KFM Salon on Grundtvig with Jes Fabricius Møller

Grundtvig biography with Jes Fabricius Møller: Monday 18 January 2027, 18:30–19:30, BOGhandleren Aarhus Kristian F. Møller, Aarhus. Tickets cost 50 kr.

KFM salon on Grundtvig with Jes Fabricius Møller, based on his new book "NFS".

N.F.S. Grundtvig stands as a monument in Denmark's history over the past 200 years - Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson called him "the greatest tree in the forest". But Grundtvig was also a human being with needs, drives, weaknesses, financial worries and health problems. He came into conflict with prominent figures and did not always understand what he had gotten himself into. Yet he was supported by some of the realm's most powerful, with the last absolute monarchs Frederik VI and Christian VIII at the helm, and when he died in 1872, he received a state funeral.

"NFS" follows Grundtvig from his childhood home in South Zealand to his funeral, and along the way the book covers his time as a student in Copenhagen, his work as a teacher, translator, politician and priest, his three marriages and a possible affair, his apparent mental illness, lawsuits, travels to England and Norway, thoughts on school and church, friends and enemies, and the cult of personality around him. The book is based on a critical examination of diaries and letters and challenges several established truths about Grundtvig's life - truths that in some cases stem from Grundtvig himself.

Jes Fabricius Møller (b. 1966) is a lecturer in history at the University of Copenhagen, holds a cand.mag., ph.d. and dr.phil. He is chairman of the Grundtvig Society, Grundtvig's Memorial Rooms and Grundtvig's Folk High School, and has written acclaimed books on, among other things, Tvind, Hal Koch, Grundtvig and the royal house.