From romanticism to realism
The pre-romantic period is dominated by the poems of Joannes Ewald (1743-1781) and the writings of Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850), dramatist and precursor of the Danish poetic revival. But it was his disciple, Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1876), who achieved international fame with his famous fairy tales, not to mention his travel stories, poems and novels. Every child has at one time or another come across his name or read one of his fairy tales, or at least a passage from one. And without even knowing it, the youngest among them know him through The Snow Queen, adapted by the Disney studios. Other tales are just as famous: The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, The Match Girl, Little Thumb, not forgetting The Little Mermaid, which has also been adapted into a cartoon.
Did you know that Andersen was born into a very poor family in Odense? At the age of 14, he left his hometown for Copenhagen. There, he tried to get his poetry and early plays published. It was then that he met the director of the Royal Theatre, Jonas Colin, who took him under his wing. After university, he set out to conquer the world, traveling throughout Europe where he made many friends, including Victor Hugo, Franz Liszt, Charles Dickens, Balzac and Lamartine! At the age of 30, in 1835, he published his first collection of stories. It was the start of a long career, during which he wrote 164 of them! They feature real or legendary kings and queens, fantastic characters (mermaids and fairies), animals, plants and objects. He drew heavily on his childhood memories. Unlike other well-known storytellers, such as Perrault and the Grimm brothers, Andersen favored everyday language and popular expressions.
His novels are much less well known: L'Improvisateur (1834); Rien qu'un violoneux (1837); Les Deux Baronnes (1848); Conte de ma vie (1855); Être ou ne pas être (1857). He also published a number of travel stories: Voyage à pied à Amager (1828), Promenade du canal de Holmen (1839), Images d'ombres rapportées d'un voyage dans le Harz (1831), Voyages en Suisse 1833-1873, Le Bazar du poète (1842), a collection of souvenirs from his trip to the Orient, and Visite au Portugal (1866) ; but also poetry(Fantaisies et Esquisses, 1831; Les Douze Mois de l'année, 1832) and theater(Amour sur la tour Saint-Nicolas, 1829; La Mulâtresse, 1839; Nouvelle Ruelle de l'accouchée, 1840).
Despite being the most translated Danish author in the world, he was long neglected in his own country, his recognition having begun abroad.
In a radically different genre, the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1885), recognized as the founder of international existentialism, also imposed his complex and innovative work beyond the kingdom's borders. In 1846, he published Miettes philosophiques, followed two years later by Post-scriptum aux Miettes philosophiques. This postscript, much longer than the first work, is one of his major writings. The title is, of course, ironic! In this work, the author violently attacks Hegel's philosophy. It can be summed up by one of his quotations: "subjectivity is truth". This is an interrogation of faith, in which he distinguishes between religiosity and religious attitude.
Change of scene with Georg Brandes (1842-1927), creator around 1870 of a literary movement known as "the modern breakthrough", an opening for Danish writers to the influences of their foreign contemporaries. Among the movement's members were the poet and novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847-1885), who introduced naturalism, the realist Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943) - well known in Germany, author of Roman des Morts - and Karl Gjellerupp (1873-1950).
In the 20th century
Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950) is considered the first great name of the 20th century. His literary cycle The Long Journey won him the Nobel Prize, which might well have gone to Karen Blixen (1885-1962) had it not been for her friend Hemingway. The novelist's work is substantial and has been translated worldwide: in 1937, La Ferme africaine (adapted for the cinema under the title Out of Africa); Les Contes d'hiver (1941); Le Dîner de Babette (1958; also adapted for the cinema under the title Le Festin de Babette). She also wrote numerous stories and letters on subjects relating to her own life and to the world in those troubled times.
Klaus Rifbjerg (b. 1931), greatly inspired by Anglo-American literature, is also the author of a considerable body of work including no fewer than 100 titles (novels, collections of poems and short stories)! Writer and film-maker Henrik Stangerup (1937-1988), "the enfant terrible of Danish literature", achieved international success with a trilogy based on the three stages (aesthetic, ethical and religious). In his turn, novelist Jens Christian Grøndahl made a name for himself with his interest in psychological analysis and his memorable female characters. As for Jørn Riel (1931), he established himself on the international scene for his hilarious Greenlandic tales.
Contemporary literature
Morten Brask (b. 1970), in 2011 published Térézin Plage, which won him critical acclaim and the "coup de coeur" of French booksellers, followed by his second fiction novel, La Vie parfaite de William Sidis. Another renowned contemporary writer is Svend Åge Madsen (b. 1939), author of some 50 novels, essays and books for children and teenagers, as well as radio plays and television scripts. He currently lives in Århus. His works include La femme sans corps (1986) and Raconter les hommes (1989).
Finally, the young and talented Josephine Klougart (b. 1985) mixes poetry and prose in her short stories. She has twice been nominated for the Grand Prix du Conseil Nordique. Her third novel, L'un d'entre nous dort (2012), has become a bestseller. Another women's bestseller is La Laveuse de morts (2020 ) by Kurdish-born author Sara Omar, which denounces honor killings and the oppression of women.
Popular literature
Less well known than their Swedish or Norwegian neighbors, Dan Turrèll (1946-1993) is one of the leading figures among Danish crime writers. His trilogy, translated into French as Meurtres à l'heure de pointe, Mortels lundis and Meurtres dans la pénombre, features Inspector Elhers leading an investigation in the heart of Copenhagen. Michael Larsen (b. 1961) is best known for his thrillers, in particular The Fifth Sun, also translated into French. The tradition of noir novels, although fairly recent in Denmark, has been developing in recent years with Sara Blædel (b. 1964), who published 4 novels between 2006 and 2009, and Anna Grue, one of Denmark's most widely read authors. She published her first novel, Quelque chose pour quelque chose, in 2005. Her debut won her a prize from the Danish Academy of Sciences. Her first real source of inspiration: her mother, who worked as a psychiatrist. In the same vein, Leif Davidsen, also a great reporter, has made a name for himself with spy novels translated into several languages: The Enemy in the Mirror (2004), which unleashed passions, The Unknown Wife (2006) and In Search of Hemingway (2008). Mikkel Birkegaard's The Bookshop of Shadows is a bestseller of its kind.
In 2008, the country bid farewell to Jakob Ejersbo, born in 1968, who turned contemporary Danish literature upside down: his trilogy on Africa, with Exile, Revolution and finally Freedom, is considered one of Scandinavia's most important works. The author tells a story based on his own life in Africa, reminiscent of the work of Karen Blixen, in which the Western world meets the dark continent.
Three Nobel Prizes in Literature
The famous Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to three Danish writers, little known and little read in France. The first two were awarded jointly in 1917. Karl Gjellerup (1857-1919) is best known for his first two novels: Minna (1887) and The Mill (1896). He also wrote collections of short stories, plays and poetry. It was "for his varied and rich poetry, inspired by high ideals" that he was awarded the prize. For his part, Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943) is a realist author best known for his collection of short stories, Ailes rognées. He received this high distinction for "his authentic descriptions of everyday life in Denmark".
It was a period troubled by war that saw the coronation of Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950), since it was in 1944 that the Swedish Academy singled him out "for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination, with its combination of wide-ranging intellectual curiosity and bold, freshly creative style".
