The Fishermen tells the collective story of a
northern Jutland rural fishing village in 1920's Denmark. It was the first
collective novel to emerge in Denmark, breaking with the previous tradition of
coming-of-age stories and is an excellent example of
social realism. The village newest inhabitants are members of the Inner Mission (
Indre Mission in Danish)
puritanical revivalist movement, and refer to themselves as "the Pious", and their beliefs are often at odds with the less rigid
Grundtvigian villagers. As the Pious adjust to life in their new village, they struggle with economic hardship and personal upheaval, while trusting that any and all outcomes are God's will. Kirk himself was an
atheist; however, in writing
The Fishermen, he wished to show the connection between religion, economics, and politics in rural life. Kirk attempted to understand rather than condemn the Pious movements popularity in rural Denmark, by examining how they made sense of their
socioeconomic conditions outside of a political framework. His portrayal of the Pious can be read as deeply sympathetic.
The Fishermen was reworked eight times, before its final version. While Kirk's extensive revisions of
The Fishermen was a process of choice; he would be forced to completely rewrite later works.
The Fishermen was adapted into a six-hour film by
Danish state television. ==Selected works==