Contemporary Danish Prose
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Contemporary Danish Prose Various Contemporary Danish Prose Table of Contents Contemporary Danish Prose....................................................................................................................................1 Various...........................................................................................................................................................1 DANISH SHORT STORIES.........................................................................................................................2 INDOMITABILITY......................................................................................................................................3 THE GOOSE−HERD FROM BRAMSTRUP...............................................................................................8 ST. PETER AND MORDECAI...................................................................................................................10 OFF FOR THE DAY...................................................................................................................................15 THE BOUNDARY......................................................................................................................................23 SPRING.......................................................................................................................................................28 THE TAILOR'S SUMMER.........................................................................................................................33 ADRIFT.......................................................................................................................................................39 THE FIRST PARTY....................................................................................................................................46 PEACE ON EARTH, GOODWILL TO MEN............................................................................................48 FUJIYAMA.................................................................................................................................................51 THE KNIGHTS OF RIND WELCOME A KINSMAN..............................................................................52 THE LOST SON..........................................................................................................................................56 ILLUSION...................................................................................................................................................69 THE SCHOOL−TEACHER AND HIS FAMILY TAKE A SUMMER HOLIDAY BY THE SEA..........70 LIFE'S GREAT MOMENTS.......................................................................................................................78 THE DREAMING CHILD..........................................................................................................................81 YOU AREN'T BIG ENOUGH....................................................................................................................96 THE STORY OF THE REMARKABLE MAN WHO MARRIED A FOX.............................................104 CAMPANELLA........................................................................................................................................109 THE SHOW...............................................................................................................................................110 THE DISASTER........................................................................................................................................123 ON THE SQUARE....................................................................................................................................128 WORLD FAME.........................................................................................................................................134 THE EVENING PRAYER........................................................................................................................137 A LITTLE BABY IS CHRISTENED AT IVER'S....................................................................................142 THE BIRTH OF A NEW ERA..................................................................................................................144 THE TIN BOXES......................................................................................................................................149 ANTS AND CONTRARINESS................................................................................................................153 A CATASTROPHE...................................................................................................................................156 THE THREE MUSKETEERS...................................................................................................................160 "JOURNEY'S END"..................................................................................................................................167 THE KING'S FACE...................................................................................................................................174 PARIS........................................................................................................................................................177 THE ENGLISH BOMBARDMENT OF COPENHAGEN IN 1807.........................................................178 THE NINETEEN THIRTIES....................................................................................................................179 FRANCISCA.............................................................................................................................................186 SONIA.......................................................................................................................................................192 THE BIRDS...............................................................................................................................................195 ORANGES.................................................................................................................................................210 NOTES on the Danish authors included in this Anthology.......................................................................213 BOOKS FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:.................................................................................................222 i Contemporary Danish Prose Various This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online. http://www.blackmask.com • DANISH SHORT STORIES • INDOMITABILITY • THE GOOSE−HERD FROM BRAMSTRUP • ST. PETER AND MORDECAI • OFF FOR THE DAY • THE BOUNDARY • SPRING • THE TAILOR'S SUMMER • ADRIFT • THE FIRST PARTY • PEACE ON EARTH, GOODWILL TO MEN • FUJIYAMA • THE KNIGHTS OF RIND WELCOME A KINSMAN • THE LOST SON • ILLUSION • THE SCHOOL−TEACHER AND HIS FAMILY TAKE A SUMMER HOLIDAY BY THE SEA • LIFE'S GREAT MOMENTS • THE DREAMING CHILD • YOU AREN'T BIG ENOUGH • THE STORY OF THE REMARKABLE MAN WHO MARRIED A FOX • CAMPANELLA • THE SHOW • THE DISASTER • ON THE SQUARE • WORLD FAME • THE EVENING PRAYER • A LITTLE BABY IS CHRISTENED AT IVER'S • THE BIRTH OF A NEW ERA • THE TIN BOXES • ANTS AND CONTRARINESS • A CATASTROPHE • THE THREE MUSKETEERS • "JOURNEY'S END" • THE KING'S FACE • PARIS • THE ENGLISH BOMBARDMENT OF COPENHAGEN IN 1807 • THE NINETEEN THIRTIES • FRANCISCA • SONIA • THE BIRDS • ORANGES • NOTES on the Danish authors included in this Anthology Contemporary Danish Prose 1 Contemporary Danish Prose • BOOKS FOR FURTHER REFERENCE: Juliet Sutherland, Nicole Aposotla, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. CONTEMPORARY DANISH PROSE AN ANTHOLOGY DANISH SHORT STORIES BY DR. F. J. BILLESKOV JANSEN Professor of Danish Literature in the University of Copenhagen Among Danish short story writers there are six classic authors, six pillars of the art of narration, and all the contemporary short story writers whose dates are to be found at the end of this book are based on them. It is therefore natural to introduce this anthology with some words on the predecessors of its authors in Danish prose−writing. It is due to Steen Steensen Blicher (1782−1848) that the Danish short story has struck such deep roots in the soil of our country. In his early youth Blicher received his first poetical inspiration from his reading of Ossian, whose poems he translated into sensitive Danish prose (1807−9), and in the Jutland moors he found a sombre reflection of Ossian's Scotland. But when, in 1824, Blicher began to write short stories, his characters were not misty and vague in the style of Ossian, but human beings of flesh and blood; he told stories of Jutland peasants of the past and the present, interpreting their tragic−heroic attitude to life. It was in his own native region that Blicher made, as Walter Scott had done, his felicitous poetic discovery, the tradition of the Jutland peasantry. And it was not without connection with this decouverte that in 1845 Meir Aron Goldschmidt (1819−87) commenced upon a series of stories depicting the domestic life of Danish Jews. In these stories, Jewish customs and traditions, Jewish thinking, and Jewish characters are seen from within, and described in a language which reveals and veils at the same time. Once and for all Goldschmidt's tales have stamped the Danish short story with the impress of their intimate art. In the years after 1835 Hans Christian Andersen (1805−75) recreated the new artistic fairy tale, and a