The Bridge Volume 17 Number 2 Article 6 1994 Carl Hansen's Concept Of Christmas David Iversen Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge Part of the European History Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, and the Regional Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Iversen, David (1994) "Carl Hansen's Concept Of Christmas," The Bridge: Vol. 17 : No. 2 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thebridge/vol17/iss2/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Bridge by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. "Carl Hansen's Concept of Christmas" by DAVID IVERSEN INTRODUCTION As one of the major Danish-American immigrant writers of the early 20th century, Carl Hansen wrote short stories, sketches, and one novel, co-founded (with Oscar W. Lund) The Christmas journal Julegranen, and published Dansk Jul i Amerika in 1909. This paper will focus on three stories, published in Landmrend: Fortrellinger by Dansk Boghandel in Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1908, which have Christmas as a theme. The three stories are: For 30 aar siden (30 Years Ago"), Bowlegged Joe ("Bowlegged Joe"), and Gamle Hans Nielsen's sidste Jul ("Old Hans Nielsen's Last Christmas"). What follows is a brief look at "Carl Hansen's concept of Christmas" as it appears in this one collection of short stories, which, as Hansen states in his "Forward to Kandsmrend, have been previously published in different weekly papers, magazines, and Christmas annuals.