Yes!

Good-looking country boy
Women don't hold much interest for him, however. Except if they stand in the way of his project or if they may be able to promote it, and in that case by how many million. In a way this becomes Per's destiny, for he is very good-looking. The girl in the window across the street blushes, the maid cuddles his pillow and a merchant's wife yanks down the V of her dress. But it is only when two sisters from a wealthy Jewish family start fighting over him that the erotic game really begins. For example, the following sentence portends the younger sister's attack: "Catching sight of Per she stopped and with calculating slowness let her white fur cape slip down to expose her shoulders".

War and love
Strictly speaking both sisters find Per both boorish, embarrassing and his clothes anything but elegant, but when after a strenuous run he stands sweat- drenched in front of the elder sister, she falls for him so hard that it echoes through Copenhagen. This means war! Per is both fascinated and repelled and the same goes for the two sisters who also do what they can to attract and reject other men in their mutual power game. 

It takes Henrik Pontoppidan more than 600 pages to decide which girl is to take Per home as her prize, but Per is as stubborn as a mule and wants to make up his own mind. Whether this is good or bad is for the reader to decide.

Dorthe Sondrup Andersen is a Master of Arts of Comparative Literature and an author and writer on cultural affairs. Her books include "The Golden Age without the Gilt" ("Guldalder uden forgyldning") (People's Press, 2004).