His writings can be divided into three periods, during which he produced mainly history, 1711–1718; mainly satirical poetry and stage comedies, 1719–1731; and mainly philosophy, 1731–1750. His rich output of comedies during the middle period was shaped by his role as house dramatist at Denmark's first public theater, opened in Copenhagen in 1721. These comedies are the works on which his fame rests today, and they were an immediate and immense success. However the poverty caused by the Copenhagen Fire of 1728, brought a wave of depression and puritanism upon the nation, which clashed with Holberg's satirical works, and as a consequence he gave up his comedies switching to philosophical and historical writings in 1731. Holberg's only novel, the satirical science-fiction/fantasy "Niels Klim's Underground Travels" was originally published in Latin in 1741 as "Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum".