Minna Skafte Jensen (born 19 May 1937) is a Danish philologist.

Career

She was born in Ryde as a daughter of priest Ankiær Hareskov (1903–44) and politician Meta Hjemdal (1912–2005). Spurned by her mother, she commenced studies of

classical philology Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

in 1956. She spent one semester at the

University of Lund Lund University () is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the ...

, before graduating with the cand.mag. degree in 1963. She then studied the Greek epic tradition in Copenhagen, Glasgow and Cambridge to graduate with the thesis ''Hovedlinier i de sidste årtiers Homerforskning'', a study of the modern research on

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

. She was a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen from 1969. From 1974 she had a research grant to work with Androkli Kostallari and the

Academy of Sciences of Albania The Academy of Sciences of Albania (), founded in 1972, is the most important scientific institution in Albania. In the 1980s, several research institutes began at the University of Tirana were transferred to the Academy's jurisdiction. The ins ...

. Following her doctoral dissertation ''The Homeric Question and the Oral-Formulaic Theory'', she gradually established herself among the world's leading Homeric researchers. She became the first female professor in classical philology in Denmark when assuming this position at the University of Odense in 1993. In general literary history, she contributed to the multi-volume works ''Dansk litteraturhistorie'' and ''Verdens litteraturhistorie'', also leading to the publishing of ''A History of Nordic Neo-Latin Literature'' (1995). She sat on the editorial board of the journals ''Oral Tradition'' and ''Classica et Mediaevalia''. She was inducted into the Danish Academy of Science and the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

Personal life

Politically, Minna Skafte Jensen aligned with

communist Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, () was the Marxist-Leninist state that existed in Albania from 10 January 1946 to the 29 April 1991. Originally founded as the People's Republic of Albania from 1946 to 1976, it was governed by the Pa ...

after working there, and was a board member of the Denmark–Albania Friendship Society until its dissolution in 1991. She was a member of the Socialist People's Party in the early 1970s. She was then a sympathizer of the Communist Workers Party (founded in 1976) and ultimately a member from 1981 of the Communist Party of Denmark/Marxist–Leninists (founded 1978). From 1959 to 1973 she was married to Jørgen Skafte Jensen. They had two daughters in the 1960s, and she also had a son in 1974.

References

1937 births Living people 21st-century Danish philologists Classical philologists Homeric scholars University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Academic staff of the University of Southern Denmark Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Danish communists {{Denmark-scientist-stub