author
Wilhelm Jensen
1837–1911
A prolific German poet and novelist, he is now remembered especially for Gradiva, the short novel that later caught Sigmund Freud’s attention. His work ranged widely across historical fiction, poetry, and storytelling rooted in northern German life.
2 Audiobooks
Delusion and Dream : an Interpretation in the Light of Psychoanalysis of Gradiva
by Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Jensen
Gradiva: Ein pompejanisches Phantasiestück
by Wilhelm Jensen
About the author
Born in Heiligenhafen in Holstein on February 15, 1837, Wilhelm Jensen studied medicine at Kiel, Würzburg, and Breslau before leaving that path for a literary career. He worked as a journalist and editor at different points in his life and later lived in cities including Munich, Stuttgart, Flensburg, and Kiel.
Jensen was an extraordinarily productive writer, publishing poems, novels, and historical works over many decades. Contemporary reference works describe him as especially successful with historical fiction, while later readers often know him best for Gradiva (1903), a brief novel that became famous beyond literary circles because Freud wrote about it.
He died near Munich on November 24, 1911. Although he is not as widely read today as some of his peers, his career shows the range and energy of German literary life in the late nineteenth century, and Gradiva has helped keep his name alive for modern readers.