BJØRNVIG, THORKILD

(1918-2004)

A Danish poet and essayist, Bjørnvig studied comparative literature and became a prize-winning literary scholar. Bjørnvig is thus aware that there is a close relationship between literarycriticismand the literature on which it is based, and he sees a similar relationship between poetry and reality. The poet, for Bjørnvig, does not create reality linguistically, but the poem reflects and embodies reality. Bjørnvig's poetic epistemology is thus essentially of the premodern kind; knowledge is reality reflected in the glassy essence of the mind, and truth is so because it corresponds to reality.

Bjørnvig had his literary debut with the poetry collectionStjærnen bag Gavlen(1947; The Star behind the Gable), in which he expresses the view that poetry mediates our experience of the universe.Art's ability to help humans understand life is further stressed in the poetry collectionsAnubis(1955) andFigur og Ild(1959; Figure and Fire).Naturebecomes comprehensible through poetry. The collectionRavnen(1968; The Raven) is the epitome of structure and order, thus indicating that humans and nature have a necessary rather than a contingent relation to one another. In his future volumes of poetry,

Bjørnvig takes the consequences of this realization: since the relation of human beings to nature is necessary, the condition of nature deeply affects what becomes of humanity. Environmentalism thus becomes a supreme ethical obligation, for the mental and spiritual purity of human beings is a consequence of the purity of nature.

These kinds of ideas were expressed in the poetry collectionsDelfinen(1975; The Dolphin),Abeguden(1981; The Monkey God), andEpimeteus(1990). Bjørnvig has also presented his views in volumes of essays, beginning withBegyndelsen(1960; The Beginning) andVirkeligheden er til(1973; Reality Exists), and continuing, with even greater explicitness, inOgsa for naturens skyld(1978; Also for the Sake of Nature) andBarnet og dyret i industrisamfundet(1979; The Child and the Animal in Industrial Society). Bjørnvig has used the term "ecological socialism" to designate his environmental program.

Like many other Danish writers, Bjørnvig has also written memoirs. His first book in this vein wasPagten(1974; tr.The Pact, 1983), in which he discusses his relationship withKaren Blixen. Later volumes includeSolens have og skolegarden(1983; The Garden of the Sun and the Schoolyard),Hjørnestuen og manehavet(1984; The Corner Room and the Moon Ocean),Jordens hjerte(1986; The Heart of the Earth), andØnsket(1987; The Wish); together these four volumes cover the years 1918-1948.