"A probing analysis of the problems of evolution forms the basis of my prose"
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A probing analysis of evolution sounds clinical, even antiseptic, until you remember Johannes Vilhelm Jensen was talking about prose, not lab notes. The line is a quiet manifesto: his style isn’t merely decorated by big ideas, it’s built on a worldview where life is shaped by pressure, contingency, and adaptation. “Probing” matters here. It implies a restlessness, a refusal to let inherited stories about human nature sit undisturbed. Jensen positions himself as a writer who treats Darwin not as trivia for the educated, but as an engine for narrative and insight.
The subtext is a bid for modern authority. In the early 20th century, evolution was more than biology; it was cultural dynamite, used to rethink religion, nationalism, gender roles, and the myth of human exceptionalism. By claiming evolution as his “basis,” Jensen signals allegiance to a modern, scientific sensibility, but also takes a risk: evolutionary thinking can harden into determinism, into a story that flatters power by calling it “nature.” His phrasing dodges that trap by foregrounding “problems” rather than “truths.” He’s interested in the frictions and unanswered questions, not a tidy doctrine.
Context sharpens the intent. A Danish Nobel laureate writing amid industrial acceleration and ideological upheaval, Jensen suggests that prose should compete with science in explanatory force. Not by mimicking its jargon, but by translating its destabilizing implications into character, mood, and social observation. Evolution becomes less a topic than a method: watch what survives, notice what mutates, and never pretend the present is inevitable.
The subtext is a bid for modern authority. In the early 20th century, evolution was more than biology; it was cultural dynamite, used to rethink religion, nationalism, gender roles, and the myth of human exceptionalism. By claiming evolution as his “basis,” Jensen signals allegiance to a modern, scientific sensibility, but also takes a risk: evolutionary thinking can harden into determinism, into a story that flatters power by calling it “nature.” His phrasing dodges that trap by foregrounding “problems” rather than “truths.” He’s interested in the frictions and unanswered questions, not a tidy doctrine.
Context sharpens the intent. A Danish Nobel laureate writing amid industrial acceleration and ideological upheaval, Jensen suggests that prose should compete with science in explanatory force. Not by mimicking its jargon, but by translating its destabilizing implications into character, mood, and social observation. Evolution becomes less a topic than a method: watch what survives, notice what mutates, and never pretend the present is inevitable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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