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There are relatively few English-language books on Copenhagen - the list
below represents a fairly comprehensive selection of what's available.
Where titles are published by different publishers in the UK and US,
we've given both, separated by an oblique slash; where only one
publisher is given, this covers both the UK and US, unless specifically
stated. Out-of-print titles are marked "o/p".
Hans Christian Andersen
, Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales (Oxford UP). Still the most
internationally prominent figure of Danish literature, Andersen's
fairytales are so widely translated and read that the full clout of
their allegorical content is often overlooked: interestingly, his first
collection of tales (published in 1835) was condemned for its "violence
and questionable morals". A Visit to Germany, Italy and Malta,
1840-1841 (Peter Owen, UK) is the most enduring of his travel works,
while his autobiography, The Fairy Tale of My Life (o/p), is a
fine alternative to the numerous sycophantic portraits which have
appeared since.
Karen Blixen
(Isak Dinesen), Out of Africa; Letters from Africa; Seven Gothic
Tales (Penguin). Out of Africa , the account of Blixen's
attempts to run a coffee farm in Kenya after divorce from her husband,
is a lyrical and moving tale. But it's in Seven Gothic Tales that
Blixen's fiction is at its zenith: a flawlessly executed, weird, emotive
work, full of twists in plot and strange, ambiguous characterization.
Elias Bredsdorff
, Hans Christian Andersen (Souvenir Press, UK). One of the better
biographies out of a huge raft of works on the life and times of the
great fairy-tale writer.
Robert Bretall
, A Kierkegaard Anthology (Princeton University Press). An
excellent cross-section of Kirkegaard's work, reflecting all the major
themes of his proto-existential philosophy.
Inga Dahlsgård
, Women in Denmark, Yesterday and Today (o/p). A refreshing
presentation of Danish history from the point of view of its women.
Tove Ditlevsen
, Early Spring (Seal Press). An autobiographical novel of growing
up in the working-class Vesterbro district of Copenhagen during the
1930s. As an evocation of childhood and early adulthood, it's totally
captivating.
James Graham-Campbell
, The Viking World (Facts on File/Checkmark Books). A wonderfully
colourful book full of photographs of excavated Viking sites and
artefacts. Also gives a broadly-written account of the history of the
seafaring warriors.
Peter Høeg
, Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (published in the US as Miss
Smilla's Sense of Snow; Harvill/Delta). A worldwide bestseller, this
compelling thriller deals with Danish colonialism in Greenland and the
issue of cultural identity.
Johannes V. Jensen
, The Fall of the King (o/p). The 1944 Nobel prize winner
Johannes V. Jensen's masterpiece vividly depicts an overlooked period of
Danish history covering the tumultuous reign of Christian II (1513-1523)
and his many years in captivity at Sønderborg Slot, superbly described
through the eyes of his servant and friend, Mikkel Thøgersen.
W. Glyn Jones
, Denmark: A Modern History (o/p). A valuable account of the
twentieth-century (up until 1984) history of Denmark. Strong on
politics, useful on social history and the arts, but disappointingly
brief on grassroots movements.
Søren Kierkegaard
, Either/Or (Penguin). Kierkegaard's most approachable work,
packed with wry and wise musings on love, life and death in
nineteenth-century Danish society; includes the (in)famous "Seducer's
Diary".
Dea Trier Mørch
, Winter's Child (Nebraska University Press, US). A wonderfully
lucid sketch of modern Denmark as seen through the eyes of several women
in the maternity ward of a Copenhagen hospital. See also Evening Star
, which deals with the effect of old age and death on a Danish family.
Roger Poole and Henrik Stangerup (eds)
, A Kierkegaard Reader (Fourth Estate, UK). By far the best and
most accessible introduction to this notoriously difficult
nineteenth-century Danish philosopher and writer, with a sparkling
introductory essay.
Judith Thurman
, Isak Dinesen: The Life of Karen Blixen (Penguin, UK). The most
penetrating biography of Blixen, elucidating details of the Kenyan farm
period not found in the two "Africa" books.
Rose Tremain
, Music and Silence (Vintage). Captivating historical novel that
follows the lives of Christian IV, his consort, his English lutenist and
their lovers. Life in the many castles around Copenhagen is brilliantly
described, and the novel provides a delightful insight into Danish
aspirations and superstitions during the period.
Jackie Wullschlager
, Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller
(Penguin/Allen Lane). The most recent biographical study of Hans
Christian Andersen, this finely documented and insightful biography
examines the misery of Andersen's childhood, his subsequent rapid
success and his troubled sexuality, arguing that it was the shock and
power of these experiences that fuelled many of his mournful fairytales.
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