Henri Nathansen (17 July 1868 – 16 February 1944) was a Danish writer and stage director, today best known for the play ''Indenfor Murene'' (the Danish rendering of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

expression '' intra muros'', meaning "within the walls").

Biography

Nathansen grew up in a merchant family in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. Abandoning a legal career, he turned to writing and later directing. His best known work, ''Indenfor Murene'', premiered in 1912 at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

, directed by the author. The play centers around a wealthy, loving, but conservative Jewish family whose only daughter breaks away from tradition by attending lectures at the university and secretly becoming engaged to her teacher, a

gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

. Still frequently performed, the play was included in the official Canon of Danish Culture in 2006. Nathansen's 1932 novel ''Mendel Philipsen & Søn'', about a Jewish woman who falls in love with a gentile painter but instead enters into a loveless marriage with her Jewish cousin, was adapted for the 1992 movie '' Sofie''. Late in his career, Nathansen wrote a number of biographies, notably one of

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

(1929). In October 1943, when the Nazis attempted to round up the Danish Jews, Nathansen fled to Sweden. Four months later, he killed himself.

Legacy

A bust of Nathansen stands in the small garden complex Digterlunden next to the Town Hall Square in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

References

Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathansen, Henri 20th-century Danish dramatists and playwrights Danish theatre directors 19th-century Danish biographers Danish male biographers Danish Jews Suicides in Denmark 1868 births 1944 suicides 1944 deaths Jewish dramatists and playwrights Danish male novelists Danish male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Danish novelists 20th-century Danish male writers Suicides by Jews during the Holocaust