Danish. In 2023, the first Danish novel, Den beklædte sandhed (The Veiled Truth), celebrates its 300th anniversary. Virtually forgotten today, the novel was written by a woman, Anna Margrethe Lasson, who was an ardent defender of women’s place in literary culture. A roman-à-clef with concealment as both its form and its topic, the book fell between two historical stools: it appeared half a century too late to be part of the vogue of baroque courtly novels that Lasson sought to bring to Scandinavia, and half a century too early to be part of the flourishing of Danish novels.
“Kærlighedens nye klæder” (“Beyond the Veil”), Weekendavisen (7 April 2023). Link.