Niels Lyhne

Niels Lyhne), his second novel, is a contemporary story of a man’s vain struggle to acquire a philosophy of life. The intensity of its atmosphere and the depth of its psychology interested Sigmund Freud and Thomas Mann, among others, but its lack of ideological progressiveness…

…of Brandes’s theories; his novel Niels Lyhne and his short stories deal with the problem of dreams versus reality. Holger Drachmann, the greatest lyrical poet of the period, began his career as a staunch supporter of Brandes, against whom he reacted strongly later.