Although Carsten Hauch was educated as a scientist and taught science for twenty years, he gained greater significance as the author of tragedies, novels, and poetry. As a professor of aesthetics at the University of Copenhagen, Hauch opposed Johan Ludvig Heiberg's genre-oriented aesthetics. A Romantic and an idealist, Hauch insisted on the writer's ethical and religious responsibility. Thus, he carried the Romantic tradition of Adam Oehlenschläger forward to the Modern Breakthrough in Danish literature.

Johannes Carsten Hauch was born on 12 May 1790 to Frederik Hauch and Karen Tank Hauch. As the son of a high-ranking general with close ties to the court, Frederik Hauch at a young age obtained several important posts at the king's behest. In 1779 he was made chamberlain, and in 1781 he became chief administrative officer of Østfold County (formerly known as Smaalenenes Amt) in southeastern Norway. Carsten Hauch was born in Frederikshald (now...