Benny Andersen
Benny Allan Andersen ( born November 7, 1929 in Vangede, Gentofte Municipality ) is a Danish writer, poet, composer and pianist. He is the most widely read contemporary Danish poets; his songs are often sung and his Evergreen Svantes lykkelige dag ( Svantes happy day ) was included in school songbooks.
Life and work
Benny Andersen worked from 1949 to 1962 mostly as a bar pianist. His first poems he published in the literary magazine Heretica. They were influenced by the Danish poets Frank Jæger and Halfdan Rasmussen. From 1962, after the publication of his second collection of poems, he worked as a freelance writer.
He was particularly successful with his classic 1972 " song novel" Svantes viser ( Svantes songs) with the poems " about the shape of the fictional Swedish poet Svante Svendsen, born Svensson which he presented along with the songwriter Povl Dissing on stage ." Very popular were his Collected Poems appeared in 1998; never before achieved in Denmark, a poetry publication with a circulation of over 100,000 copies.
The secret of Anderson's success lies in its humor. In his verses he has been self-deprecating with the daily lives of people. He has the ability to play with language. With its absurdly realistic prose he designed " the comical aspects of human existence ."
Andersen wrote radio plays, some children's books and wrote the screenplays for the children's films My best friend ( 1992, original title: Snooky Snovsen ) and all talk about Snooky Snovsen (1994, original title: T'ar Springet ) .. He translated Georg Trakl and Peter Weiss into Danish and is a member of the Danish Academy since 1972.
Together with the singer Povl Dissing Andersen appeared as a duo, which has published numerous recordings. He is co-founder of the $ 10,000 doped Benny Andersen Prize; the award is given to people who have made special efforts to improve the situation of underprivileged children in Denmark.
Andersen distances itself from the current hard Aliens policy that he finds unbearable; He says he regrets that he had represented Denmark as positive in some poems and sees " no longer as a Danish poet of the people, but only as a global citizen in Denmark ."
Quote
" Andersen [ ... ] has an undeniable talent for singable verses, for lively, occasionally absurdistisch colored rhymes and laconic wit as Fuglene flyers I flok / når de he mange nok ( The birds fly in a flock / if they are numerous enough) [ ... ] Such Lakonismen secure along with the raspy voice of the singer duo which extends beyond national boundaries beyond popularity. "
Awards
Publications
Danish first editions
German -language editions
- Life is narrow and tall. Poems. Stokholm from the Danish by Gerti - Beate Hauser and Peter. Classen, Zurich and Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-7172-0258-8.