HANSEN, MARTIN ALFRED

born Aug. 20, 1909, Stroby, Den. died June 27, 1955, Copenhagen in full Martin Jens Alfred Hansen one of the most widely read Danish authors of his day. Hansen first was a farm worker and then became a teacher in the 1930s. From two early novels of social consciousness, Nu opgiver han (1935; Now He Gives Up) and Kolonien (1937; The Colony), he went on to write a tale of extravagant imagery, Jonatans rejse (1941; Jonathan's Journey), and a historical novel, Lykkelige Kristoffer (1945; Lucky Kristoffer, 1974). After World War II he turned to the psychological novel with Lgneren (1950; The Liar), and finally to an attempt to arrive at the metaphysical through use of reason, a kind of supra-rationalism, in Orm og tyr (1952; Serpent and Bull). A somewhat conservative strain, a preoccupation with myth, and an awareness of the roots of culture are found in all his works.