Exsistence and Responsibility

By : Torben Weinreich

Leif Esper Andersen’s production is not extensive. He has written four novels, as well as short stories for various anthologies and a number of easy readers. Then there are the more autobiographical works Min Krønike (My Chronicle) (1979) and Journaler (Journals) (1980), both published posthumously.
   He makes his breakthrough in 1973 with his tightly-composed novel, <>Heksefeber (Witch Fever). This is a short novel about a boy named Esben who meets Wise-Hans whilst fleeing from the stake on which his mother has just been burnt as a witch. Hans takes care of him. While staying with Hans, Esben learns both to manage in nature, of which they both are described as being part, and an attitude to life based on existential demands for responsibility and social awareness. While with Hans, Esben tells his story from the moment when his mother is accused of being a witch. Hans comments on it and puts the events into a wider perspective. At this time Hans is himself contacted by people who need the help of a wise man. Later on his help fails, and the bailiff and his men appear to fetch him. History has repeated itself and Esben has to slip away again. Hans’s last bit of advice to Esben is, ”Leave, Esben, and take good care of yourself – but most of all be careful of everyone else.”
   Jozef, the son of a foreign worker, is the main character in Fremmed (Alien) (1975). He is divided between Danish and Jugoslav culture. He falls in love with a Danish girl whose brother and some others humiliate him and beat him up on a number of occasions. Finally, he retaliates by knifing the brother down. Jozef realises that he will not be returning to Jugoslavia the way his family has planned; at least, not just now. This is why he throws himself in front of a lorry right at the end of the book.
   Hakkedrenge (Stutter Boys) (1976) is a boy’s account of how it happened that his parents had to get divorced. Træl og fri (Slave and Freeman) (1979) is a story about two boys at the time of the Vikings. One is the son of a chief, the other is a slave, who are forced to cast off what they are and relate to each other as equals as they flee after their settlement has been rampaged - a typical theme in Leif Esper Andersen’s writing.

This is an extract from Torben Weinreich’s article “I statens tjeneste” (“Serving One’s Country”) in Dansk Børnelitteratur Historie (The History of Danish Children’s Literature), Høst & Søn 1992.