Sørensen, Villy

▪ Danish writer and critic

born January 13, 1929, Copenhagen, Denmark

died December 16, 2001, Copenhagen

      influential writer of modernist short stories and a leading literary critic in Denmark after World War II.

      Sørensen's first collection of short stories, Saere historier (Tiger in the Kitchen and Other Strange Stories), appeared in 1953; it was followed in 1955 by Ufarlige historier (“Harmless Stories”) and in 1964 by the important collection Formynderfortaellinger (“Guardian Stories”). His short stories are experimental and often draw their material from the Bible, legends, ballads, and world history in general. Sørensen employed the naive manner of Hans Christian Andersen (Andersen, Hans Christian) and allegorical tales like those of Isak Dinesen (Dinesen, Isak) to describe the absurdity that threatens human existence. He often treated the themes of the divided self and the loneliness of the individual in society.

      Sørensen's fiction manifests in artistic form the theories of his philosophical writings, Digtere og daemoner (1959; “Poets and Demons”) and Hverken-eller (1961; “Neither-Nor”). He was strongly influenced in his thinking by German existentialism, in particular the writings of Martin Heidegger (Heidegger, Martin). Sørensen served as an editor of the literary periodical Vindrosen (1959–63).

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