He was generally known as a satirical critic of society in his time and he deliberately used his writing talents to expose the establishment, bourgeoisie and ruling class.

[citation needed] His best-known work is the novel Livsens Ondskab (1899), depicting life in a small provincial Danish town.

The story revolves around customs official Knagsted, a red-bearded satyrical Diogenes, who openly ridicules the hypocrisy of the snobbish bourgeois inhabitants, and Emanual Thomsen, a tragic struggler, trying to obtain the funds needed to regain his ancestral farm.

Among his most notable works are: English translations: Many of Wieds stories and plays have been filmed, two in his own lifetime, both black and white silent movies.

It is an adapted screenplay drama of Wied's "Fædrene Æde Druer" from 1908, produced by film director Anders Refn.