Himmerlandsvolk

In his stories from Himmerland, Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950) tells of a lost world. In twelve stories, with which he first appeared as a writer in 1898, he takes individual protagonists of a pre-industrial rural village society into consideration. Jensen describes the archaic circumstances and living conditions of his characters with subtle tenderness and touching empathy: we get to know lansquenets, maidservants, heirs to the farm, the veterinarian and the blacksmith, learn what happens in the village on New Year's morning and what it is about Thomas from the Bridge Court. The world Jensen resurrects before our eyes is that of his own childhood. He portrays his home region, without resentment, without transfiguration - just to capture it in literature and make it immortal. The village stories and pictures of life are sharply defined.