Christian Kampmann was one of the eminent voices of the ny-realisme (new realism) movement that developed in the 1960s in Danish literature. A strong reaction against the subjective and exclusive points of view that defined modernism, ny-realism emphasized a shift toward a more objective narrative approach. Kampmann brought to this movement a penetrating insight into the psychology at work behind the life choices of the individual. His careful writing and social sensibility enabled him to peel away the veneers of a character's existence and to disclose the repressed desires in most middle-class lives. In a 28 November 1966 interview in the Danish daily newspaper Information Kampmann told a reporter: "En realistisk forfatter skriver på erfaringer. Jeg kan personligt ikke anerkende noget metafysisk" (A realistic author writes from experience. Personally, I cannot acknowledge anything metaphysical).

Christian Peter Georg Kampmann was born in Hellerup, a suburb of Copenhagen, on 24 July 1939, to...