The works of Helle Stangerup, one of the most popular authors in modern Danish literature, can be clearly divided into two widely differing genres: crime stories and historical novels. Both categories have enjoyed great success, and almost all the books are constantly reprinted.
The first part of Stangerup´s authorship is made up of crime stories. Starting with Gravskrift for Rødhætte (Epitaph for Red Riding Hood, 1967), Gule Handsker (Yellow Gloves, 1968), Spejldans (Mirror Dance, 1969), Diamanter er dydens løn (Diamonds are the Wages of Virtue, 1970) and Solsikkerne (The Sunflowers, 1972), these novels are all relatively brief, with atmospheric suspenseful plots, and they demand to be read straight through in one sitting. The books have had an enthusiastic reception both from reviewers and the reading public.
In 1980 Helle Stangerup returned to the crime theme with the thriller Ulvetid (Wolf Time), the story of a couple who take a girl with an interest in wolves into their farmhouse home. Before long a whole pack of wolves are living in a cage there, and the chief female character suspects their lodger of being a werewolf. The book, which is saturated with fear and doubt, was filmed for television.
After yet another crime book, Den tibetanske maske (The Tibetan Mask, 1981), there was a marked change of subject when the seminal work Christine (1985) appeared. It is a historical novel on a broad scale featuring Christian II´s youngest daughter – Christine – and her exile during her father´s long imprisonment. The principal strand in the plot is Christine´s attempt to win back the Danish-Norwegian kingdom she considers to be hers by right, but it is equally the description of a strong intelligent woman and a tour of the European renaissance and its chief protagonists, including Henry VIII of England and Queen Elizabeth, Henri II of France and the German emperor, Kejser Karl V , with in addition a wealth of more or less well-known minor historical figures. The work exhibits a thorough knowledge of the period and a fascination with and sympathetic insight into the fates of contemporary people.
Similar qualities are present in the next long work, Spardame (Queen of Spades) (1989), whose principal intrigue is related to that of Christine: Leonora Christine is King Christian IV´s daughter. With her husband, Corfitz Ulfelt she tries to sell Denmark, first to the Swedes and later to the Elector of Brandenburg in order to get at their enemies: Leonora Christine´s half brother, the Danish absolute monarch Frederik III and his queen, the spiteful Sophie Amalie. The story is interwoven with one of the chief works of earlier Danish literature, namely Leonora Christines Jammersminde, (Leonora Christine´s Memoir of Woe), written 1673-74 during her 23 years of imprisonment in the Blue Tower in Copenhagen. In Queen of Spades too Stangerup excels in her understanding of the period and sympathy with it; in particular, the emotions and thoughts of the five strong female leading characters are beautifully personified.
In the next historical novel, Sankt Marcus Nat (St Mark´s Night, 1992), the detailed period description is still maintained but the leading characters are no longer royal. The book depicts the life of a noblewoman, Mette Olufsdatter Rosenkrantz, to the point where she takes up her position in the history books by marrying the nobleman, Peder Oxe, who was the most powerful man in Denmark for part of the 16th century, and whom we met in Christine. The two books thus supplement each other by extending the description of a good deal of the cast. The less renowned leading character allows more space for the free creation of a persona, and the book is astonishing in its presentation as a blend of historical and fantasy novel, as Mette Rosenkrantz undergoes a series of supernatural, visionary experiences which are wholly acceptable in the universe of this book.
After yet another crime novel, the monumental Stedfar (Stepfather, 1994), Helle Stangerup did a new version of Saxo Grammaticus´s Gesta Danorum (The Danish Chronicle), a depiction of Denmark´s early history, written around 1200 A.D. The original work was in Latin but it has been translated several times. However, all the earlier translations seem stiff to a modern reader, so Helle Stangerup has recreated the work to be accessible to all by using fluent language which makes the old legends take on the sparkling life they deserve.
(1999)
