Reviews about Klaus Rifbjerg
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On
The Sacred Monkeys
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"This futuristic novel about the present as seen in the light of the
pastfollows some of the rules of the fairy tale and has the
stimulating mixtureof simplicity, epic clarity and situational
symbolism. Those dogs that almost always appear in Rifbjerg
belong to this last category. At one of the novel´s high points,
when the boys are becoming aware of the new world, they
have to undergo a prolonged and fierce battle with a terrifying,
furious mongrel, "this bristling, grey-striped, urine-coloured
monster" as it is once called. And Mik discovers that for the
first time for several minutes he has not given a thought to his
father and mother and sister. "Could that be what was needed
for you to "erase" or forget your past, everything you were tied
to, everything that determined your life? Was it necessary to
kill a big, grey dog in an alien forest?"
So this bellicose relationship to nature, primitiveness in
aggressive shape, is a stage in the modern development
through which Mik and Niels must pass and of which they must
realise the consequences. The novel´s message could thus be
that all this determinism for which the stage is set is governed
by instinct: We are rushing blindly and surely into destruction. It
will even take place on the 27th of July this year. But Rifbjerg
allows his fairy tale to end well. There is a way back. They find
the entrance, and Mik goes into the darkness to the thread they
have laid down and which can show them the way back
through the labyrinth. A kite string. The others hear his voice,
far away, but clear and unmistakable:
"I´ve found it!"
The thin thread linking us with the past represents the
possibility of a different way forward from the one we have
otherwise been following. It is the last minute.
Klaus Rifbjerg´s new story can be read by the age group it
is about, and he has ensured that there is also food enough for
thought for other generations to remove their hands from their
eyes, their ears and their mouths."
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Torben Brostrøm in Information, 10.4.1981
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On
The War
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"The individual poems are separated or held together by
italicised exclamations, slogans, commentaries, concerning war,
the concept of war. It is like a keel running throughout the
book and keeping it firmly fixed to the motif, without appearing
artificial. But naturally, the special circumstances of war, which
have doubtless been a source of fascination to the poet, also
produce artistic problems. For what can hold its own in face of
the keen shadow of war - any idyll is threatened by collapse,
any general expression of feeling, joy, gaiety, immediately
acquires blasphemous characteristics etc.
Rifbjerg deals confidently with this difference, this missing
pathos, this lack of danger and simplicity, unambiguity, but not
without being compelled to alter his tone, indeed almost his
genre, en route. And he does this with a firm grip, with a sure
sense of what is artistically possible and with a linguistic skill
that is at times quite outstanding, and which is equally surprising
each time you meet it, although by now it should scarcely be
surprising to anyone. But it is equally good each time. When it
is good.
Who else could think of allowing himself to be caught and
remain caught by such ill-assorted features as lack, absence,
death, emotional distance etc.? And it might even seem that this
very constellation has embodied special artistic challenges for
the poet in addition to the problems, also of an artistic nature,
which not even his virtuosity can remove."
"The individual poems are separated or held together by
italicised exclamations, slogans, commentaries, concerning war,
the concept of war. It is like a keel running throughout the
book and keeping it firmly fixed to the motif, without appearing
artificial. But naturally, the special circumstances of war, which
have doubtless been a source of fascination to the poet, also
produce artistic problems. For what can hold its own in face of
the keen shadow of war - any idyll is threatened by collapse,
any general expression of feeling, joy, gaiety, immediately
acquires blasphemous characteristics etc.
Rifbjerg deals confidently with this difference, this missing
pathos, this lack of danger and simplicity, unambiguity, but not
without being compelled to alter his tone, indeed almost his
genre, en route. And he does this with a firm grip, with a sure
sense of what is artistically possible and with a linguistic skill
that is at times quite outstanding, and which is equally surprising
each time you meet it, although by now it should scarcely be
surprising to anyone. But it is equally good each time. When it
is good.
Who else could think of allowing himself to be caught and
remain caught by such ill-assorted features as lack, absence,
death, emotional distance etc.? And it might even seem that this
very constellation has embodied special artistic challenges for
the poet in addition to the problems, also of an artistic nature,
which not even his virtuosity can remove."
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Per Højholt in Jyllands Posten, 1.9.1992.
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On
Anna (I) Anna
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"Klaus Rifbjerg´s way of writing is too rich and reflective for Anna (jeg) Anna to be called a proper thriller. He surprisingly allows us to relax in delightful, general discussions (for instance on the subject of convalescence) or in polemical essays (e.g. on the sacrosanct position of the Germans today). On her flight, Anna brings with her an inner, mental, tightly packed portmanteau of reflections on the relationship between dream and reality, between guilt and punishment, and speculations on the many possibilities and choices offered by life. The narrative technique is also surprising, a constant shift between first and third person to give distance and variation.
The portrayal of people and events balances on the edge of the probable, but it is of course the mad Anna who is telling the story! And she narrates with all Rifbjerg´s formidable ability and good humour. These dips into childhood, these glimpses of the exotic in Karachi and of the familiar in Europe, all woven together with a sense of composition and music to form a great, surging totality! For this reason, Anna (jeg) Anna will be the year´s most brilliant and thrilling Danish novel. Klaus Rifbjerg has never written better."
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Bent Mohn in Politiken, October 14, 1969
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