
In this candid memoir the author answers a publisher’s urgent request to set down his life before the details fade. Written quickly and later translated, the narrative is deliberately fragmentary, offering a series of vivid sketches rather than a seamless chronicle. The opening pages reveal his conviction that true self‑knowledge arises from a meticulous accounting of one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions, even when the recollection feels incomplete.
Beyond the personal record, the work reflects on the delicate balance between factual biography and the artistry of storytelling. He explains why a novelist can weave truth with imagination, while a biographer must strive for honesty, letting memory’s modesty shape the tale. Readers are invited into the author’s introspective journey, gaining a glimpse of the cultural and philosophical currents of his era, all conveyed with a thoughtful, earnest voice that values both clarity and the subtle colors of lived experience.
Language
de
Duration
~8 hours (469K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Karl Eichwalder, La Monte H.P. Yarroll, Jens Nordmann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.)
Release date
2015-03-22
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1779–1850
A central voice in Denmark’s Romantic movement, this poet and playwright helped reshape Nordic literature in the early 1800s. His writing drew on myth, history, and national feeling, giving old legends a vivid new life.
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