Svend Åge Madsen

Svend Åge Madsen (born November 2, 1939 in Aarhus ) is a Danish writer . His works have been translated into several languages. He is considered to be one of the most important and most widely read contemporary Danish authors.

Live and act

Born into middle-class parents, Madsen grew up in Aarhus, where he attended Marselisborg Gymnasium. In 1958 he graduated from high school and then studied mathematics at Aarhus University, among other things . He made his debut as a writer in 1963 with the novel Besøget , which was published by Gyldendal .

Madsen wrote novels , including crime novels and science fiction , as well as novels , essays , radio plays , plays and children's and youth literature . From 1983 to 1986 he was employed at the Aarhus Teater .

Madsen's work can be divided into three phases: In the 1960s , he was strongly influenced by modernism . He later turned to postmodernism . Finally, his late work can best be compared with the magical realism of Latin America .

Madsen's main works include the novel Syv aldres galskab (Seven Generations of Madness), which describes the life of seven generations in Aarhus, and is described as a mixture of history and science fiction. Madsen's story "The Good Ring" was included in the anthology "View from the Other Shore" edited by Franz Rottensteiner , which was published in 1973 in the USA and 1977 in Germany.

Works (selection)

Novels

• Besøget. 1963
• Liget and lysten. 1968
  • Übers. Horst Schröder: Desires and corpses . March, Frankfurt 1969
  • Excerpt: in MARCH texts 1 ibid. 1969; again in: MÄRZ-Texte 1 & Trivialmythen Area, Erftstadt 2004 ISBN 3-89996-029-7 pp. 256–260
• Sæt he verden til. 1971
• Jakkels vandring. 1974
• Tugt og utugt i mellemtiden. 1976
• Se dagens lys. 1980
  • Übers. Horst Schröder: Towards the day. Utopian novel . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1984 ISBN 3-518-37520-2 (Fantastic Library, 128)
• At fortælle menneskene. 1989
• Chased på et menneske. 1991
  • Übers. Hannes Bötticher: The hunt for a person. A novel . Freistern, Berlin 1998 ISBN 3-933616-00-X
• Syv aldres galskab. 1994
  • Übers. Jörg Scherzer: Seven generations of madness . Amman, Zurich 2000 ISBN 3-250-60026-1 TB: Goldmann, Munich 2002 ISBN 3-442-72896-7
• Genspejlet. 2000

Radio plays

• Report from internatet (1967)
• I virkelighed (1973)

Spectacles

• Det sidste suk (1986) - German The Last Sigh (1995)
• Nøgne masker (1987) - German nude masks. Play in two acts (1990)
• Edens gave (1993) - German This side of Eden. A Tabloid Tragedy (1995)

Books for children and young readers

• Modsatterne og omvendterne - German Andersrum and Umgezte (1971)

Awards

• 1972 Grand Prix of the Danish Academy
• 1976 Danish Critics' Prize for his novel Tugt og utugt i mellemtiden
• 1985 Søren Gyldendal Prize
• 1990 Holberg Medal
• 1999 De Gyldne Laurbær
• 2000 Radioens Romanpris

swell

• Horst Bien and others: Meyers Taschenlexikon Northern European Literatures , Leipzig 1978

Web links

• Literature by and about Svend Åge Madsen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Svend Aage Madsen in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography and list of works (Danish)
• Seven generations of madness in pearl divers