Authors Olga Ravn
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It's lovely to see Tove Ditlevsen gaining her deserved recognition in the world! But it is not true that she is unanimously celebrated in Denmark. She has always been at the center of a almost century long discussion of taste and literary quality. Thread
@PenguinUKBooks @fsgbooks
Just this Saturday, in an article in major Danish newspaper Politiken about Ditlevsens' emerging international succes, the journalist wrote that she "had never reached modernism".
Ditlevsen has been taught in Danish schools as the harper's article says, but 15 years ago in 2006 (she died in the 1970ies!) the omission of her poems on a list for mandatory poems for schoolchildren sparked a fierce debate.
Head of the committee selecting the poems stated that Ditlevsen simply did not meet their standard for quality. No other female writers (or writers of color) had poems on the list. It contained 24 poems from the Middle ages - today. You can see it here:
This list was issued by the Ministry of culture in a dare I say right wing attempt by the prime minister at the time Anders Fogh Rasmussen to dominate the cultural debate and make way for a shift in values. In this he was succesful.
@PenguinUKBooks @fsgbooks
\u201cSad girls in Europe\u201d have become a marketing clich\xe9, elevated from the domain of steadfast bloggers and thoughtful small presses to the interest of major cultural institutions, as with the @nytimes Overlooked obituary series."@laurenoyler https://t.co/wCag5XFGRG
— Harper's Magazine (@Harpers) January 10, 2021
Just this Saturday, in an article in major Danish newspaper Politiken about Ditlevsens' emerging international succes, the journalist wrote that she "had never reached modernism".
Ditlevsen has been taught in Danish schools as the harper's article says, but 15 years ago in 2006 (she died in the 1970ies!) the omission of her poems on a list for mandatory poems for schoolchildren sparked a fierce debate.
Head of the committee selecting the poems stated that Ditlevsen simply did not meet their standard for quality. No other female writers (or writers of color) had poems on the list. It contained 24 poems from the Middle ages - today. You can see it here:
This list was issued by the Ministry of culture in a dare I say right wing attempt by the prime minister at the time Anders Fogh Rasmussen to dominate the cultural debate and make way for a shift in values. In this he was succesful.