Annotation
The course will expose students to important trends in 20th-century Danish literature and their concrete reflection on the work of key authors of the period. Graduates of the course should be able to think independently about the literature of the period and view literature in a historical context.
The introductory hours of the course will be devoted to the works of Johannes V. Jensen and the beginnings of modernism in Danish literature. Subsequently, other movements that emerged in Denmark in the defined period will be discussed chronologically. In the first half of the 20th century, specifically Expressionism (Tom Kristensen, Rudolf Broby-Johansen) and Futurism (Emil Bønnelycke); students will also learn about the reflection of Marxism and Freud's deep psychoanalysis in Danish literature (Hans Kirk); in this context, the highly productive contemporary genre of the so-called collective novel will also be discussed. In the post-war period, we will focus on the emergence of modernism in prose. We will also look at this movement as an ideological construction and present several conceptions of the development of modernism. We will become acquainted, among others, with the work of Hans-Jørgen Nielsen, Klaus Rifbjerg, Per Højholt and Inger Christensen. Finally, the reflection of the theories of poststructuralism and postmodernism in literature (e.g. S.Å. Madsen, Peter Høeg) will be presented. In the last sessions we will introduce Danish literature at the turn of the millennium (Helle Helle, Naja Marie Aidt, Maja Lee Langvad, and others).