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On his prose works Stig Dalager (b. 1952) is one of the most productive writers of his generation in Scandinavia and co-editor of the Nordic edition of the Jewish Magazine "Outlook". With 47 published works of fiction, including novels, poetry and short story collections as well as plays, television and film scripts and a libretto, Dalager is one of the most prolific and esteemed writers in Denmark. Many of his works have been translated, (f.ex. into German: "Provinzidyllen", Ed. Mariannen Press, Berlin and "Ich zähle die Stunden", Verlag der Apfel, Vienna) while his holocaust novel "The Book of David" is translated into Russian and English. Dalager is represented in the short story anthology “Ein Fuss auf dem Mond (Piper Verlag, 2000) alongside Italo Calvino, Julian Barnes, Richard Ford and others. Dalager’s latest historic novel, published last year and entitled To dage i juli (“Two Days in July”/Zwei Tage im Juli”)), will soon become a major film, as German film director Joseph Vielsmaier, known for his epic work STALINGRAD, is adapting the book and will direct the screen version. In July 2004 it was published in German by the reputated German publishing-house Aufbau Verlag, Berlin, having very fine reviews. The novel, revolving around authentic protagonists Graf Claus v. Stauffenberg, Adolf Hitler and the coup d'etat of July 20 1944, is structured as a contra-punctual narrative that spans two momentous days in WWII history: the 19th and 20th of July 1944 when a circle of heroic German soldiers plot and attempt a coup against the Hitler regime. Prior to publishing the book, Dalager went to Berlin where he met with relatives of the July 20 dissenters. In Hamburg, he discussed the project with Marion Gräfin Dönhoff. In March 2002, Two Days in July was published by Tiderne Skifter in Denmark to much critical acclaim. Leading newspaper “Jyllandsposten” wrote: “The documentary-fiction of Stig Dalager is deeply fascinating as well as intriguing, both as a an elementary exiting tale and as a demonstration of the psychological and sociological factors which together influence human lives, sometimes with immense consequences for the world. Especially the portrait of Hitler is powerful: the psychopath whose illness makes him blind to the normal ethics of good and evil.” Dalager’s acclaimed novel To Forget and to Remember (1993) is also about to be filmatised. With the plot revolving around a young man and traveller, Jon Bäksgaard, it spans two continents and is set in the cities of Århus, Leipzig and New York, covering a period from1975-1986. It was this novel that spurred critic Lars Olof Franzén of the Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter" to compare the ethical passion of Dalager with that of Dostovjevskij (in The Idiot). The critic labelled To Forget and to Remember “An Odysseus of our time" and Danish paper "Politiken" wrote: "Dalager has done the impossible with this book. He has written a moral novel of our time, which deals with all the big ethical and political questions, a novel which at the same time is modern and true to its literary roots, a work which dares to be passionate without being sentimental, and which contains such a knowledge that even the well known questions of our culture and thinking are getting perspective and depth." In a recent vote for the most important Danish literary work of the 20th century, readers of "Politiken" ranked To Forget and to Remember number three. It has been Gyldendal's book club’s “book of the month" and was recently published in paperback. Based on the novel, a television series as well as a film are being produced. Dalager’s latest book, Tilfældige forbindelser (Casual Relations), has also been highly praised by Danish critics. The work consists of linked short stories (a kind of mosaic novel) dealing with characters from New York, Vienna, London and Copenhagen who interconnect in surprising ways. The 21 stories in Casual Relations deal with ethical themes on many levels as reflected by the varied characters that range from a beggar on Fifth Ave. to an Austrian soldier behind the German lines in the Second World War. The linkage continues in the form of a doctor being tortured in a cellar in Baghdad to a boy in Vienna building a snowman. Casual Relations is the first volume in a trilogy, a multi-dimensional portrait of modern existential European man. This work, too, is about to be made into a film, focusing on three of the stories from the first volume. Dalager’s holocaust novel The Book of David (1995) --about a Polish-Jewish boy’s fate in a Warsaw ghetto in 1942 and based on documentary studies in Vienna-- received much acclaim in the Danish press, including "Politiken" who wrote: "Dalager has written a shocking present historical novel, a taut story of international standing and appeal. A monument of our own shame, at that time and now". Danish Jewish Magazine "Jewish Information" in its judgement of the book compared its literary quality to the novels of Isaac B. Singer: "How was it possible for Stig Dalager to write about the last years of the story of David in such a shocking and convincing way that one should think that this was written by Isaac B. Singer or one of the other Polish- Jewish geniuses?" It has just been published as paperback and will come out in Hebrew through the holocaust centre Yad Vashem in Israel, and in Russian by OGI. Dalagers newest novel “Journey in Blue” about Hans Christian Andersen has created interest from France, Brazil, China, USA, Canada, Polen, Holland, Italy …. On his dramatic works Following the play LORD AND SHADOW about legendary Danish fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen, (performed at Scena Theatre in Washington D.C. as well as in Copenhagen and Moscow), Dalager had an international theatrical breakthrough with the Sarajevo play I COUNT THE HOURS (1993), which has been translated into 12 languages. Staged in Berlin, Vienna, Ljubjana and Cairo, it premiered in New York in 1997 at the leading off-Broadway theatre La Mama. The literary German Magazine Litfass described the play as "... one of the most intense literary texts of our time" while the Berlin Papers recognized the play as being of more impact than any television reportage from this war zone. One of the primary American theatre-magazines Theatre Week described I COUNT THE HOURS at La Mama Theatre as: "shocking and heartbreaking. Work of this quality should not be forgotten. Play it again, please!" In August of 1999 it was restaged at the prestigious international New York Fringe Festival and in October at The Carmel Performing Arts Festival in California. It received very good reviews in California as well as in the N.Y. theatre magazine "Back stage”. It was successfully selected to be staged at the New York Fringe Festival 1999 among 150 performances across the world. In 2000 it was once again re-staged at The Carmel Performing Arts Festival. I COUNT THE HOURS is to be produced again in Germany as is Dalager's new radio-play “Das Zimmer oder Stauffenberg im Inferno”. In 1998 Dalager’s play THE DREAM had two successful readings in New York, featuring leading Broadway actors. As was the case with I COUNT THE HOURS, THE DREAM was also brought to the stage in August 1999 and presented at the New York Fringe theatre Festival featuring Bergman-star Bibi Andersson playing the role as Elisabeth. In addition, it was performed at The Carmel Festival in California in 1999. The play had a successful Danish premiere at Odense Theatre and in Copenhagen. Actress Birgitte Federspiel from the well-known Carl Th. Dreyer-film THE WORD played the role as Elisabeth. Carsten Brandt -- known for his passionate stagings and the filming of the Lars Norén Dramas--directed. German rights were sold recently to theatre publisher Autoren-Agentur in Frankfurt (now Pagasus-Verlag). In January 2001, the play was staged at the Russian Prokovka theatre under the direction of reputed Russian director Sergej Artsibashev. The lead part as Elisabeth is here played by Cannes-winning actress Ludmila Maxakova (tickets for THE DREAM in Moscow were sold out four months in advance and the play is still running in its fourth year). Finally, it will also be staged in Lodz and Prague . A filmed version of THE DREAM is planned for 2005/06 with Swiss-French Michel Rodde as director and the prize-winning photographer Göran Persson as photographer on location in Provence. Dalager’s latest drama, FAMILY NIGHT, will be staged at Helsingborg Stadsteater, Sweden, under the direction of prominent Swedish director Göran Stagertz, and in Copenhagen in the fall of 2005. In New York, Roger Simon will direct the play at prestigious The Players Club with the stars Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson in the leading roles, also it shall be staged at teatr Nowy in Lodz , Polen. With the upcoming celebration of H.C. Andersen’s 200-year anniversary, new interest in LORD AND SHADOW has arisen, and thus the German theatre Hamburger Kammerspiele has stated interest in staging the play in 2005, the British director Frank Dunlop plan to stage the play in New York starring British actor Tom Conti as Andersen and maybe American actor Harvey Keitel as The shadow, several other international theatres are going to follow as in Rome, Warsaw, Stockholm, Moscow, Peking and Rio . A pros pos, Dalager has just published his new novel with great success in Denmark entitled Rejsen (JOURNEY IN BLUE/Reise in Blau) ) about H.C. Andersen, which is being translated into French (for the leading publisher Actes Sud) , English, German, Tjeck, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Russian and Chinese in connection with the 200 international celebration of H.C.Andersens birthday in 2005.. Danish agents Theatre-agent |
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