Peter Laugesen (born 5 March 1942 in Copenhagen) is a Danish poet and playwright and was member of the Situationist International. Peter Laugesen lives in Aarhus and he graduated from Aarhus Cathedral School in 1961 and trained as a typographer. He became a member of the Situationist International in 1962. He was attracted by the writing of Ivan Chtcheglov and contacted Jeppesen Victor Martin and participated in a Situationist exhibition in Denmark. He was then invited to France where he met Guy Debord and

Michèle Bernstein Michèle Bernstein (born 28 April 1932) is a French novelist and critic, most often remembered as a member of the Situationist International from its foundation in 1957 until 1967, and as the first wife of its most prominent member, Guy Debord. ...

and was attracted to the

dérive The ''dérive'' (, "drift") is a revolutionary strategy originally put forward in the "Theory of the Dérive" (1956) by Guy Debord, a member at the time of the Letterist International. Debord defines the ''dérive'' as "a mode of experimental ...

as a poetic practice. He was also influenced by

Alexander Trocchi Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi ( ; 30 July 1925 – 15 April 1984) was a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist. Early life and career Trocchi was born in Glasgow to Alfred (formerly Alfredo) Trocchi, a music-hall performer of I ...

and his book '' Cain's Book''. He was expelled in 1963. situationist international archive
chronology : 1963 November 12. Exclusion of Peter Laugesen, Scandinavian section. because he refused to give up poetic practice. It was only later that he met

Jørgen Nash Jørgen Nash (March 16, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was a Danish artist, writer and central proponent of Situationism. Life He was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark, baptized Jørgen Axel Jørgensen, the brother of Asger Jorn. He later changed hi ...

with whom he became good friends. He published his first collection of poems, ''Landscape'', in 1967. In 1992, Peter Laugesen received the

Grand Prize of the Danish Academy The Grand Prize of the Danish Academy, founded in 1961, is the most notable of Denmark's literature prizes and awards. It is awarded by the Danish Academy. Until 1982, it was handed yearly, but since then it has been given every second year. The fir ...

. In 2003 he was awarded the Danish Critics Prize for Literature (Kritikerprisen). Since 1997 he has been a member of the

Danish Academy Danish Academy is an independent organisation founded in 1960 by a circle of Danish intellectuals "to promote Danish esprit and language, especially within the field of literature". It has up to 20 members, currently 18, and is based at Rungstedl ...

. Laugesen has performed and released CDs with ''Mind Spray'', ''Sing Vogel'' and ''Christian Vuust''. He also contributes media and social commentary, in particular for ''Dagbladet Information''. For many years Peter Laugesen collaborated with the author

Dan Turèll Dan Turèll (March 19, 1946 – October 15, 1993), affectionately nicknamed "Onkel Danny" (''Uncle Danny''), was a popular Danish writer with notable influence on Danish literature. Influenced by the Beat Generation his work crossed a number of ...

who at one time lived next door. They subsequently continued their intense dialogue by letter, and also produced joint publications. In 1969, they participated both at Hindsgavl seminar in 1969 with Kristen Bjorn Kjaer, who also took part in joint publishing projects Bardo. Some of the texts from Hindsgavl seminar is preserved in a small folder. In addition, the two double-bonded by the Font that is an art book, rather than a collection of texts. Peter Laugesen has a humble, anarchistic approach to writing practice, with deep roots in Beat poetry, inspired by writers like

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, Jack Kerouac and

William Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

: the beautiful and the ugly cannot be separated but are interdependent. Peter Laugesen has applied his language skills to translation e.g. '' Tender Buttons'' by

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

. He found this harder than translating

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bod ...

'' which he has been working on for over twenty years. He has also translated

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German-Danish painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of th ...

and Arthur Köpcke. In 1999 he translated

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure of ...

' ''Hymns to the night'' which Henry Sartou dramatized for Miss Anne Theatre. Peter Laugesen has been a member of the committee which nominates Danish writers for the annual Nordic Council Literature Prize for several years. He was co-editor of the journal ''Tumor''. He sits in the Odin Theatre's board of directors.

Poetry

Quote from a commemorative poem from ''Pjaltetider'', Borgen (1997): :''Words that came creeping up around the wall '' :''as tropical insects, full of new meaning '' :''and yet are not significantly different from, '' :''what Simon and Sperling wrote about football and dreams. '' :''It was the same, just the same, always the same '' :''and it is still the same.'' :''Poetry so should be as specific as it is far ...'' * ''Dobbeltskrift'' (English: ''Double Writing''), 1973 - with Dan Turèll * ''Digte m. m.'' (English: ''Poems and more''), 1973 - with Dan Turèll, Jens Smærup Sørensen, & Henning Mortensen

References

External links

Peter Laugesen "Walking Provides Inner Peace" in conversation with Christian Lund for the Louisiana channel.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and cont ...

.
Peter Laugesen Biography AarhusWiki (In Danish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laugesen, Peter 1946 births Danish male poets People from Aarhus Living people Recipients of the Grand Prize of the Danish Academy 20th-century Danish poets 20th-century Danish male writers Situationists