Nobel Prize Recipient. Karl Adolph Gjellerup received international recognition after being awarded the 1917 Nobel Prize in Literature, according to the Nobel Prize Committee, "for his varied and rich poetry, which is inspired by lofty ideals." He received twelve nominations for the candidacy of this coveted award. In light of World War I, the 1917 Nobel Prize presentation ceremony was postponed until 1920; he died in 1919. Born to the son of a Christian church pastor, he was three years old when his father died, and he went to live with an uncle, who was also a pastor. His uncle was a scholar who spoke several languages, and an author who had published three well-known books. After graduating from school at the age of seventeen summa cum laude, he started to write with little success. At this point, he moved to a rural area and studied theology, but came under the influence of Darwinism and Georg Brandes. At one point, he thought that he may be an atheist, but continued with his Christian faith. Flip-flopping from a conservative way of thinking to a very radical liberal way and then back to more conservative caused him to have conflict with people on both sides of belief, yet the Danish government awarded him a state pension for life for his writings. This followed with successful books, "An Idealist, A Description of Epigonus" in 1878 and his farewell to theology in 1882, "The Teutons' Apprentice." In 1883 he received a small inheritance, which afforded him to travel to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, and Russia. In 1885 he wrote "Wander Years," exploring the concepts of free will and the moral responsibilities of man. His writings echoed German idealist philosophy and Romanticism, then turning back to religions, and becoming preoccupied with Asian faiths, such as Buddhism. In October of 1887, he married for a second time to newly divorced Eugenia Anna Caroline Hensinger, who was Georg Brandes' cousin. At this point, he considered himself a German author. Books from his last period were "Minna" in 1889, which was autobiographical exploring his childhood and the end of his first marriage, and "The Pilgrim Kamanita" in 1906, which was an exotic saga on reincarnation in India. Students in Thailand study "The Pilgrim Kamanita" as a lesson and this book has been translated into the most languages. Other books include "The Mill" in 1896, which was a dark murder mystery, "The Country Practice of Dr. Rudolph Sten" in 1913, which gives the storyline of a liberal physician in his hometown of rural Zealand, and "Friends of God" in 1916. His 1893 drama "Wuthhorn" was very successful with 100 performances. The storyline of the play was two lovers who would rather die if they cannot stay together, which was a very similar plot to "Romeo and Juliet." His last piece was "The Holiest of Animals" in 1919, which was his poor attempt to write humor by giving a voice to historical animals, such as a famous general's horse or the donkey that Jesus rode. Although he started writing in his native Danish, most of his publications are German. Whereas the Nobel Prize gave this award to a Danish author, Denmark no longer considered him a Danish author as he moved to Germany nearly thirty years earlier. His biography, which was submitted to the Nobel Prize Committee, was written in the first-person pronoun of "I" with his clumsy descriptions showing his poor attempt to write in English. He wrote about his guiding star and zodiac, which according to him, "constitute my rightful habitat." His biography does not state any advance education such as college degrees, yet he was exposed to reading at an early age. Critics at times stated his writings were mediocre, but he was a freethinker who explored the theories of different "truths" through his poetry, dramas, and novels, covering theology, atheism, and Darwin's doctrine of evolution, as well as Buddhism and reincarnation; this caused the reader to think and is the reason the Nobel Prize was presented to him.