Inger Christensen
Encyclopedia
Inger Christensen was a Danish
poet, novelist, essayist and editor considered the foremost Danish poetic experimentalist of her generation.
, on the eastern, Jutland
coast of Denmark, Christensen's father was a tailor, her mother a cook before her marriage. After graduating from Vejle Gymnasium, she moved to Copenhagen
and, later, to 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 (1934–1995), whom she married in 1959 and divorced in 1976.
After teaching at the College for Arts in Holbæk
from 1963 to 1964, she turned to writing full time, producing two of her major early collections, Lys
(Light, 1962) and Græs (Grass, 1963), both examining the limits of self-knowledge and the role of language
in perception
. Her major work of the 1960s, however, was the highly acclaimed masterwork det
(It), 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.
In these years Christensen also published two novels, Evighedsmaskinen (1964) and
Azorno (1967), as well as a shorter fiction on the Italian
Renaissance
painter Mantegna
, presented from the viewpoint of various narrators (Mantegna's secretary Marsilio, the Turkish
princess Farfalla, and Mantagena's young son), Det malede Værelse (1976, translated into English
as The Painted Room by 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 masterpiece, alfabet, Christensen used the alphabet (from a [“apricots”] to n [“nights”]) along with the 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 det, 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.
; in 1994, she became a member of the Académie Européenne de Poésie ("European Academy of Poetry"); in 2001, the Akademie der Künste
("Academy of the Arts") in Berlin. She won the Grand Prix des Biennales Internationales de Poésie in 1991, Der österreichische Staatspreis für Literature ("Austrian State Prize for European Literature
") in 1994, the Nordic Prize of the Swedish Academy the same year, the European Poetry Prize in 1995, The America Award in 2001, the German Siegfried Unseld award in 2006, and received numerous other distinctions. Her works have been translated into several languages, and she was frequently mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature
.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
poet, novelist, essayist and editor considered the foremost Danish poetic experimentalist of her generation.
Life and work
Born in the town of VejleVejle
Vejle is a town in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle and Grejs Rivers and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality and the Region of Southern Denmark...
, on the eastern, Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
coast of Denmark, Christensen's father was a tailor, her mother a cook before her marriage. After graduating from Vejle Gymnasium, she moved to Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
and, later, to 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 (1934–1995), whom she married in 1959 and divorced in 1976.
After teaching at the College for Arts in Holbæk
Holbæk
Holbæk is a town in Denmark and the seat of Holbæk municipality with a population of 27,055 . The city is located in the northeastern part of Region Sjælland, Denmark....
from 1963 to 1964, she turned to writing full time, producing two of her major early collections, Lys
Lys
Lys may refer to any of the following:Places*The Lys or Leie, a river in France and Belgium*Lys , a stream of Aosta Valley in Italy*Lys, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in France...
(Light, 1962) and Græs (Grass, 1963), both examining the limits of self-knowledge and the role of language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
in perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
. Her major work of the 1960s, however, was the highly acclaimed masterwork det
DET
DET or Det may refer to:* Detroit, Michigan** The Detroit Tigers, a baseball team in the MLB** The Detroit Lions, a football team in the NFL** The Detroit Red Wings, a hockey team in the NHL** The Detroit Pistons, a basketball team in the NBA...
(It), 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.
In these years Christensen also published two novels, Evighedsmaskinen (1964) and
Azorno (1967), as well as a shorter fiction on the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
painter Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...
, presented from the viewpoint of various narrators (Mantegna's secretary Marsilio, the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
princess Farfalla, and Mantagena's young son), Det malede Værelse (1976, translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as The Painted Room by 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 masterpiece, alfabet, Christensen used the alphabet (from a [“apricots”] to n [“nights”]) along with the Fibonacci mathematical sequence
Fibonacci number
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence:0,\;1,\;1,\;2,\;3,\;5,\;8,\;13,\;21,\;34,\;55,\;89,\;144,\; \ldots\; ....
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 det, 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
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
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 Royal Danish AcademyRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters is a Danish non-governmental science Academy, founded 13 November 1742 by permission of the King Christian VI, as a historical Collegium Antiquitatum...
; in 1994, she became a member of the Académie Européenne de Poésie ("European Academy of Poetry"); in 2001, the Akademie der Künste
Akademie der Künste
The Akademie der Künste, Berlin is an arts institution in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1696 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg as the Prussian Academy of Arts, an academic institution where members could meet and discuss and share ideas...
