Wied, Gustav

Gustav Johannes Wied, Danish author

Born: 6 March 1858

Married: 1896 to Alice Tutein, 1869-1958

Died: 24 Oct 1914 (suicide)

Grave site and Gravsted.dk

Locations in Sæby

• Villa Quisisana

• Villa Rolykke

• Clasens Hotel

Biografi i relation til Sæby

Wied debuterede som Peter Idealist i 1887 med pamfletten Nogle Aforismer i Anledning af Interpellationen i Storeheddinge og dens Følger, som omhandler kulturminister Jacob Scavenius. Scavenius var netop blevet afsløret i at have opsøgt en københavnsk prostitueret, og pamfletten latterliggør ubarmhjertigt ministerens dobbeltmoral.

Han var kendt som en samfundsrevser og benyttede enhver lejlighed til at spidde borgerskabet. En novelle han fik trykt i dette førte i 1892 til at han ved Højesteret blev idømt 14 dages fængsel for utilstedelige udtryk. Wied har skildret sit fængselsophold, som foregik på Tugt- og Børnehuset på Christianshavn, i romanen Ungdomshistorier (1895), hvor forfatteren Gunnar Warberg skal forestille Wied selv.

Ægteskab?

Uden drilleri med bourgeoisiet gik det heller ikke, da Gustav Wied ægtede den stille og kritisk nøgterne Alice Tutein (1869-1958). De blev forlovet i nov. 1892.

Hans mor ønskede et billede af parret. Alice ville ikke til fotografen, og Agnes Henningsen figurerede da på billedet til forældrene.

Wied og Alice flyttede sammen og udsendte kort, at de 28. april 1893 havde indgået ægteskab. De boede under meget beskedne forhold i Sæby og fik en datter og to sønner.

Efter det andet barns fødsel anlagdes en sædelighedssag, rejst af svigerfaren mod Wied for at have avlet to børn uden at være gift med barnemoren. 1. maj 1896 blev de borgerligt viet og barnet blev døbt.

Herved kom han i kontakt med sin svigerfar Frederik Tutein på Høgholt i Vendsyssel der skulle blive en betydelig kilde til hans personkarakteristikker og kritik af borgerskabet.

Hans satire og kyniske humor kom tydeligt til udtryk i romanerne Livsens Ondskab (1899), Knagsted (1902) med flere.

I hans sidste år blev hans indtægter mindre, og han led af kraftige mavesmerter; det var den kombination, der førte til hans beslutning om at "gøre en ende på det hele". Den 24. oktober 1914 indtog han en dødelig dosis cyankalium.

Bangsbokredsen

Under et ophold på Bangsbo bliver Gustav Wied opmærksom på en rødstensvilla, Rolykke, der er smukt beliggende på kanten af den idylliske Sæbygaards Skov ved Sæby Å. Her lejer familien Wied sig ind. Fattige som de er, må de nu leve "af Luften og Vandet, kun Drengen faar Mælk", som Wied skriver i et brev.

Men det viser sig hurtigt, at der ikke er rolykke nok i huset til den travle forfatter, for hvem hver dørlukning lyder som et kanonskud. Gang på gang bryder hans nervesystem sammen og truer med opløsning af hele molevitten. Han lejer derfor et værelse på gården Memhave, hvor han søger arbejdsro. Eller han søger tilflugt på kunstnerpensionen Quisisana uden for Sæby, hvor også Drachmann ofte holder til.

Biography in relation to Sæby

Wied made his debut as Peter Idealist in 1887 with the pamphlet Some Aphorisms on the Occasion of the Interpellation in Storeheddinge and its Consequences, which deals with the Minister of Culture Jacob Scavenius. Scavenius had just been exposed as having sought out a Copenhagen prostitute, and the pamphlet mercilessly ridicules the minister's double standards.

He was known as a social czar and took every opportunity to skewer the bourgeoisie. A short story he had published in this led to his being sentenced to 14 days in prison by the Supreme Court in 1892 for indecent expression. Wied has described his prison stay, which took place at the Tugt- og Børnehuset on Christianshavn, in the novel Ungdomshistorier (1895), in which the author Gunnar Warberg is supposed to portray Wied himself.

Marriage?

Gustav Wied's marriage to the quiet and critically sober Alice Tutein (1869-1958) did not go without teasing the bourgeoisie. They were engaged in November 1892.

His mother wanted a picture of the couple. Alice did not want to go to the photographer, and Agnes Henningsen then appeared in the picture for her parents.

Wied and Alice moved in together and posted briefly that they had married on April 28, 1893. They lived in very modest circumstances in Sæby and had a daughter and two sons.

After the birth of the second child, a sexual offence case was brought by the father-in-law against Wied for having fathered two children without being married to the child's mother.

This brought him into contact with his father-in-law Frederik Tutein at Høgholt in Vendsyssel, who was to become a major source of his personality characterisations and criticisms of the bourgeoisie.

His satire and cynical humour were clearly expressed in the novels Livsens Ondskab (1899), Knagsted (1902) and others.

In his last years, his income dwindled and he suffered from severe stomach pains; it was this combination that led to his decision to "end it all". On 24 October 1914 he took a lethal dose of cyanide.

Bangsbok Circle

During a stay at Bangsbo, Gustav Wied became aware of a red-brick villa, Rolykke, beautifully situated on the edge of the idyllic Sæbygaards Skov by the Sæby Å river. The Wied family rents a house here. Poor as they are, they must now live "on air and water, only the boy gets milk", as Wied writes in a letter.

But it soon turns out that there is not enough room in the house for the busy writer, for whom every door closure sounds like a cannon shot. Time and again his nervous system breaks down and threatens to disintegrate the whole lot. He therefore rents a room on the Memhave farm, where he seeks peace and quiet. Or he seeks refuge at the Quisisana artists' boarding house outside Sæby, where Drachmann also often stays.

