An award-winning translation of the influential Danish master

Niels Lyhne is an aspiring poet, torn between romanticism and realism, faith and reason. Through his relationships with six women—including his young widowed aunt, a seductive free spirit, and his passionate cousin who marries his friend—his search for purpose becomes a yielding to disillusionment. One of Danish literature's greatest novels, with nods to Kierkegaard and a protagonist some critics have compared to Hamlet, Jacobsen's masterpiece has at its center a young man who faces the anguish of the human condition but cannot find comfort in the Christian faith. Tiina Nunnally's award-winning translation offers readers a chance to experience anew a writer deeply revered by Rilke, Ibsen, Mann, and Hesse.

延斯·彼得·雅科布森（Jens Peter Jacobsen，1847—1885），丹麦小说家、诗人，文艺评论家布兰代斯所倡导的现实主义的代表作家之一。他具有自然科学的世界观，作品注重写作形式和文体修辞，文字有“醉人的魔力”，具有现代派色彩，其影响已经跨越国界，在欧洲文学史上具有重要地位。他的长篇小说《尼尔斯。伦奈》在里尔克和托马斯·曼的作品中留下了深刻印迹。里尔克称他为“精神上的旅伴和情感上的现实”；长篇历史小说《玛丽娅·格鲁夫人》则以“神韵的柔媚馥郁以及半透明的色调令人惊叹，堪与荷兰大画家笔下的风景媲美”（茅盾语）。