Meïr Goldschmidt as a Writer of English

Although Meïmlr Goldschmidt was around forty years old when he began the serious study of English, he soon mastered the language so thoroughly that he could consider settling in England and pursuing a career in English letters. His published English writings have traditionally been either ignored or belittled, and his manuscript notes for an English novel, preserved in the Royal Library, have been scoffed at. A close examination of his published correspondence of the period traces his progressive mastery of the English language, and a careful study of his publications in English journals, as well as his notes for the novel, demonstrates that this aspect of his literary activity deserves to be taken seriously. Argument over whether Goldschmidt could or would have become a great novelist in English, if he had not returned to Denmark, is pointless. His English writings, published and unpublished, must be taken into account, however, in determining Goldschmidt's place in the history of literature.