Three famous Danes
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- H.C. Andersen
The famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was a dane. He lived from 1805 to 1875.
Hans Christian Andersen is probably one of the most widely read authors in the world today so maybe you know some of his fairytales?
All in all he has written about 190 stories and fairytales adressed to both adults and children.
But even if his fairytales probably are the best known he has also written novels,
poems, works for theatre and a range of travel accounts, as he spend a great part of his time
travelling around Europe.
And then there are of course also his three autobiographies, the final being Mit Livs Eventyr
- The Fairy Tale of My Life - from 1855. Today also his rich correspondance and his diaries are well known.
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- Søren Kierkegaard
Søren
Kirkegaard lived from 1813 to 1855 in the danish capitol Copenhagen
Here he could be observed walking around in deep thoughts.
Søren Kierkegaard saw himself as a genius. In opposition to the majority, the abstract, he posited the
concrete, "the single individual".
Some people from around the world have even learned Danish just to be able to study his works,
but even if Søren Kierkegaard is probably the most dificult to understand, of the three danes mentioned here,
his work has among others been to great inspiration for the existential philosophy.
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- N.F.S. Grundtvig
N.F.S. Grundtvig, (N.F.S. stands for Nikolai Frederik Severin), was a Danish author, priest and politician etc. who lived from
1783 to 1872.
Grundtvig is perhaps not as well known outside of Denmark as H.C. Andersen
and Søren Kierkegaard but he has probably been the most influential of the three mentioned here.
He promoted the native Danish language in a country where
German, French and Latin were formerly used and spoken by the ruling classes.
Together with his general anti-elitist and anti-authoritarian atitudes and his
ideas about education and equality this has given him a great impact on the danish society.
Also he stressed the significance of the dialogue.
N.F.S. Grundtvig are probably one of the key figures, if one wants to come to a greater understanding of the Danish history and even the danish society of today.