Per Højholt
Per Højholt, born in 1928 in Esbjerg, Denmark, is a prominent figure in modern Danish literature, primarily recognized for his challenging poetry. Initially a member of the Danish Communist Party, he left in 1956 following the Soviet invasion of Hungary and subsequently joined the Socialist Peoples Party. Højholt pursued a career in librarianship and education before dedicating himself to writing full-time in the 1960s. His poetry emphasizes the physicality of words and their function as "pure symbols," with his major thematic concerns emerging in his collection "Poetens hoved."
In addition to poetry, Højholt has written fiction, notably the postmodern novel "6512," structured alphabetically rather than chronologically, and "Gittes monologer og andre kvababbelser," which explores the inner thoughts of a fictional Danish woman. His most ambitious work, "Auricula," weaves a narrative about children conceived on a significant date during World War I, exploring cultural and intellectual histories through their unique experiences. Højholt's contributions to literature are recognized for their complexity and depth, marking him as an influential and noteworthy figure in the landscape of 20th-century Danish writing.
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Subject Terms
Per Højholt
Writer
- Born: July 22, 1928
- Birthplace: Esbjerg, Denmark
- Died: October 15, 2004
Biography
Per Højholt was born in Esjberg, in west Jutland, Denmark, in 1928. As a young man, he was a member of the Danish Communist Party, but like many others, left the party in 1956, when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary. He then became a member of the Socialist Peoples Party. In 1951, he went to Denmark’s Library School, later becoming a librarian in several libraries in Copenhagen, Denmark, and briefly in Norway. He became a teacher at the Herning Secondary School and became a full-time author in the 1960’s.
Højholt is primarily a poet, noted for the difficulty of his verse. He stresses the quality of words as physical objects, as occupying space in the physical world. He has been publishing poetry since 1949, but his characteristic concerns, including the use of words as “pure symbols,” became evident with the collection Poetens hoved. This volume won several grants from the National Awards Fund of the Danish Ministry of Culture, awards that would be repeated through his career. Højholt has also written fiction, including the postmodern 6512, a novel in the form of a diary that is arranged not by date but alphabetically, and Gittes monologer og andre kvababbelser, the thoughts of a fictional Danish country woman.
Auricula is Højholt’s most ambitious fictional work. It tells the intertwining stories of a group of children conceived on September 7, 1915, a day during which a pervasive silence settled upon a Europe undergoing the ravages of World War I. These children are born with conscious ears, and they and the children who bear them travel throughout Europe, meeting such artistic and intellectual luminaries as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad, Franz Kafka, Eric Satie, Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Alfred Einstein, and Bertrand Russell. The novel thus becomes a cultural and aesthetic history of Western Europe in the twentieth century as heard or “witnessed” by these ears. Højholt is one of the most difficult yet important figures in modern Danish literature.