Life in another language

Literary Review, Fall, 2003 by Thomas E. Kennedy

But in fact, beer and snaps is a ritualistic drink which is part of the traditional social fabric here. At Christmas time, for example, Danes take drink with their meals to celebrate a combination of things--not really so much the Christian feast as the winter solstice, the closeness of family and friends and the belief that the long, dark Danish winter is not death, but rather the beginning of the birth of spring. At that very dark time of year --and it does get dark, Shakespeare chose his setting for Hamlet well--ritual is important: the mellowing of the spirit, the so-called living light of burning candles on the living Christmas tree, the joyous dance around it by all present holding hands in a circle, the calm peaceful stillness in the streets of Christmas Eve in this city of a million souls is awe-inspiring: The city stops. The quiet is sacred. This darkest night of year wraps around you, wherever you are, in the heart of your family, surrounded by friends, even alone, the silence is calming, beautiful in its mystery.

Being a small society with a largely homogeneous population, the Kingdom of Denmark is held together by its language, well-defined customs and manners and a liberal humanistic view of life regardless of who sits at the helm of government. Naturally, Danes cherish their language and its rich literature and wealth of psalms, a national treasure accessible only to those who know Danish. The language is nourished by its poets and writers of whom there are many, though few well known beyond the Danish borders--Hans Christian Andersen, of course, one of the world's great writers, erroneously considered an author of children's books. Andersen wrote poetry, drama, novels, travel books, but as his friend, H. C. Orsted, who discovered electromagnetism, once correctly predicted, "Your novels have made you famous, but your tales will make you immortal." Soren Kierkegaard is another of the great Danish writers, known as the father of existentialism, the philosophy that became so important to the battered consciousness of the 20th century. Karen Blixen, too, also known as Isak Dinesen, though perhaps better known now as Meryl Streep in Out of Africa. A better Blixen-inspired film is Babette's Feast, which won an Academy Award in 1988, based on her fine short-story, contrasting the spiritual sensuality of France with the anti-sensual religion of the black-clad Jutland Christian sect of the Inner Mission (roughly equivalent to the extreme American Baptist). Another Danish fiction writer--admired greatly by Joyce, Rilke, and Freud--is J. P. Jacobsen, and from the novel and film Smilla's Sense of Snow, many will know the contemporary Peter Hoeg.

In recent times there has been international recognition of Danish film (Lars van Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Gabriel Axel, Bille August, and others), but most Danish writers remain unknown in the world beyond Scandinavia. And the reason for this could only be that even the most skillful translation might fail to convey the context and special qualities of a language and its literature.