled.

Svend Grundtvig’s account is hardly impartial, but it gives a clear picture of the somewhat embarrassing course of events. Mrs. Grundtvig wanted an attorney to negotiate with Svend Grundtvig (and his full brother and sister) on all questions concerning the right of publication. She wanted to keep the ownership herself, although she was willing to leave half of the total income for equal distribution among all of Grundtvig’s children. Her attitude caused Svend Grundtvig and his brother and sister to have all of Grundtvig’s papers confiscated with legal assistance in October 1872, and (packed in boxes) the manuscripts were taken to The Royal Library! The event was followed by a change in Mrs. Grundtvig’s view of the matter, and with the possibility of a peaceful settlement the action was called off.

The settlement was not quite what Svend Grundtvig might have wished, however. Mrs. Grundtvig still preferred an arbitrator to represent her in all future negotiations about the publication of the papers. For the task she chose the politician, doctor and mayor G. E. Fenger, whose role in this connection was to be of a purely formal character. In the period 1873-83 Svend Grundtvig edited a series of writings by his father, and as shown by the preserved records all negotiations and preparations in connection with their publication took place with C. E. Fenger as a constant intermediary. Svend Grundtvig’s editions are all of them marked by what seems to us a lack of familiarity with Grundtvig’s posthumous papers. The explanation is to be found in the conditions here described.