Lucky Per

Henrik Pontoppidan · 1857–1943 · Denmark

Originally Lykke-Per (Danish) · translated by Naomi Lebowitz

Why it matters

A parson's son storms Copenhagen with grand canal-building schemes, wins everything (fortune, fiancée, future) and walks away from all of it. Denmark's candidate for the great European bildungsroman, run in reverse: a self found only through renunciation.

At a glance

Long, patient, and ironic; the challenge is scale and a hero the narrator keeps at arm's length.