The novels and stories of the Danish author Martin Andersen Nexø (1869-1954) evoke the life of the proletariat in a manner that transcends politics and nationality.

Martin Andersen Nexø was one of 11 children of an impoverished stonecutter. After spending 6 years as a shoemaker's apprentice, he attended a folk high school where he made his first acquaintance with literature. Supporters of the school sent him abroad to recover his health after a serious illness, and, while living in Spain, he discovered that the plight of the working class was international. His first book, a collection of stories, appeared after his return to Denmark, where he worked as a teacher. After 1901 he lived exclusively by his pen.

Nexø's first novels are in the decadent, pessimistic manner common around the turn of the century. His mature authorship began with the four-volume Pelle the Conqueror (1906-1910), and from...