For Sæby er ikke her ved århundredets slutning et overset udsted, tværtimod er det et kunstnerisk kultsted.

Her opholder Herman Bang sig i lange perioder på Hotel Clasen, hvad Sommerglæder (1904) vidner om.

Her sidder Henrik Ibsen hele sommeren '87 og kigger ud over havet, hvilket bliver til Fruen fra Havet.

Og her krydser den uddannede marinemaler Holger Drachmann, der nu er blevet nationalt klenodie, ligesom hele Bangsbokredsen gæster byen.

Den består desuden af Ove Rode, Line Rode, Peter Nansen, Betty Nansen, Sophus Schandorph, Ida Schandorph, Thorvald Bindesbøll, Carl Ewald, Eva Drachmann (digterens datter).

Drachmann selv undgik Bangsbo, da han ikke kunne holde Johan Knudsen ud. Det samme gælder Alice Tutein (Gustav Wieds hustru), der kun mødte op til specielle lejligheder.

På Skagen har en stor kunstnerkoloni slået sig ned for at dyrke det høje lys på Grenen og den pittoreske lokalkolorit. P.S. Krøyer, Anna Ancher, Michael Ancher, Viggo Johansen og Holger Drachmann som de mest berømte.

Og nu møder Wied for første gang sit fordums forbillede. Han sidder og nyder sin absint en sommerdag i Hotel Clasens have og lytter til de milde toner fra Kjæhrs Byorkester, da Drachmann iført slængkappe og kæmpehat med ørnevingeskygge står over for ham og med sin pibende stemme, der også er karakteristisk for påfuglen, spørger: "Hr. Wied - Tillader De?", idet han sætter sig ned og bestiller en flaske kold Riesling og to glas. For nu skal de have en venskabelig passiar. De læser jo hinanden, for fanden! Wied oplever i et sekund boghandlerens klædeskab i Nakskov, hvor han ved stearinlyset læste idolet Drachmann, og nu sidder han faktisk dér! De bliver fulde, men venner for livet.

Ved selskaberne på Bangsbo, hvor der altid er langtidsgæster, da Johan Knudsen ikke kan holde ensomheden ud, er Gustav Wied tilbageholdende i sin væremåde. Han siger næsten intet, men er måske af samme grund uhyre vellidt i vennekredsen. Den kulturradikale klike - med undtagelse af den konservative og diplomatisk anarkistiske Herman Bang - diskuterer kunst og politik suppleret af årgangsvinene i krystalglassene, mens røgen fra havannacigarerne lægger sin tåge i de fornemme gemakker og omkring hovederne på de prominente gæster. Ned med borgerskabet. Ud med ægteskabet. Væk med kirken. Wied er med på en lytter.

Imens holder Alice hus for ingen penge. Og da de ikke har råd til en barnepige, må hun selv køre med drengen i den lånte barnevogn. Det var uset på den tid, at fruen selv kørte med barnet, men det bliver nu en dille i Sæby i det herrens år 1894. Kvindefrigørelsen baner sig nye veje af praktiske grunde og helt uden hjælp fra teoretiske blåstrømper.

For at the end of the century, Sæby is not an overlooked issue; on the contrary, it is an artistic cult site.

Herman Bang stayed here for long periods at the Hotel Clasen, as evidenced by Sommerglæder (1904).

Henrik Ibsen sits here throughout the summer of '87, looking out over the sea, which becomes The Lady from the Sea.

And here the trained marine painter Holger Drachmann, who has now become a national treasure, cruises, as does the entire Bangsbok circle.

It also includes Ove Rode, Line Rode, Peter Nansen, Betty Nansen, Sophus Schandorph, Ida Schandorph, Thorvald Bindesbøll, Carl Ewald, Eva Drachmann (the poet's daughter).

Drachmann himself avoided Bangsbo as he could not stand Johan Knudsen. The same applies to Alice Tutein (Gustav Wied's wife), who only turned up on special occasions.

A large colony of artists settled in Skagen to cultivate the high light of Grenen and the picturesque local colour. P.S. Krøyer, Anna Ancher, Michael Ancher, Viggo Johansen and Holger Drachmann among the most famous.

And now, for the first time, Wied meets his former role model. He is enjoying his absinthe on a summer's day in the garden of the Hotel Clasens, listening to the gentle strains of Kjæhr's City Orchestra, when Drachmann, wearing a cape and a giant hat with eagle wing shadow, stands opposite him and asks in his squeaky voice, which is also characteristic of the peacock: "Mr Wied - may I?", as he sits down and orders a bottle of cold Riesling and two glasses. For now they are to have a friendly passive. They read each other, for Christ's sake! For a second Wied remembers the bookshop's closet in Nakskov, where he read the idol Drachmann by candlelight, and now he's actually sitting there! They get drunk, but friends for life.

At the parties at Bangsbo, where there are always long-term guests, as Johan Knudsen cannot stand the solitude, Gustav Wied is restrained in his behaviour. He says almost nothing, but perhaps for the same reason is immensely popular among his friends. The radical cultural clique - with the exception of the conservative and diplomatically anarchistic Herman Bang - discusses art and politics, complemented by vintage wines in crystal glasses, while the smoke from the Havana cigars settles its mist in the distinguished chambers and around the heads of the prominent guests. Down with the bourgeoisie. Out with marriage. Away with the church. Wied is in on a listen.

Meanwhile, Alice keeps house for no money. And since they can't afford a nanny, she has to drive the boy herself in the borrowed pram. It was unheard of at the time for the wife to drive the child herself, but it now becomes a fad in Sæby in the year 1894. The emancipation of women breaks new ground for practical reasons and without any help from theoretical blue stockings.