European Languages and Societies Commons^™

What Can We Learn From Danish Farmers?, Palle Pedersen

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During the past 100 years, Danish agriculture has developed its position and ability to compete on international markets. Since Denmark joined the European Economic Community in 1973, productivity in Danish agriculture has increased considerably; and, with a food production sufficient for 15 million people and a population of only 5.2 million, Denmark exports two-thirds of it agricultural production to more than 180 countries. Overall, Denmark is the largest food exporter in the world relative to its population.1

N.F.S. Grundtvig's Approach To Christian Community And Civic Responsibility, Mark C. Mattes

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A perennial concern of Christian social ethics is the attempt to discern the best paradigm for relating the Christian faith and life to wider culture. H. Richard Niebuhr's typology1 of how Christ relates to culture, i. e., "Christ against culture" (sectarian), "Christ above culture" (Roman Catholic), "Christ transforming culture" (Reformed), "Christ of culture" (liberal Protestant), and "Christ and culture in paradox" (Lutheran) continues to provide a helpful framework in which to understand the role of the Christian ethos in public life. One important interpretation of this latter type, "Christ and culture in paradox" is that of the nineteenth century Danish …

Grundtvig' S Relevance Today: The Current Debate, Henrik Wiegh Poulsen

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Hardly any individual has meant more to Denmark and the Danes than Grundtvig. But lately he has suffered a fall from grace in public opinion. Why is this and what does it mean to Grundtvig and to Danish society?

A Tale Of Two Geniuses--With Opposing Views Of Tales--And An Ingenious Critic Of Both: H.C. Andersen, Soren Kierkegaard, And Georg Brandes, Poul Houe

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The year 2005 marks the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen's birth and the 150th anniversary of Soren Kierkegaard's death. Kierkegaard's critique of Andersen as a novelist was merciless, and Andersen's relation to Kierkegaard the man and the thinker was not easygoing either. Both of these towering nineteenth century Golden Age Danes were first portrayed in a big way by the same Danish critic, Georg Brandes, himself a pivotal figure in nineteenth century European criticism. I thought it appropriate, therefore, to focus my paper on Andersen, Kierkegaard, and Brandes as three cornerstones of nineteenth century Danish culture.

The Reception Of Danish Science Fiction In The United States, Kristine J. Anderson

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Science fiction is a distinctly American genre. Although scholars have traced its origins back as far as the Latin writer Lucian of Samosata,1 it was Hugo Gernsback, a publisher of pulp magazines in the United States, who first gave the genre its name in the June 1929 issue of Wonder Stories. Gernsback had been serializing the scientific romances of such writers as Jules Verne and HG. Wells, emphasizing their treatment of technology and putting them forth as models for other budding writers to imitate. The magazines that Gernsback initiated became very popular, spawning more from other publishers. Groups of aficionados …

Enok Mortensen And The Immigrant Experience: A View From The Lower Class, Rudolf Jensen

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To begin with, I would like to cite several short quotations from Enok Mortensen's fiction to show his primary themes as well as his writing style.

...for jer Emigranter er der aldrig noget, der er saa godt som det var i Danmark...altid skal I sammenligne...1 [for you immigrants there is never anything as good as it was in Denmark...you always have to compare.]

...herover gik man med en underlig Uro i Sindet altid...bare et hundrede Dollars mere, eller Tusinde...eller Millionen...2 [over here in America you are always restless...only a hundred dollars more, or a thousand, or a million.]

...I det …

Carl Theodor Dreyer' S Response To Anti-Semitism In His Unfilmed Jesus Film Scenario, Peter G. Christensen

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The controversy in 2004 over possible anti-Semitism in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ had precedents in earlier Jesus-films. Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to Matthew and Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth have also been accused of anti-Semitism. Carl Theodor Dreyer (1889-1968) wanted to combat anti-Semitism, as he directly stated in his own essays attached to his Jesus screenplay, which since his death has been published in English, Danish, and French versions. Dreyer began the film project in 1949-1950 in Independence, Missouri, writing in English, and he worked on it until the end of his life. However, he …

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Nineteenth-Century Emigration From Sollerod, A Rural Township In North Zealand (Sjaelland), Niels Peter Stilling

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In 1985, Erik Helmer Pedersen wrote that "the history of Danish emigration to America can be seen, in very broad terms, as the story of how a small part of the population tore itself away from the national community in order to build a new existence in foreign lands. Those who write the history of the emigrants must, on the one hand, see them as a minority in relation to the Danish whole, and, on the other hand, must reconstruct that little part of the history of American immigration which concerns the Danes."

This article attempts to do just that …

Captain S. S. Heller And The First Organized Danish Migration To Canada, Erik John Nielsen Lang

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The first, largest, and only organized migration of Danish settlers to Canada in the 19th century was directed to the settlement of New Denmark in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The active recruitment of Danish migrants was a shift of focus for the provincial government, which had before relied almost exclusively on British settlers. Established in 1872, New Denmark's location placed it amongst the traditional ethnic groups of Victoria County: French-Canadian, English, Scottish, and Irish. Danes would not have chosen to migrate to the province at all had it not been for a Danish emigration promoter whose life, motivations, …

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Conference Opening Remarks, Lene Balleby

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When I first heard about this year's conference, it was being launched as a celebration and recognition of two of Denmark's most famous sons: Hans Christian Andersen and Soren Kirkegaard. But looking at the extensive program for the upcoming days, it is clear that this program is also meant to present a much wider picture of the richness and scope of Danish culture and that it will indeed live up to its title: "Danish Culture, Past and Present."

