Background

Martin Hansen was born on August 20, 1909, in Stevnstrup, Midtjylland, Denmark. He came from a Häusler family and was initially active in agriculture.

Education

In 1930, Martin graduated from Haslev Teachers College.

Career

Martin A. Hansen was the author of works exploring the moral problems presented by the rapidly changing values of twentieth-century society. Hansen felt that an identification with tradition, and a commitment to the preservation of one’s cultural heritage, provided a link between the past and the present that transcended death and resolved the existential problems posed by twentieth-century life. While his efforts to define those aspects of Danish tradition that could stabilize the chaos of modernity appealed to many Danish readers, his growing reputation outside of Denmark attests to the universality of his concerns.

Hansen was born and raised in a rural community. Descended from peasants, his parents were farmers who struggled against constant economic hardship. At the age of fourteen, Hansen was taken out of school and, according to local custom, sent to live and work on nearby farms, where he grew accustomed to the demands of farm labor. Three years later, he turned away from the conservative Christian heritage of his upbringing. Radicalized by the intellectual milieu he encountered in Haslev, he began espousing atheism and Darwinism and became sympathetic with the ideals of communism.

After graduating in 1930, Hansen found a teaching job in a poor district of Copenhagen, and during his early years there began to take a serious interest in writing fiction. His first novel, 1935’s "Nu opgiver han", was acclaimed for its realistic account of a disintegrating rural society. Its sequel, "Kolonien", published in 1937, described the failure of a Utopian experiment in communal farming based on Marxist principles. Although both of these novels dealt with the Danish agrarian and economic crisis of the 1930s, as well as with issues of social justice, both also demonstrated that the author’s main interest lay not in society but in the individual.

The German conquest of Denmark in April, 1940, greatly affected Hansen’s life and works. He was disappointed that his country resisted the Nazi invasion so briefly and ashamed that he did not participate in what little fighting had taken place; he also deplored the docility with which his fellow Danes accepted the German occupation. The experience prompted an even greater distaste for politics, and his next novel, 1941’s Jonatans Rejse, represented a turning point in his career. In this work Hansen abandoned the sober realism of his earlier novels in favor of a whimsical narrative style which he used to satirize dogmatic political ideologies. The form of the novel is a quest which takes its eponymous protagonist from a simple farming culture to the complex modern world, a journey that mirrors Hansen’s own progression from a traditional rural to a modern urban culture. The novel expresses Hansen’s belief that good and evil have become indistinguishable in the modern world, and that even those with the best intentions may end by serving evil.

As the German occupation of Denmark continued, Hansen joined the resistance movement and wrote many essays for underground publications, encouraging others to become involved in active resistance. In his essays he compared the contemporary situation with that of medieval Europe, drawing parallels between the Nazis and the imperialistic Vikings of the pre-Christian era. According to Hansen, it was the Catholic church that had initiated democratic society based on the value of justice and the importance of the individual; however, the basis for democratic society was undermined by the trend toward secularization that began during the Renaissance, finally resulting in the resurgence of totalitarianism and the moral and existential disorientation characteristic of twentieth-century life.

"Lykkelige Kristoffer", Hansen’s 1945 novel, conveys his understanding of the problems of the modern age and his belief in individualism, coupled with an emphasis on the responsibility of the individual to society. Depicting a journey during the turbulent years of the Lutheran Reformation in the early 1500s, "Lucky Kristoffer" draws a parallel between that era and the strife-ridden years of World War II. Hansen found that no material or scientific gains could compensate for the loss of the spiritual qualities of the past. He also perceived in past ages a sense of personal and societal responsibility that governed and protected the individual and granted a meaningful life in a just society. Faith and Niels Ingwersen, in their Martin A. Hansen, declared that “Hansen, who in this myth discovered his thinking and authorship’s sustaining values, was to turn this mythical world into a reserve for qualities relevant to the individual who is lost in the modern world’s confusion.” The popular success of "Lucky Kristoffer" enabled Hansen to retire from teaching in order to devote all of his time to writing.

Hansen had expected that after the war a national rejuvenation would take place, but he was disillusioned by what he saw as petty bickering between factions that adhered to limiting ideologies. The postwar period was made particularly bitter for him when he learned that an essay he had written during the war, in which he had called for the slaying of informers who had betrayed other Danes to the occupation forces, had persuaded two young men to join the resistance movement and that they were subsequently caught by the Nazis and executed. The knowledge of their deaths, for which Hansen felt responsible, resulted in a brooding preoccupation with death that endured for the rest of his life. He went through a severe crisis during which he doubted that the resistance had been worthwhile and became preoccupied by the potentially destructive power of art. During this time he worked on "Kains alter", a novel depicting the artistic process as homicidal. Hansen abandoned this project when he came to realize that literature could give meaning to death by preserving cultural heritage. Hansen came to view his profession as an ethical force and to believe that “to be a good poet is a moral, religious destiny.”

During the last part of the war, Hansen had worked on a number of short stories that he put into final form, in the volumes "Tornebusken and Agerhonen" (published in 1946 and 1947, respectively), after he abandoned the writing of "Kains alter." Both collections mirror the crisis that Hansen experienced and convey a movement from despair to spiritual rebirth. Upon publication of these works, Hansen was acknowledged in Denmark as a major writer. In 1950 he published his last novel, "Logneren", which describes the personal crises and spiritual transformation of its narrator, Johannes Vig. Vig suffers from the same existential malaise that Hansen saw as characteristic of twentieth-century civilization. At the end of the novel Vig resolves to find value and purpose in educational and cultural pursuits; he therefore abandons fiction in order to write an account of the nature and culture of the islands on which he lives.

Significantly, Hansen wrote very little fiction after completing "The Liar", instead devoting himself to essays on Danish culture and history and to travel essays. Prominent among these works is "Orm og tyr", a 1952 cultural history that examines the close relationship between pagan and Christian religions in Scandinavia. This work expresses Hansen's concept of tradition and its relevance to modern times. Hansen Wrote that “when man finds himself in a purposeless ar>d fearful world, he can be rescued by beliefs that restore harmony to his existence”; the beliefs he referred to are those of a healthy cultural tradition that S,ve the individual the knowledge that both life and death are meaningful. Hansen died of a kidney disease ln 1955, leaving many unfinished works, some of vvhich were published posthumously.

Achievements

• Martin was considered one of the most important Danish writers of the twentieth century. His best-known and most-discussed work is the 1950 published novel "Løgneren" which was translated and also made into a film "The Liar." Critics have generally considered Hansen to be the best Danish writer of his generation and among the greatest of this century. His treatment of cultural, ethical, and existential problems has appealed to a wide readership, and his ideas concerning the importance of tradition have had a significant influence on modern Danish literature.

Works

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  • The Liar 1987
  • Midsommerkrans 1956
  • Die Osterglocke 1953
  • Tornebusken 1946
  • Hostgildet Og Andre Fortellinger 1979
  • Løgneren 1975
  • Lucky Kristoffer 1974
  • Jonatans Rejse
  • Against the wind: Stories 1979

Views

Hansen’s prose is notable for its impressionistic narrative style, psychological depth, and complex symbolism. Radicalized by the intellectual milieu he encountered in Haslev, he began espousing atheism and Darwinism and became sympathetic with the ideals of communism.

Connections

Martin was married to Vera Couise Marie Jensen and had two children; his son Hans Ole Hansen was director of the Historical-Archaeological Land of Legends.

Spouse:

Vera Couise Marie Jensen

Son:

Hans Ole Hansen