Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943) was born in Fredericia, Denmark. Son of a minister, he lived in Randers during his childhood. While he entered an engineering program in Copenhagen, he never completed his studies.
Pontoppidan's most important novels are: Det forjaettede land(1891-95) [The Promised Land], Lykke-Per (1898-1904) [Lucky Peter], and De dødes rige (1912-16) [The Realm of the Dead