Thorkild Hansen
{{Short description|Danish novelist (1927–1989)}}
Thorkild Hansen (9 January 1927 – 4 February 1989) was a Danish novelist most noted for his historical fiction.
He is popularly known for his trilogy of novels about the Danish slave trade which is composed of Coast of Slaves (1967), Ships of Slaves (1968), and Islands of Slaves (1970; for which he received the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1971).{{cite web|url=https://www.nyrb.com/collections/thorkild-hansen |title= Thorkild Hansen (1927–1989)|publisher=New York Review Books
|accessdate=December 1, 2018}}{{cite web|url= http://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/thorkild-hansen |title= Thorkild Hansen|publisher= African Books Collective |accessdate=December 1, 2018}}
Biography
Hansen was born at Ordrup in Gentofte Municipality, Denmark. He attended Holte Gymnasium and from 1945–47 studied literature at the University of Copenhagen. In 1947, he moved to Paris where he wrote dispatches for the Copenhagen-based Ekstra Bladet. After returning to Denmark in 1952, he devoted his efforts to a series of novels. Several featured aspects of the Danish era of imperialism. Det Lykkelige Arabien: En Dansk Ekspedition (1962) covered the Danish Arabia expedition (1761–67) led by Carsten Niebuhr.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/06/17/531929925/in-the-refrains-of-arabia-felix-a-reminder-often-the-end-is-just-a-start|title= In The Refrains Of 'Arabia Felix,' A Reminder: Often The End Is Just A Start|publisher= National Public Radio|author=Colin Dwyer|work= NPR|date= 17 June 2017|accessdate=December 1, 2018}} His book Jens Munk (1965) was about Danish-Norwegian sea captain Jens Munk and his attempt to locate the Northwest Passage.{{cite web|url=https://www.norden.org/en/nominee/1971-thorkild-hansen-denmark-slavernes-oer |title= 1971 Thorkild Hansen, Denmark: Slavernes øer|publisher=Nordic Co-operation|accessdate=December 1, 2018}}[http://msupress.msu.edu/authorbio.php?authorID=1862 Michigan State University author bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513224118/http://msupress.msu.edu/authorbio.php?authorID=1862 |date=2007-05-13 }}
He died prematurely during a voyage in the Caribbean.F.J. Billeskov Jansen, Merete Harding: [http://denstoredanske.dk/Dansk_Biografisk_Leksikon/Kunst_og_kultur/Litteratur/Forfatter/Thorkild_Hansen Thorkild Hansen] Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, Gyldendal
Awards
- Søren Gyldendal Prize (1963)
- De Gyldne Laurbær (1966)
- Nordic Council Literature Prize (1971)
Selected works
- Resten er Stilhed (1953)
- Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 (Det Lykkelige Arabien: En Dansk Ekspedition, 1761-67 , 1962)
- Coast of Slaves (Slavernes kyst, 1967)
- Ships of Slaves (Slavernes skibe, 1968)
- The Way to Hudson Bay: The Life and Times of Jens MunkAlso published in English as North West to Hudson's Bay: The Life and Times of Jens Munk (1970)
- Islands of Slaves (Slavernes øer, 1970)
- Processen mod Hamsun, (1978)Apparently never translated into English; adapted as a film (1996) with Max von Sydow as Knut Hamsun
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://www.gyldendal.dk/forfattere/thorkild-hansen-f21070 Thorkild Hansen] Gyldendal
{{The Nordic Council's Literature Prize}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:People from Gentofte Municipality
Category:University of Copenhagen alumni
Category:Danish male novelists
Category:20th-century Danish memoirists
Category:Knut Hamsun researchers
Category:Nordic Council Literature Prize winners
Category:20th-century Danish novelists
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