This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla ... more This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla Christensen as part of 'a literary history of the Danish ghetto'-literary works that depict Danish deprived housing areas and their development, changing valorisations and forms of life. The article argues that through an insightful third-person narrator with a wide-ranging conception of time and place, Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe offers a wide historical, societal and national perspective on the sociogeographical marginalisation of the housing areas. The novel links housing policy and architecture to the non-place-in line with Marc Augés well-known concept-that Høje Gladsaxe appears as in 2001. The novel also links the degrading treatment of unemployed and precarious persons in the late-modern welfare state to the maintenance of Høje Gladsaxe as a non-place. Furthermore, the article argues that the magical realism, gallery of characters and use of legend material makes the novel a literary voice that opposes widespread prejudice against inhabitants of the housing areas, as well as a predominant social realist way of writing about them. Finally, the article connects the novel to two main tendencies in the literary history of the Danish ghetto: the 'expert narrative' that identifies the structures behind the making and current state of the deprived housing areas, and the 'autotopography' where authors write about life in real housing areas on the basis of their own experience, thus offering valuable perspectives on very pertinent social matters.
This article investigates the ambivalence embedded in the literary motif of the precarious autobi... more This article investigates the ambivalence embedded in the literary motif of the precarious autobiographical narrator’s distanced and solidary gaze on the precarious ‘others’ and their bodies. In analyzing Tragedie plus tid gange ni (2017) and Yarden (2009), the article argues that through ‘precarious narration’ – an unreliable first-person narrator’s inability to understand the other characters and their distress – the novels lead to an understanding of the cultural divisions and work-related experiences of the precariat.
This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla ... more This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla Christensen as part of 'a literary history of the Danish ghetto' - literary works that depict Danish deprived housing areas and their development, changing valorisations and forms of life. The article argues that through an insightful third-person narrator with a wide-ranging conception of time and place, Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe offers a wide historical, societal and national perspective on the socio-geographical marginalisation of the housing areas. The novel links housing policy and architecture to the non-place - in line with Marc Augés well-known concept - that Høje Gladsaxe appears as in 2001. The novel also links the degrading treatment of unemployed and precarious persons in the late-modern welfare state to the maintenance of Høje Gladsaxe as a non-place. Furthermore, the article argues that the magical realism, gallery of characters and use of legend material makes the novel a literary voice that opposes widespread prejudice against inhabitants of the housing areas, as well as a predominant social realist way of writing about them. Finally, the article connects the novel to two main tendencies in the literary history of the Danish ghetto: the 'expert narrative' that identifies the structures behind the making and current state of the deprived housing areas, and the 'autotopography' where authors write about life in real housing areas on the basis of their own experience, thus offering valuable perspectives on very pertinent social matters.
This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla ... more This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla Christensen as part of 'a literary history of the Danish ghetto'-literary works that depict Danish deprived housing areas and their development, changing valorisations and forms of life. The article argues that through an insightful third-person narrator with a wide-ranging conception of time and place, Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe offers a wide historical, societal and national perspective on the sociogeographical marginalisation of the housing areas. The novel links housing policy and architecture to the non-place-in line with Marc Augés well-known concept-that Høje Gladsaxe appears as in 2001. The novel also links the degrading treatment of unemployed and precarious persons in the late-modern welfare state to the maintenance of Høje Gladsaxe as a non-place. Furthermore, the article argues that the magical realism, gallery of characters and use of legend material makes the novel a literary voice that opposes widespread prejudice against inhabitants of the housing areas, as well as a predominant social realist way of writing about them. Finally, the article connects the novel to two main tendencies in the literary history of the Danish ghetto: the 'expert narrative' that identifies the structures behind the making and current state of the deprived housing areas, and the 'autotopography' where authors write about life in real housing areas on the basis of their own experience, thus offering valuable perspectives on very pertinent social matters.
This article investigates the ambivalence embedded in the literary motif of the precarious autobi... more This article investigates the ambivalence embedded in the literary motif of the precarious autobiographical narrator’s distanced and solidary gaze on the precarious ‘others’ and their bodies. In analyzing Tragedie plus tid gange ni (2017) and Yarden (2009), the article argues that through ‘precarious narration’ – an unreliable first-person narrator’s inability to understand the other characters and their distress – the novels lead to an understanding of the cultural divisions and work-related experiences of the precariat.
This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla ... more This article makes a literary analysis of the novel Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe (2002) by Camilla Christensen as part of 'a literary history of the Danish ghetto' - literary works that depict Danish deprived housing areas and their development, changing valorisations and forms of life. The article argues that through an insightful third-person narrator with a wide-ranging conception of time and place, Jorden under Høje Gladsaxe offers a wide historical, societal and national perspective on the socio-geographical marginalisation of the housing areas. The novel links housing policy and architecture to the non-place - in line with Marc Augés well-known concept - that Høje Gladsaxe appears as in 2001. The novel also links the degrading treatment of unemployed and precarious persons in the late-modern welfare state to the maintenance of Høje Gladsaxe as a non-place. Furthermore, the article argues that the magical realism, gallery of characters and use of legend material makes the novel a literary voice that opposes widespread prejudice against inhabitants of the housing areas, as well as a predominant social realist way of writing about them. Finally, the article connects the novel to two main tendencies in the literary history of the Danish ghetto: the 'expert narrative' that identifies the structures behind the making and current state of the deprived housing areas, and the 'autotopography' where authors write about life in real housing areas on the basis of their own experience, thus offering valuable perspectives on very pertinent social matters.
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