Egholm and his God

In Short

First published in Denmark in 1919 and translated three years later, this eccentric novel portrays the shifting fortunes of Emanuel Egholm, an untamed dreamer whose violent mood swings, religious fervor, and mechanical obsessions keep his household in constant turmoil. Moving from the drab rentals of Odense to the coastal town of Knarreby, the story charts the domestic friction between Egholm’s inflated self-image and his family's quiet desperation. Buchholtz’s book has endured because it captures a uniquely tragicomic Scandinavian sensibility, offering a vivid portrait of poverty, fanaticism, and stubborn human resilience.

The Story

The narrative opens in Odense on a dreary November afternoon, where young, frail Sivert and his mother, Fru Anna Egholm, watch the street in dread for the return of Emanuel Egholm. Once a respectable office employee and former station assistant, Egholm has degenerated into a erratic seeker, moving his household from town to town as his fortunes collapse. Egholm throws himself into the religious fervor of the Brethren of St. John, where the charismatic "Angel" Karlsen and his cynical son manipulate the congregation for money. In a burst of extravagant piety, Egholm donates his family’s silver spoon and last paper bag of coins to the chapel box. Yet his devotion is short-lived; when the Brethren turn against him, Egholm abandons the flock and sets his sights on new horizons.

After a former acquaintance gifts him a pawn ticket for a camera, Egholm relocates his wife and younger children to the picturesque port town of Knarreby. He leaves Sivert behind under the dark guardianship of Valdemar August Olsen, a shady, menacing associate who terrorizes the boy with bizarre late-night antics. Sivert eventually steals Olsen’s registration book and escapes on foot through a night gale to join his family. In Knarreby, the family’s economic misery persists. Fru Egholm copes with chronic illness and the hardship of bedding her children on chairs under old uniform cloaks, while Egholm pursues absurd endeavors—from offering sand, gravel, and crushed glass as quack remedies for childhood ailments to attempting to extort blessings from God through transactional prayers.

Amid the squalor, Egholm remains tormented by an obsession with Clara, the daughter of his former employer Konsul Steen, whose framed portrait has haunted him for years as an emblem of unattainable perfection. Seeking redemption and worldly triumph, Egholm pours his remaining energy into inventing a miniature steamboat. Supported by local sympathizers like Henrik Vang, he tests his creation at the harbor edge. Working feverishly with bare feet and scorched arms, Egholm succeeds in making the small engine whir and reverse through fire and smoke. Moments later, the boiler explodes, splitting the vessel in two. Rather than viewing the failure as a tragedy, Egholm stands beside his terrified son and declares the fiery wreckage a magnificent burnt-offering, convinced he has successfully asserted his triumph over God.

How It Unfolds

A household in fear Sivert and his mother look down from their window into the rain-slicked courtyard, terrified by the stumbling approach of Egholm. The father’s erratic behavior and demands that the weakly boy find immediate work establish the constant dread hanging over the home.

The chapel offering Inside the hall of the Brethren of St. John, Egholm attempts to prove his superior piety to the congregation by dumping a bursting bag of coins and a silver spoon into the collection box. His dramatic gesture only highlights his growing alienation from the church leaders.

Abandonment in Odense Egholm departs for Knarreby, leaving young Sivert in the care of Olsen, whose erratic, threatening night-time behavior drives the boy to panic. Sivert steals Olsen's registration book and flees into a raging storm, walking the dark road toward Knarreby.

The promised land Reunited in the coastal town of Knarreby, Fru Egholm briefly hopes her husband's joyous demeanor signals a new start. However, the reality of their crushing poverty quickly reasserts itself, with the children sleeping on makeshift beds amid damp, peeling wallpaper.

The trial by fire Egholm constructs a small, experimental steamboat and tests it before a crowd of local spectators. The machinery catches fire and explodes, but Egholm embraces the destruction as a glorious, sacred victory against the Almighty.

The People

• Emanuel Egholm: A volatile inventor and former clerk who bounces between religious extremism, grand delusions, and bitter self-pity. He seeks recognition and wealth, blocked always by his own chaotic mind, and ends up driving his family deeper into poverty while viewing his failures as cosmic battles.
• Fru Anna Egholm: Emanuel's long-suffering wife, who desires basic stability and protection for her children. Standing between her husband's reckless whims and her family's survival, she grows increasingly exhausted and frail, clinging quietly to her practical common sense.
• Sivert Egholm: The fragile, imaginative young son who wants safety and approval. Trapped between his father's religious demands and the menace of predatory adults like Olsen, he learns to survive through compliance and sudden, desperate flight.
• Angel Karlsen: A leader of the Brethren of St. John who leverages gentleness and long-suffering piety to extract donations from impressionable followers, serving as a subtle antagonist to Egholm's impulsive spiritual demands.
• Henrik Vang: A loyal, beer-loving acquaintance in Knarreby who admires Egholm’s chaotic brilliance and defends the inventor’s strange talents to local skeptics.

In Its Own Voice

“Sivert turns his head away and answers with an evasive laugh: ‘All that rain ... it tickles so.’”

Sivert attempts to hide his internal world and anxieties from his mother while watching the drizzle outside their window.

“‘Behold, Egholm Thy servant groaneth under the weight of poverty; Thou seest, and it is enough; Thou sayest the word, and lo, Thy servant cometh into riches and happiness....’”

Egholm attempts to bargain directly with the Almighty during home prayers, treating God as a wealthy landlord who owes him prosperity.

“‘We’ve made a great burnt-offering unto the Lord. But more than that. We’ve--yes, in a way, we’ve heaped coals of fire on His head!’”

Standing beside the wreckage of his exploded steamboat, Egholm interprets the disaster as a supreme spiritual triumph over God.

What It's Really About

Beneath its character study of an eccentric household, the novel explores the thin line between religious devotion and megalomania. Buchholtz examines how pride and poverty twist the human psyche, turning a man's inability to provide for his family into a cosmic drama where he casts himself as God's equal partner—or rival. The book investigates the burden of domestic endurance, contrasting Egholm's soaring, destructive grandiosity with the quiet, uncelebrated labor of his wife to keep the children fed and sheltered. It questions whether faith, invention, and ambition are genuine paths to human redemption, or merely elaborate defense mechanisms built to disguise personal failure and escape the squalor of everyday life.

Why Read It Today

Egholm and his God appeals to readers who appreciate dark, tragicomic portraiture and Scandinavian fiction that balances psychological sharp-sightedness with regional realism. Reading it feels like observing a small-town circus through a frost-streaked windowpane: there is immense vitality in the prose, but also a persistent, chilling draft of economic insecurity.

The novel requires some patience with its episodic structure and the unvarnished, frustrating nature of its central figure. Egholm is not a conventional hero; his self-absorption, quack remedies, and harshness toward his family can be painful to watch. Yet Buchholtz grounds the narrative in such sharp, sensory details—from the reek of stale beer in a rented hall to the shivering terror of a boy running down a dark country road—that the story remains compelling. What stays with you long after reading is the haunting image of a man burning his hands in a fire of his own making, utterly convinced that the smoke carries his glory to the heavens.