Valdemar Adolph Thisted

The writings published during his time as a pastor caused a stir because of their critical views on contemporary church issues.

After his mother’s early death, when he was twelve years old, he moved to the home of his uncle, the War Commissioner of Elmquist in Aarhus, and attended the town's grammar school.

His subsequent works included Havfruen (Little Mermaid, 1846), Tabt og funden (Lost and Won, 1849), Episoder fra et Reiseliv (Episodes from a Reiseliv, 1850) and Romerske Mosaiker (Roman Mosaics, 1851), the fruits of a journey to Italy; the novel Sirenernes Ö (Siren's Island, 1853); the romantic dramas Hittebarnet (Abandoned Child, 1854), Neapolitaniske Aquareller (1853) and Hjemme og paa Vandring (Home and on Hiking, 1854); novelistic travel studies Örkenens Hjerte (Örkenens Heart, 1849), Bruden (Bride, 1851) and the novel Familieskatten (Family Tax, 1856).

His novel Breve fra Helvede (Briefe aus der Hölle), published in Copenhagen in 1866, excited considerable attention and was translated into several languages.

Worried by the offence caused by the book, Thisted made a kind of penance in Høgholt (1868), some colorless, religious parables.

He moved 1870 to Frederiksberg, where he spent his seventeen years' retirement plagued by illness and bitterness at the absence of the recognition he thought he deserved.