Georg Brandes and the Jewish question

Georg Brandes (1842­­­­­­–1927) was a famous European literary and cultural critic who is one of the most controversial personalities to be found in Danish intellectual life. His position as the leading figure in the so-called modern breakthrough is, of course, beyond dispute. The controversy has been and still is centered around the significance of his efforts. In this connection reference has often been made to his Jewish heritage as something “non-Danish” or “foreign”. To be sure, anti-Semitism at its worst never really acquired a foothold in Denmark, but it did, however, come to play a decisive role in the disqualification of Brandes and in the discrediation of the name he left to posterity. No matter how things were worded, they always had to do with Brandes’ Jewish ancestry. Quite understandably, serious scholarly research, has until recently on the whole avoided this controversial aspect of such an already extremely controversial person. There are obviously things having to do with Brandes’ life and works which cannot be explained unless we take into account his Jewish ancestry, a subject which, quite against his will, became one of the central themes in his life.