Phedra

by Herman Bang, D. Logeman-Van der Willigen (translator)

HardPress Classic Books Series

Genres: Danish

261 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1883

About the author

Herman Bang wrote his very first book back in 1880, it was called "Haabløse Slægter".

Herman Joachim Bang (20. april 1857 – 29. januar 1912) var en dansk kritiker, forfatter og journalist. Han blev født i Asserballe på Als i hertugdømmet Slesvig som søn af sognepræst Frederik Ludvig Bang (1816-1875) og hustru Thora Elisabeth Salomine Blach (1829-1871) og blev student i 1875 fra Sorø Akademi. Herman Bang er kendt for sin impressionistiske skrivestil. Herman Bang døde i Ogden i Utah i USA under en oplæsningsturné og er begravet på Vestre Kirkegård i København.

Reviews

[BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenges are always such a nice way to learn more about authors and books one has never heard of before... Someone mentioned the Danish author Herman Bang during the Autumn Challenge 2012 of the Netherlands and Flanders group on GR and, as I am taking part in this challenge, I decided to do a little internet research on Herman Bang and see which of his books have been translated into Dutch. Of the Dutch translations available, Phedra rather appealed to me because of its title, which is why I picked this book to get acquainted with Herman Bang’s novels.

In Greek mythology Phaedra is the wife of Theseus of Athens, who falls in love with her stepson. As her love is rejected, she takes revenge by telling a lie about her stepson to his father, which results in the father killing his son. Phaedra commits suicide out of guilt and Herman Bang’s novel, set in the second half of the 19th century, partly follows this story line. The book is very easy to read through and turned out to be a nice introduction to Herman Bang’s work.