Inger Christensen

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Inger Christensen
Christensen in 2008
Christensen in 2008
Born16 January 1935
Vejle, Denmark
Died2 January 2009 (aged 73)
Copenhagen, Denmark
OccupationPoet, novelist, essayist, editor
NationalityDanish

Inger Christensen (16 January 1935 – 2 January 2009)[1] was a Danish poet, novelist, essayist and editor. She is considered the foremost Danish poetic experimentalist of her generation.

Life and work

Born in the town of

Århus, studying at the Teachers’ College there. She received her certificate in 1958. During this same period, Christensen began publishing poems in the journal Hvedekorn, and was guided by the noted Danish poet and critic Poul Borum (1934–1996), whom she married in 1959 and divorced in 1976.[2]

After teaching at the College for Arts in

It (Det), which, on one level, explored social, political and aesthetic issues, but more deeply probed large philosophical questions of meaning. The work, almost incantatory in tone, opposes issues such as fear and love and power and powerlessness.[2]

In these years Christensen also published two novels, Evighedsmaskinen (1964) and

Harvill Press
in 2000).

Much of Christensen's work was organized upon “systemic” structures in accordance with her belief that poetry is not truth and not even the “dream” of truth, but “is a game, maybe a tragic game—the game we play with a world that plays its own game with us.”

In the 1981 poetry collection

Fibonacci mathematical sequence
in which the next number is the sum of the two previous ones (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34...). As she explained: "The numerical ratios exist in nature: the way a leek wraps around itself from the inside, and the head of a snowflower, are both based on this series." Her system ends on the n, suggesting many possible meanings including “n’s” significance as any whole number. As with It, however, despite its highly structured elements this work is a poetically evocative series concerned with oppositions such as an outpouring of the joy of the world counterposed with the fears for and forces poised for its destruction.

Sommerfugledalen of 1991 (Butterfly Valley: A Requiem, 2004) explores through the sonnet structure the fragility of life and mortality, ending in a kind of transformation.

Christensen also wrote works for children, plays, radio pieces, and numerous essays, the most notable of which were collected in her book Hemmelighedstilstanden (The State of Secrecy) in 2000.

Awards and honors

In 1978, she was appointed to the

Nobel Prize in literature.[3]

Works

Years link to corresponding "[year] in poetry" article for books of poems, or "[year] in literature" for other literary works:

  • 1962: Lys: digte ("Light"), poems[7]
  • 1963: Græs: digte ("Grass"), poems[7]
  • 1964: Evighedsmaskinen, ("Eternity Machine"), novel[7]
  • 1967: Azorno, novel (translated into English by Denise Newman; New Directions, 2009)[7]
  • Det, ("it"), poems 1969 (translated into English by Susanna Nied)[7]
  • 1972: Intriganterne ("The Scheming"), play[7]
  • Harvill Press, 2000)[7]
  • 1979: Brev i april ("Letter in April"), poems[7]
  • 1979: Den historie der skal fortælles[7]
  • Alfabet, 1981 - "Alphabet", poems (translated into English by Susanna Nied), twice translated into Swedish[7]
  • 1982: Del af labyrinten[7] ("Part of the Maze"), essays
  • 1982: Den store ukendte rejse[7] ("The Big Unknown Journey"), children's book
  • 1987: En vinteraften i Ufa og andre spil ("A Winter Evening in Ufa"), plays[7]
  • 1989: Digt om døden ("Poem on Death")
  • 1989: Lys og Græs[7] ("Light and Grass"), poetry
  • 1990: Mikkel og hele menageriet (illustrated by Lillian Brøgger)[7] children's book
  • 1991: Sommerfugledalen, ("Butterfly Valley: A Requiem"), poems (translated into English by Susanna Nied)[7]
  • 1998: Samlede digte ("Collected Poems")[7]
  • 2000: Hemmelighedstilstanden ("The State of Secrecy"), essays[7]

Musical settings

The complete "Butterfly valley" has been set twice by two Danish composers, Niels Rosing-Schow and Svend Nielsen. Both versions were, separately, recorded by Ars Nova Copenhagen with poetry reading by the poet.

References

  1. ^ Charles Lock and Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (19 February 2009). "Inger Christensen". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b Jensen, Elisabeth Møller Inger Christensen (1935 - 2009) (in Danish). Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon.
  3. ^ a b c Inger Christensen er død (2009-01-05) (in Danish). Politiken.
  4. ^ "Poet Inger Christensen dies: Danish poet Inger Christensen dies at 73", Agence France Presse, as published on the Singapore Straits Times website, retrieved January 7, 2008
  5. ^ Blixen.dk Archived 2014-12-26 at the Wayback Machine The Rungstedlund Foundation
  6. ^ "Danish Writer Inger Christensen Dies at Age 73", Associated Press article (no byline given), as published on The New York Times website, January 5, 2009, retrieved January 7, 2009
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liukkonen, Petri. "Inger Christensen". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009.

External links

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