Ludvig holberg books-a-million

How does one react when suddenly winning a huge prize, and one’s status changes overnight from poor to rich? This is a fantasy most of us have played with, and which the Norwegian national lottery institution, Norsk Tipping, have made into their trademark, through their previously mentioned ad campaigns. In addition, literary fiction provides a rich portfolio of winners, imagined and actual, who strikingly often let their prizes (or the thought of their prizes) get to their heads in a ridiculous, if not to say deterrent way. The lottery winner, whether an actual or imagined winner, has simply proved to be a recurring comic type, i.e. one we can both laugh at and learn from, right from the 18 century up until today.

The following literary examples are all taken from Scandinavian literature. We begin in the 18 century, where in several cases we come across what may be called “imaginary lottery winners.” These “winners” share a conviction that they will win the great prize, and this conviction prompts them to enjoy their victory in advance. Two examples are taken from so-called skilling ballads: “En lystig Lotterie-Viise. Synget af een, som havde drømt om Støvle, Kruus, Paryk, Skoe, Og tog derpaa: No.5, 7, 9, 2» (trans. “A cheerful Lottery Song. Sung by someone who had dreamt of Boots, a Mug, a Wig and Shoes, and thereby chose the numbers 5, 7, 9, 2), and “Tallotteriet” (trans. “The Number Lotto”).

In the first of the skilling ballads, we meet a drunkard, who not only drinks, but also treats his fellow drunkards to drinks on credit, convinced that he is about to win the Number lotto. His conviction is attributed to one of the time’s popular “dream books”, providing translations of dreams into winning numbers. The second skilling ballad tells the story of a poor shoemaker who, accompanied by his wife, is convinced that he is going to win the local Nu

Other notable Danish authors

Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754): Often called the “Danish Moliére”, playwright Holberg wrote intelligent comedies that are still popular with modern audiences.  

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872): Grundvig’s work has impacted every modern Dane: his philosophies are the base of all Danish education. A pastor, poet, and philosopher, he is also known for his hymns.  

Georg Brandes (1842-1927): A contemporary of the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, Brandes was a social-liberal who believed realism in literature was more important than hyper-aesthetic writing and fantasy.  

Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847-1885): Educated as a botanist, Jacobsen pioneered a naturalistic Danish literature. An atheist, he was the first to translate Charles Darwin’s work into Danish.  

Martin Andersen Nexø (1869-1954): Nexø was the first significant author to focus on the Danish working class. His novel Pelle the Conqueror was adapted for the screen by Danish director Bille August. A proud communist, Nexø moved to East Germany after World War II and was widely popular in Soviet-affiliated countries.  

Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950): Jensen introduced the prose poem to Danish literature. He is also well-known for his masterpiece Kongens Fald (The Fall of the King) and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1944.

Tove Ditlevsen (1917-1976): Ditlevsen’s direct and honest descriptions of her childhood in the slums of Copenhagen are still powerful today. Ditlevsen lived a troubled life, struggling with alcohol and drug abuse, and died by her own hand.  

Villy Sørensen (1929-2001): Best known as a short-story writer, the absurdist Sørensen is sometimes called “the Danish Kafka.”  

Klaus Rifbjerg (1931-2015). The prolific Rifbjerg wrote more than 170 books, stories, and essays. His 1958 novel Den kroniske Uskyld (Chronic Innocence) about teenagers coming of age, is still widely read.

Inger Christe

Danish–Norwegian writer, philosopher and historian (1684–1754)

Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, the Enlightenment and the Baroque. Holberg is considered the founder of modern Danish and Norwegian literature. He was also a prominent Neo-Latin author, known across Europe for his writing. He is best known for the comedies he wrote in 1722–1723 for the Lille Grønnegade Theatre in Copenhagen. Holberg's works about natural and common law were widely read by many Danish law students over two hundred years, from 1736 to 1936.

Studies and teaching

Holberg was the youngest of six brothers. His father, Christian Nielsen Holberg, died before Ludvig was one year old. He was educated in Copenhagen, and was a teacher at the University of Copenhagen for many years. At the same time, he started his successful career as an author, writing the first of a series of comedies.

He began to study theology at the University of Copenhagen and later taught himself law, history and language. He was not particularly interested in theology as a career, settling for an attestats (similar to a Bachelor's degree today), which gave him the right to work as a priest; he did not attempt a baccalaureus, magister or doctorate in the subject, nor did he follow a career as a theology professor, priest, or bishop. In Holberg's youth, it was common to study theology and specialize according to one's degree, for example in Greek, Latin, philosophy or history. For the purpose of becoming a lawyer, it was normal to study abroad. In 1736 the Danish Lawyer degree was established at the University of Copenhagen, a degree which continued to be granted for 200 years, and for which Holberg's writings remained common reading

New York University Law Professor Ronald M. Dworkin, who is widely considered among the most influential theorists on ethics and morality in law, won the 2007 Ludvig Holberg International Memorial Prize, carrying a cash prize of 4.5 million kroner (at press time, roughly equivalent to $870,000).

Dworkin, Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law, is the first to receive the prize for legal scholarship. He was cited for having “developed an original and highly influential legal theory grounding law in morality,” and having a “unique ability” to tie abstract philosophical ideas together with “concrete everyday issues in law, moral philosophy and politics.”

A faculty member since 1975, Dworkin is the fourth winner of the annual award—named for the Dano-Norwegian playwright and author of the Age of Enlightenment—which is modeled on the Nobel Prize. The committee highlighted six of his books, including Law’s Empire, Life’s Dominion and Is Democracy Possible Here?

“Many people, I fear, many lawyers, think of the law as a rather mechanical discipline,” Dworkin observed, accepting the medal from His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway at a November 28, 2007 ceremony in Bergen, Norway. The Holberg, he said, celebrates the view that the “intellectual breadth and moral depth of the law depends upon seeing it as drawing from and contributing to all the other domains, among them philosophy and the humanities.”

Dworkin argues that the legal system should be seen as having two parts: rules set by law and principles of a moral nature. But when the law is fuzzy, he asserts, judges must interpret the law using evolving principles of justice and fairness.

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