("Academy of the Arts") in Berlin. She won the Grand Prix des Biennales Internationales de Poésie in 1991, Der österreichische Staatspreis für Literature ("Austrian State Prize for European Literature
Austrian State Prize for European Literature
The Austrian State Prize for European Literature , also known as the European Literary Award , is a literary prize in Austria awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Art to European writers...
") in 1994, the Nordic Prize of the Swedish Academy the same year, the European Poetry Prize in 1995, The America Award in 2001, the German Siegfried Unseld award in 2006, and received numerous other distinctions. Her works have been translated into several languages, and she was frequently mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
.
Works
Years link to corresponding "[year] in poetry" article for books of poems, or "[year] in literature" for other literary works:- 19621962 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Writers in the Soviet Union this year were allowed to publish criticism of Joseph Stalin and were given more freedom generally, although many were severely criticized for doing so...
: Lys: digte ("Light"), poems - 19631963 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* January 26 – Raghunath Vishnu Pandit, an Indian poet who wrote in both Konkani and Marathi languages, publishes five books of poems this day* The Belfast Group, a discussion group of poets in...
: Græs: digte ("Grass"), poems - 19641964 in literatureThe year 1964 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Jean-Paul Sartre becomes head of the Organization to Defend Iranian Political Prisoners....
: Evighedsmaskinen, ("Eternity Machine"), novel - 19671967 in literatureThe year 1967 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Influential science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions published.*Cecil Day-Lewis is selected as the new Poet Laureate of the UK.-New books:...
: Azorno, novel - 19691969 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* FIELD magazine founded at Oberlin College...
: det, ("it"), poems 1969 (translated into English by Susanna Nied) - 19721972 in literatureThe year 1972 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Fiction:*Richard Adams - Watership Down*Jorge Amado - Teresa Batista Cansada da Guerra *Martin Amis - The Rachel Papers...
: Intriganterne ("The Scheming"), play - 19761976 in literatureThe year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
: Det malede værelse ("The Painted Room: A Tale of Mantua"), novel (translated into English by Denise Newman; Harvill Press, 2000) - 19791979 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* The Kenyon Review is restarted by Kenyon College 10 years after the original publication was closed....
: Brev i april ("Letter in April"), poems - 19791979 in literatureThe year 1979 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*V.C...
: Den historie der skal fortælles - 19811981 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Jane Greer launched Plains Poetry Journal, an advance guard of the New Formalism movement....
: Alfabet, 1981 - "Alphabet", poems (translated into English by Susanna Nied), twice translated into Swedish - 19821982 in literatureThe year 1982 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*La Bicyclette Bleue by Régine Deforges becomes France's best selling novel ever.-New books:...
: Del af labyrinten ("Part of the Maze"), essays - 19821982 in literatureThe year 1982 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*La Bicyclette Bleue by Régine Deforges becomes France's best selling novel ever.-New books:...
: Den store ukendte rejse ("The Big Unknown Journey"), children's book - 19871987 in literatureThe year 1987 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author, at the time.-Fiction:...
: En vinteraften i Ufa og andre spil ("A Winter Evening in Ufa"), plays - 19891989 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Dead Poets Society, a film incorporating excerpts from many traditional poets, ending with the title and opening line of Walt Whitman's lament on the death of Abraham Lincoln, "O Captain! My...
: Digt om døden ("Poem on Death") - 19891989 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Dead Poets Society, a film incorporating excerpts from many traditional poets, ending with the title and opening line of Walt Whitman's lament on the death of Abraham Lincoln, "O Captain! My...
: Lys og Græs ("Light and Grass"), poetry - 19901990 in literatureThe year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
: Mikkel og hele menageriet (illustrated by Lillian Brøgger) children's book - 19911991 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Forward Poetry Prize created...
: Sommerfugledalen, ("Butterfly Valley: A Requiem"), poems (translated into English by Susanna Nied) - 19981998 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* Samizdat poetry magazine founded in Chicago .* Skanky Possum poetry magazine founded in Austin, Texas....
: Samlede digte ("Collected Poems") - 20002000 in literatureThe year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...
: Hemmelighedstilstanden ("The State of Secrecy"), essays
External links
- Biography including selected works
- "Is No One Coming" Center for the Art of Translation Web Exclusive Content, Translated by Susanna Nied (English)
- Poem of Christensen painted on a wall in Copenhagen
- Obituary in The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
by Marcus Williamson