Dons, Aage 1903-1994(?)

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DONS, Aage 1903-1994(?)

(Aage Bergishagen Dons)

PERSONAL: Born March 19, 1903, in Svanholm, Krogstrupsogn, Denmark; died October 13, 1994 (some sources say 1993). Education: Studied music.

CAREER: Writer and translator.

AWARDS, HONORS: Journalistforbundets prize, 1937; Emma Bærentzens prize, 1937; Otto Benzons Forfatterlegat, 1939; Gyldendals Herman Bang prize, 1941; Finansloven, 1943; Frøken Suhrs Forfatterlegat, 1949; De Gyldne Laurbær, 1954; Kollegernes Ærespris, 1954; Det Anckerske prize, 1956; Nemos Forfatterlegat, 1958; Herman Bangs Mindelegat, 1959; Tørsleff & Co.'s Litteraere Haederslegat, 1959; Holger Drachmann-legatet, 1965; Adam Oehlenschläger Legatet, 1965; Hans Christian Andersen prize, Dansk Forfatterforenings, 1966; Holberg medal, 1966; Jeanne og Henri Nathansens Mindelegat, 1967; Statens Kunstfond, Produktionspræmie, 1972; Kritikerprisen, 1973; Aage Barfoeds og Frank Lunds prize, 1983; Hvass-Fondens Rejselegat, 1985.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Koncerten, Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1935.

Soldaterbrønden, Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1936, translated by T. Shiel as The Soldier's Well, 1940.

De uønskede, Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1938.

Her mødes alle veje, Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1941.

Tro tjenerinde, Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1942.

Frosten på ruderne, Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1948.

Og alt blev en drøm; episode af en ung mands liv (sequel to Frosten på ruderne), Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1949.

Den svundne tid er ej forbi, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1950.

Afskedsgaven, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1952, published as Bedragerisk er hjertet. Afskedsgaven, Vinten (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1965.

Farvel min anger, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1954.

Dydens løn, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1956.

De åbne arme, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1957.

I løvens gab, S. Hasselbalch (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1959.

Vilddyret under sneen, S. Hasselbalch (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1960.

Brænde til mit bål, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1965.

Hvor er de nu?, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1972.

Nødstedt i natten 1973, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1973.

Rosa og det bizarre liv, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1979.

Dons's novels have been translated into Swedish, English, German, and Estonian.

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

Den gule billedbog, Nyt Nordisk Forlag (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1943.

Altid at spørge, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1953.

Den uendelige sø. Hvis jeg turde, Aschehoug (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1954.

De fremmedes møde, Vinten (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1973.

Stenskoven, Vinten (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1974.

Febertræet, Vinton (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1975.

OTHER

Valpurgisnat (radio play), broadcast 1931.

(Translator) Richard Llewellyn, Grø var min barndoms dal (translation of How Green Was My Valley), P. Haase & Søn (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1941.

(Translator) Sally Salminen, Nyt Land, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1947.

Rejse i Østrig (travelogue), illustrated by Arne Ungermann, Carit Andersen (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1952.

(Translator) Max Frisch, Homo Faber, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1959.

(Author of foreword) Marie Dinesen, Mens mine øjne ser, Spektrum (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1962.

(Translator) Pär Lagerkvist, Det hellige land, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1965.

Hånd i hånd med en fremmed, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1968.

Glemte gåder, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1971.

Et behageligt opholdssted, Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1974.

Uden at vide hvorhen: erindringer (memoir), Gyldendal (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1976.

Den arabiske princesse. Portraetter og skitser, Vinten (Copenhagen, Denmark), 1976.

SIDELIGHTS: Danish author Aage Dons was primarily known for his large output of novels and short stories about ordinary, lonely people. He lived for a while in Poland and Lithuania, and some of his novels were consequently inspired by his travels there. Another country he visited, Austria, inspired the travel guide Rejse i Østrig. In Dons's memoir, Uden at vide hvorhen: erindringer, he described how his stay in Vienna also helped provide material for his fiction, especially for the work De uønskede.

Dons's novels typically begin with the main characters leading peaceful lives, but dramatic events soon change their worlds for the worse. For example, in De uønskede bored Helene Hall reads sensationalistic newspapers as sustenance for her mundane life. But her world is turned upside down when she reads a headline about her daughter, a famous soprano, who is killed in a railway accident in Yugoslavia. The semiautobiographical novel Den svundne tid er ej forbi paints a similar picture. Here, a mother has a strange feeling that something awful has happened to her twin children. Searching for them, she runs through the gardens of her family's mansion to discover that they have fallen into a well. One child dies, while the other, Niels, lives. Tragedy soon strikes the family again when their mansion is consumed in a fire. By the end of the novel, Niels and his mother are living in an apartment, haunted by the death of Niels's brother and saddened by their loss of fortune.

The structure of Den svundne tid er ej forbi is similar in some ways to Dons's own life. The son of a wealthy man, he was born in a large house in Svanholm, but by the time he was thirty-five he was poor, unmarried, and lived in an apartment. In his memoirs he describes the shame he felt in the 1930s, when he could only afford a small apartment for himself and his mother in Frederikssund. He speculates in his autobiography, too, whether the tragic lives his characters lead are a way for him to work out his anger over the course his own life had taken.

Among the other themes in Dons's novels are loneliness and a sense of wasted opportunity. His realistic portraits of lonely people earned him critical acclaim. One of his well-received books is Rosa og det bizarre liv, the portrait of a maid living in an aristocrat's home. After her employer, Baron von Zuchow, is killed by an intruder, the prissy and prudish Rosa finds herself alone. Dons records in great detail Rosa's reactions and thoughts to the murder as she sits on the floor clinging to the dead baron's hand. She resists "waking up" to her new reality, so she refuses to move, feeling dead herself.

After Rosa og det bizarre liv was published, Dons sank into obscurity, his life becoming much like that of his characters. Although he continued to produce a steady stream of novels and short stories, many of which earned him prizes and positive criticism, he never managed to earn much recognition from the public. Before he died, he requested that all his diaries be burned.