Forfattergerningen er en øvelse i medmenneskelighed

Resumé

Abstract
In a letter to a colleague, Henrik Pontoppidan describes the act of writing “first and foremost as a means of self-education”. In this piece, Danish novelist Anne Skov Thomsen interprets his view on writing in terms of her own authorship. In Thomsen’s understanding, Pontoppidan’s words serve as a moral imperative to never succumb to human laziness and reduce the literary characters to mere types. Instead, Thomsen argues, the author must seek to stay open and curious to each and every character’s inexhaustibility as a human being in a loyal way driven by humanity. In fact, humanity is the core value of literary craftsmanship as it is in the act of true compassionate humanity the author connects herself to the reader and the world. In a time haunted by war, the imperative to stay human seems even stronger and authors must take on responsibility to fight inhumanity in their writing as a peaceful means to strengthen human ties and maintain hope.