Picturing Karen Blixen--Artist, Charlatan, Heretic, And Iconoclast: European Storyteller In The American Marketplace, Marianne Stecher-Hansen

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In one of her stories, published in 1942 at a midpoint in her literary career, Karen Blixen addresses the difficult relationship of the artist to the public:

All human relationships have in them something monstrous and cruel. But the relation of the artist to the public is amongst the most monstrous. Yes, it is as terrible as marriage. (Winter's Tales 291)

Matie's Dagbog [Matie' S Diary], Matie Eliva Petersen-Larsen

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Matie begins her diary, "I think I will begin a diary of this my most exciting year, so I will not forget a small thing. But for now I must hurry to my stateroom and pack my luggage." That was September 7, 1900, on a ship headed for Cuxhaven, Germany, her ultimate destination being the island of Als, Denmark, where her father's relatives lived. Matie had been given this year-long trip as a gift from her parents for helping to raise her eight brothers and sisters, younger than she, and for teaching them to read and write English, as Danish …

Danish Churches And Congregations In Indianapolis, 1868-1885, Barbara R. George

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A look at the population make-up of Indianapolis and Indiana during the time period from the end of the Civil War (approximately 1865) until the 1880s shows that the Danes had little impact in the relatively small Indiana immigration picture. Indiana was less influenced by foreign born than any other northern state. Although ranking ninth in the number of German-born residents in 1880, Indiana ranked thirteenth in the number of foreign born, and was sixth in total population. As a state it was not particularly aggressive in promoting itself as a viable destination for immigrants, and ranked only in front …

Three Tales Of Two Towns: How Fano Entered The Golden Age Of Sail, Anne Ipsen

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Fano is a magical island off the west coast of Denmark, justly famous for its endless white beach along the North Sea. Towering dunes, whose slopes are covered in lyme grass, ring the center of the island where the heath is home to an abundance of creatures and plants. The colors of the sky and water, the heather and grass change in rhythm with the seasons. The solid houses of the two towns, Nordby to the north and Sonderho at the southern tip, bear witness to the wealth brought home from the seven seas by generations of seamen sailing their …

Danish Nobel Laureates In Literature With Special Emphasis On Johannes V. Jensen, Erik M. Christensen

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Religion, Philosophy, and Art are related. Sometimes more than other. They are so much in family, in fact, that they are able to become one. This may even happen without being intended or even realized, but we also have, in Western civilization, instances where the artist very clearly meant his work to represent a unity of Religion, Philosophy, and Art. The greatest known instance of this is, of course, Dante Alighieri's poem La Divina Commedia (ca. 13071320), the story of his wandering through Purgatory, down to Hell, and up to Paradise where his ideal love for Beatrice allows him to …

Gunnar Johansen: The Gentlemanly Dane, Solon Pierce

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It is about three score and five years ago now since a certain Dane came to Dane County, Wisconsin-a decisive step, he later recounted on many occasions, "that I have never regretted." To this native Midwestern observer, it was a perfect fit. There was something homespun and authentic in the nature of the man -a sense that he was cut from the same cloth.

Christian Petersen: From Denmark To The New Deal To Campus Sculptor, Lea Rosson Delong

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Christian Petersen (1885-1961) was a Danish-American sculptor (Figure 1) whose accomplishment and importance in the history of American art is being increasingly understood and recognized.1 The first goal in this presentation is to present a small portion of his work and to discuss why his reputation is growing and, at the same time, weave in aspects of his Danish background.

Gyde-Petersen, A Skagen Artist In America, John Robert Christianson

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Mankato, Minnesota, was thrilled. A famous artist had come to town with his palette, easel, and painter's smock, and people noticed. The Mankato Free Press ran a story under a bold headline:

Sir Gyde Pedersen, Artist of Denmark

The reporter gushed away for two columns on the delight of having in their midst a European artist who had been knighted by a king.1

Anton Kvist Danish-American Poet: His Life And His Works, Birgit Flemming Larsen

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Anton Kvist was born in 1878 in a small village in the northern part of Jutland in Denmark. In his home at Valsted there was a large group of ten siblings, and already as a six year old boy Anton had to work as a shepherd boy at the same time as he started to go to school. His father was a bricklayer, and so were a few of his brothers. At the age of sixteen he followed the family tradition and became a bricklayer's apprentice. In 1898 he came to Copenhagen to work as a bricklayer. Here in 1900 …

Of Two Women In Scandinavian-American Immigrant Literature, Mikael Engelstoft Hansen

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Neither politics nor traditional history has ever spelled much interest to me. But then I read in Hilde Petra Brungot's dissertation1 on Dorthea Dahl (1881-1958)2 of this Lutheran Norwegian-American immigrant writer being an outspoken Republican.

Hans Christian Andersen Stories, Lisa Kramme

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During her presentation at the international conference "Danish Culture, Past and Present: The Last Two Hundred Years," Lisa Kramme shared the following stories by Hans Christian Andersen: "The Princess on the Pea," "The Old Man Is Always Right," and "The Little Match Girl." She also shared several tales of the famous people of Mols, but passed them off as stories about her relatives in Denmark.

Appendix C.

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Karin Michaelis: Famous Danish Novelist And Humanitarian Rebel With A Cause, Merete Von Eyben

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Consider the following question: Which Danish author was not only one of the most famous European authors in the early part of the twentieth century, but also one of the most widely read female ones; had all of her books translated into German and some of them into as many as 30 other languages; wrote the most notorious bestseller of that period; celebrated her 60th birthday at a banquet hosted by Austrian PEN in Vienna where she was awarded both an Austrian and a Czechoslovakian medal and honored by the German language papers as Europe's Conscience; had her books banned …