Ufarlige historier

by Villy Sørensen

In these tales, bizarre and surreal episodes continually disrupt the frenetic attempts of the author's characters to live in an ordered and predictable world. The stories also represent an investigation into the possibilities and pitfalls of language.

Genres: Danish, Short Stories, Fiction

115 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Villy Sørensen (13 January 1929 – 16 December 2001) was a Danish short-story writer, philosopher and literary critic of the Modernist tradition. His fiction was heavily influenced by his philosophical ideas, and he has been compared to Franz Kafka in this regard. He is the most influential and important Danish philosopher since Søren Kierkegaard.

Born in Copenhagen, Sørensen graduated from the Vestre Borgerdydskole in 1947, and then attended the University of Copenhagen and the University of Freiburg studying philosophy. Although he did not graduate, he later received an honorary degree from the University of Copenhagen.

Sørensen published his first collection of short stories, Strange Stories in 1953, which many critics have identified as being the start of Danish literary Modernism. He published additional collections of short stories in 1955 and 1964, all winning various awards in Denmark. These stories generally explored the absurd and hidden parts of the human psyche.

Sørensen began editing the journal Vindrosen (with Klaus Rifbjerg) in 1959. Afterward, he became a member of the Danish Academy in 1965, subsequently editing several other Modernist journals and periodicals. Sørensen, though he continued to produce short fiction throughout his life, was also deeply engaged in philosophy, about which he wrote many essays and several books including Seneca: The Humanist at the Court of Nero and his response to Søren Kierkegaard's Either/Or, Hverken-eller (i.e. "Neither/Nor"). He also published books and essays about Nietzsche, Kafka, Marx, Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard, and was a notable translator of over 20 books. He was awarded the Grand Prize of the Danish Academy in 1962, The Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1974, the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1983, the inaugural Swedish Academy Nordic Prize in 1986, along with many other awards and recognitions. He died in Copenhagen in 2001.

Reviews

[Margrét · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was a good book, a lot of interesting short stories. There are people with supernatural talents, things are happening that are very unlikely to happen in real life and the atmosphere is often surreal. If you like analyzing stories, this is a very good book to do so, because it is full of symbols and metaphors and criticism of the community. It really makes you think about human nature and how very weird people are, and truth is also a big theme in the book. I only give it three stars, because a few of the stories, like Den gamle ejendom for example, were difficult to get through because they were just really...weird. But some of the stories were great, like Duo. The ending of that story was really powerful. I have not read many books in Danish, and after finishing this book I never have to read another Danish book for school, but I'm going to try to read at least one Danish book a year from now on, because I really don't want to forget this awesome language completely.

[Nanna Steffensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg havde helt glemt, hvor meget jeg holder af Villy Sørensens noveller. I denne samling er jeg specielt vild med “Soldatens juleaften”, “De forsvundne breve” og “Købmanden”. De er deciderede eminente.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of absurd modern fables and fairytales. The stories are quite intriguing and well worth reading. But perhaps just a bit too weird for my personal taste.

[Anette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Noveller med dejlig virkelighedsfjern handling. Fælles for personerne er, at de har nogle skæve logikker, som de stædigt holder fast i. Dog bliver jeg en anelse irriteret over de barnlige træk ved personerne, der bliver vrede og slår efter bare en enkelt sætning og mildnes igen sætningen efter. Men måske er det virkelig sådan, vi mennesker reagerer på hinandens ytringer (dog dæmpet noget af høflighed og frontallapper)?

Også fortælleren har sin egen simple logik og ser verden lidt på ny eller som udefrakommende:

"Men nu opfyldte trappetrinene deres evige bestemmelse, thi købmandens fødder trådte i berøring med dem og lagde dem op bag sig et efter et."

Og der er sjove besjælinger:

"... tjeneren ... så på det blå hav som de sejlede på, solen skulle til at gå ned i det og sendte lange stråler i forvejen for at vænne sig til temperaturen."

Det kan jeg huske, jeg var vild med, da jeg læste bogen som teenager, men i dag, 20 år efter, virker det ikke så givende, men snarere lidt tø hø-agtigt.

Bogen er desværre ret trættende at læse, fordi der mangler så mange punktummer. Ofte må jeg stoppe midt i en "sætning", gå lidt tilbage og prøve igen, fordi det viste sig at være mere end én sætning. Øv.

[Mads Rasmussen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kunne bedre lide bogen, da jeg læste den i sankt Petersborg i 1992.
Er stadig vild med den vigtige atombombe, som englene spiller bold med, og også med købmanden der kun sælger kunderne det de har brug for. Mon jeg som 20-årig forstod det jeg nu har svært ved at finde kvalitet og mening i?
Er der noget jeg har mistet undervejs, eller tog jeg dengang fejl af det uklare, og fandt det dybt?