Danish Literature as World Literature

Despite being a minor language, Danish literature is one of the world's most actively translated, and the Scandinavian country is the home of a number of significant writers. Hans Christian Andersen remains one of the most translated authors in the world, philosopher Søren Kierkegaard inspired modern Existentialism, Karen Blixen chronicled her life in colonial Kenya as well as writing imaginary, cosmopolitan tales, and the writers among the circles of literary critic Georg Brandes in the late 19th century were especially important to the further development of European Modernism.

Danish Literature as World Literature introduces key figures from 800 years of Danish literature and their impact on world literature. It includes chapters devoted to post-1945 literature on beat and systemic poetry as well as the Scandinavia noir vogue that includes both crime fiction and cinema and is enjoying worldwide popularity.

Autorentext

Mads Rosendahl Thomsen is Professor with Special Responsibilities in Comparative Literature at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the author of Mapping World Literature: International Canonization and Transnational Literature (2008), The New Human in Literature: Posthuman Visions of Changes in Body, Mind and Society (2013), and the editor of several volumes, including World Literature: A Reader (2012) and The Posthuman Condition: Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics of Biotechnological Challenges (2012). He is a member of the Academia Europaea and an advisory board member of the Institute for World Literature.

Dan Ringgaard is Professor in Scandinavian Literature at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Inhalt

Introduction: Danish Literature as World Literature
Dan Ringgaard and Mads Rosendahl Thomsen (Aarhus University, Denmark)

1. History of the Danes: **Saxo the Grammarian and Saxo the Rune Master
   Pernille Hermann (Aarhus University, Denmark)

   • *2. Travelling Ballads: The Dissemination of Danish Medieval Ballads in Germany and Britain, 1760s to 1830s
     Lis Møller (Aarhus University, Denmark)
   • *3. Ludvig Holberg: A Man of Transition in the 18th Century
     Svend Erik Larsen (Aarhus University, Denmark)

2. A Man of the World: Hans Christian Andersen
   Karin Sanders (University of California, Berkeley, USA)

3. Straight into the Bliss of Knowing: Søren Kierkegaard's Influence on Franz Kafka
   Isak Winkel Holm (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

4. Modern Denmark: Brandes - Jacobsen - Bang
   Annegret Heitmann (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany)

5. Towards a New World: Johannes V. Jensen and Henrik Pontoppidan
   Jon Helt Haarder (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)

6. Out of Africa, into World Literature
   Lasse Horne Kjældgaard (Roskilde University, Denmark)

7. Breaking New Ground - Danish Poets in the Intersection Between Modernism and Postmodernism
   Anne-Marie Mai (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)

8. 'A Faithful, Attentive, Tireless Following': Cultural Mobility, Crime Fiction, and Television Drama
   C. Claire Thomson and Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London, UK)

Bibliography
Index