Ida Brandt

W. Glyn Jones’ masterful translation allows us to read in English for the first time one of the neglected classics of Scandinavian Literature. Ida Brandt is the classic outsider. Not acceptable to the Danish aristocratic circle she was brought up around and too moneyed for her nursing colleagues at the hospital. She is good looking and gentle, generous and kind and her trusting nature is betrayed by the people around her. Herman Bang takes us into Ida’s world, he does not comment, let alone criticise and leaves the reader to judge. AUTHOR: Herman Bang (1857-1912) was from an aristocratic Danish family. His homosexuality led to a smear campaign against him and his exclusion from Danish literary circles. He worked as a theatre producer and as a journalist, having first tried unsuccessfully to be an actor. His first novel Families Without Hope was banned for obscenity. He specialised in novels about isolated female characters. W. Glyn Jones taught at various universities in England and Scandinavia before becoming Professor of Scandinavian Studies at Newcastle and then at the University of East Anglia. W Glyn Jones’ many translations from Danish include Seneca by Villy Sorensen and for Dedalus The Black Cauldron, The Lost Musicians, Windswept Dawn, The Good Hope and Mother Pleiades by William Heinesen, Ida Brandt by Herman Bang and My Fairy-Tale Life by Hans Christian Andersen.