Jeppe Aakjær (10 September 1866 – 22 (23) April 1930) was a Danish poet and novelist, a member of the 'Jutland Movement' in Danish literature". A regionalist, much of his writings was about his native Jutland. He was known for writings that reflected his concern for the impoverished and for describing rural existence.
Biographical information Jeppe was born on 10 September 1866 in Fly, Jutland, a small village near Skive. He came from a large family as he was one of eight, born to Jens Peder Jensen and Catherine Marie. His father was a farmer and Jeppe at a young age learned the family trade. This sowed the seeds of his poetic existence. His early jobs were that of a herdsboy, someone that tends cattle. His father was a hard worker and a supporter of the Venstre party (liberal). This influenced Jeppe as he showed strong liberal leanings early on. At the farm that the family lived, his grandfather also resided, in an arrangement called aftægt, which was where the parents cede ownership of the farm/business in trade for room and board until death. This system did not work well in many cases, and in Jeppe's family's case, his grandfather was tyrannical, a drunkard, and foul-mouthed. This also influenced him, as in later years he would rail against the system in his writing, in particular in Paa Aftægt: En Fortælling (In Retirement: A Story, 1907), Vredens Børn: Et Tyendes Saga (Children of Wrath: A Servant's Saga, 1907), and Bondens Søn: Skildringer fra Fjends Herred (The Peasant's Son: Pictures from the Fjend District, 1899)
Education Schooling, whereas the government of Denmark had made it mandatory for all children, was not important to most rural families, his being no exception. He initially spent more time working on the farm than at school. This changed in 1882, when a teacher by the name of Niels Jakobsen started teaching at the school at Fly. He convinced his parents to send him to Staby to attend one of the Folk High Schools. Then in 1884 his parents allowed him to travel to Copenhagen. He attended Blaagaard's Teacher's College. Here he studied intensively with Jakobsen to with the goal of obtaining his teacher degree. He did not finish as he left just after his preliminary exams.
Early writing His first experience with writing was while he attended the school in Staby, in 1883. He started contributing material for the journal Skattegraveren (The Treasure Hunter), which was edited by Evald Tang Kristensen. This journal specialized in folklore, of which Jeppe was fascinated with. Jeppe had, over the course of his youth, heard and remembered many stories, anecdotes, fables, and other literary short pieces. He, over the course of the next several years gathered and submitted hundreds of submissions. In all, over three hundred narratives, riddles, and songs were submitted, the majority of which were published. His book Jydske Folkeminder VIII: Sagn og Overtro fra Jylland (Jutlandic Folklore VIII: Legends and Superstitions from Jutland, 1886) contained at least 77 of these prior published works. He also submitted names for Evald to research more on his own and he shared his success by sending him copies of the journals for many years. This relationship would last a lifetime. He would use these early forays into writing throughout his career to fill many a page. His book Po fir glowend Pæl: Fra jen si bitte Tid: En Sagnsamling (On Four Glowing Posts: From My Childhood: A Myth Collection, 1923) was a compilation of 26 of these legends, set on a foggy night in Davbjærg Pass. With this and others he would demonstrate his ability at expressing the immediacy of the folk performance as well as the Jutlandic dialect. Another good example of the ability to meld folklore with legendary themes was his early book Jens Langkniv: Af Fjends Herreds Krønike bog (Jens Longknife: From the Chronicles of the Fjend District, 1915). In this book he showed his skill at the folktale mixing with historical aspects of 16th-century Danish witchcraft. This ability was not limited to his stories as he also demonstrated this in his poetry, for example in Bjergmands-snak (Mound-Dweller's Talk, 1949) a very long poem told by the mound-dweller.
Career Early works While in Copenhagen for school, he became enamored with the big city and its cultural opportunities. Here he began to be influenced by other writers such as Brandes and Hørup, and also by politicians such as Jens Busk. In 1886, he left Copenhagen to spend time with his family on the farm and on other farms. It was during this time that he also began to tour and lecture at the Folk High Schools. His lectures had a political twist to them and he tried to "wake the spirit of resistance" within the laborers and farmers. The government felt at times that he crossed the line and became seditious and at the age of 20, he was sent to jail for speaking in Viborg. Being an outspoken socialist Aakjær joined the Social Democratic Party. He moved to Copenhagen and worked as a proofreader and journalist. In the winter of 1887-1888 Jeppe travelled to Askov, where he studied at the folk school. From there he moved to Elbæk, where he stayed until 1890. At Elbæk, he taught at the school, but after the short taste of teaching decided that that was not the life for him.
