HOLBERG, Ludvig, Baron

(1684-1754)

   Danish playwright, essayist and historian. Born in Bergen, Norway, LH studied at Copenhagen and settled permanently in Denmark, where he was appointed professor at Copenhagen University, first of philosophy, later of metaphysics and of Latin rhetoric, and finally of history (1730). A prolific author, he published several voluminous poems, 32 comedies andthe satirical novel Nicolai Klimii iter subterraneum (1741 in Latin; exp 1745; trans anon as A Journey to the World Under-Ground. By NicolasKlimius 1742 UK; vt The Journey of Niels Klim to the World Underground 1960 US; vt A Journey to the World Underground 1974 US). This is a satirical UTOPIAN novel, deriding LH's contemporary world and inspired primarily by Jonathan SWIFT's Gulliver's Travels (1726; rev 1735), Thomas MORE's Utopia (Part 2 1516 in Latin; both parts 1551 in English) andMontesquieu's Lettres persanes (1721). One of the most influential 18th-century SATIRES, it describes the FANTASTIC VOYAGE of Niels Klim through a hole in a mountain (the name Holberg can be translated as "hollow mountain") into a HOLLOW EARTH, where he finds a minute suncircled by the planet Nazar, whose inhabitants show a societal pattern diametrically opposed to that of the contemporary stereotype: WOMEN are the dominant sex and males perform only menial tasks. It is notable that Holberg's novel was considered dangerously radical in Denmark; the Englishtranslation preceded publication in Danish by 47 years.

   J-HH

   See also: BIG DUMB OBJECTS; DENMARK.