Dan Turèll (March 19, 1946 – October 15, 1993), affectionately nicknamed " Danny" (English: Uncle Danny), was a popular Danish writer with notable influence on Danish literature. His work crossed a number of genres including autobiography, beat literature and crime fiction.
Turèll was born 19 March 1946 in Vangede on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Much of his works were partially autobiographical and inspired by his hometown, though is portrayal of Vesterbro is often considered romantic rather than realistic. His work often references themes Americanisation, drawing on the beat generation and the teachings of Donald Duck. Turèll published much of his material himself, especially early in his career. He wrote in both Danish and English and has been translated into Dutch, Estonian, French, German, Norwegian, Swedish and Serbian.
He died from esophageal cancer and is buried at Assistens Cemetery. On Sunday March 19, 2006, on what would have been his 60th birthday, part of the town square of Halmtorvet in the Kødbyen area of Copenhagen was named (English: 'Uncle Danny's Square') in his honour. The square Dan Turèlls Plads in his native Vangede was named for him on 9 March 2007.
Selected bibliography
Dan Turèll was a highly prolific writer, contributing to numerous anthologies within his time and collections of his works continued to be arranged after his death. In addition to his literary work, he wrote a vast number of articles and essays for newspapers and various magazines. As a result, the following bibliography is in no way complete. Danish literary critic and writer, Lars Bukdahl, said that Turèll "only lived to the age of 47, and it is as though he knew he had to hurry".
Cut-up literature
Changes of Light, 1970
Occult Confessions, 1970
Speed of Light, 1970. Opsvulmede byer i sigtekornet flagrende skud i bevidstheden (English: Inflated Cities in the Sight Fluttering Shots in the Consciousness), 1972. Sidste forestilling bevidstløse trancebilleder af eksploderende spejltricks igennem flyvende tidsmaskine af smeltende elektriske glasfotos (English: Last Performance of Unconscious Trance Images of Exploding Mirror Tricks through Flying Time Machine of Melting Electrical Glass Photos), 1972 Feuilleton 1: Faraway Signs (English: Serial 1: Faraway Signs), 1972 Feuilleton 2: Laser Time Switch (English: Serial 2: Laser Time Switch), 1972 Feuilleton 3: Filmen synker igennem Deres øjne (English: Serial 3: The Film Sinks Through Your Eyes), 1972 Feuilleton 4: The Edison Kinetogram (English: Serial 4: The Edison Kinetogram), 1972 Feuilleton 5: It's Just Another Whistle Stop (English: Serial 5: It's Just Another Whistle Stop), 1973 Feuilleton 6: Not Fade Away ... (English: Serial 6: Not Fade Away ...), 1973 Feuilleton 7: Deres kodeskrift under Dobbelt Sol (English: Serial 7: Your Cipher under Double Sun), 1973 Feuilleton 8: Strangers in the Night (English: Serial 8: Strangers in the Night), 1978
Novels
Dét døgn, da - (English: That Day, When -), 1992
The Murder Series
The so-called Mord-serie (English: Murder Series) consists of ten novels and two volumes of short stories in the "American" school of crime fiction, known from writers like Raymond Chandler. All twelve volumes follow the same protagonist, a nameless detective / reporter, a freelance writer for a fictitious Copenhagen newspaper, plainly called Bladet (English: The Paper). In each novel the protagonist is hurled into a new murder mystery, often along recurring characters, centrally among them Politiinspektør Ehlers (English: Inspector Ehlers). The stories are self contained, but settings, relations, and characters evolve as the series progress.
The series primarily takes place in an alternate version of the borough of Vesterbro in Copenhagen, which serves as a backdrop for considerably more criminal endeavours than real life will probably ever match. Also certain aspects of the city's geography has been altered. Certain streets lie differently, for instance.