1890 saw him drafted into the military, where he was initially placed in the infantry at Skive. After a period of time he was relocated to Copenhagen, which also did not last long. Six weeks after his initial conscription, he was discharged due to vision problems. After his military career ended, he needed more money and tried his hand at teaching once again. He first returned to Elbæk into 1891, then moved to a school run by Morten Pontoppidan. In 1892, he again decided that the life of a teacher was not for him. He returned to Copenhagen to continue his education, this time in History. In 1893, he met and married Marie Bregendahl. This relationship, which produced one son, Svend, was not a highlight of his life and the seven years that he remained married to Marie were years he would rather forget. During these latter student years, he became more involved in the politics of the school, and was even elected to the executive committee. He held that position for several years. In 1895, he received his studentereksamen (bachelor's degree) and in 1896 his candidatus degree. He continued to study history at the University of Copenhagen for the next two years, after which he abandoned his academic career due to the economics of his life and started writing professionally. He then commenced to obtain his first jobs in the industry. He was hired, first, as a proofreader/copy editor, and, second, as a journalist.
Newspapers His first job as a copy editor was at the Left Reform newspaper Politiken, which was run by Edvard Brandes. While working at this newspaper, Jeppe first made a name for himself with his Missionen og dens Høvding (The Mission and its Chieftain, 1897). In this piece, he attacks the concept of Christianity in general, and in particular goes after the Lutheran movement of Vilhelm Beck, called the Inner Mission. Here he postulates the danger involved in it, partly for the fact that it was becoming rural in nature and appearing in the areas that he loved. Brandes was impressed with his work and promoted him to contributor (journalist). After some time he switched to the newspaper København, where he spent a few uneventful years. In 1899, after switching again, this time to Provinspresse, a social democratic publication, he became a parliamentary correspondent and started to make more of a name for himself. He remained with this paper until 1903. Later in life, Jeppe would not look back fondly on his time as a newspaper man, as he felt they robbed him of his productivity. He did however keep a lasting relationship with Brandes, who continued to give good reviews to his books.
In 1899, he wrote his first major literary piece, Bondens Søn (The Peasant's Son), in which in an autobiographical manner relates the story of a poor Jutlander, Jens. Jens moves to Copenhagen and battles with the conservative Christianity that was instilled in him by his grandfather. In time Jens returns home with a girlfriend in tow, but rather than a glorious homecoming, he receives instead the feelings of provincialism and negativity towards the freedoms of the big city. In time he inherits his fathers farm, marries his hometown sweetheart, but never gives into the traditional peasant culture. Some critics regarded the piece as naive, it is Jeppe's first attempt at melding cultural and political issues into one.
Literary Success Aakjær tried to get the publishing firm of Gyldendal to partner with him, but was initially rebuffed, even though he was sought after by one of its editors, Peter Nansen. Instead he found a local bookstore owner, V. Oscar Søtofte, who published his first novel. Soon thereafter, he released a collection of earlier writing, Derude fra Kjærne (Out There from the Watering Holes, 1899). In time a rift formed between the two over a couple of issues. First, Aakjær did not like the choice of covers that Oscar had chosen. Second, he felt that the marketing ability of Oscar was severely limited, and finally, when Jeppe wanted to release a collection of shorts stories as a single book, Oscar objected and instead broke it into two.The first of the two was the only one that Oscar ended up publishing. The collection, Vadmelsfolk: Hedefortællinger (Homespunfolk: Heath Stories, 1900) was released around Christmas 1900, but saw lackluster sales which forced Jeppe to seek a new publisher.
Gyldendal, who now had seen the strength of his writing had no problem forming a relationship with Jeppe, and they started by releasing the second of the short story collection, Fjandboer: Fortællingen fra Heden (Fjand Dwellers: Stories from Heden, 1901). Over time nearly all of his remaining books were to be published by Gyldendal, with one notable exception, Pigen fra Limfjorden: Roman (The Girl from Limfjord: Novel, 1921), which he published with a small publisher, Danske Forfatteres Forlag. His relationship with Gyldendal was not always good as in time he grew to resent them and felt they were too demanding. He also did not, initially, have a good agreement with them, as he was allotted 150 kroner advance each month (enough to keep him above the subsistence level). However, with this advance he needed to produce a substantial amount of work, which he was not successful in doing. In time he was in substantial debt to the publisher, in the amount of 8,000 kroner. One thing that he managed to do was keep the rights to all of his works, which was not normal in this era.