The Condition of Secrecy: Essays

English readers are treated to a quality translation of essays from Christensen (1935–2009), featuring literary criticism, meditations, and autobiography, all in the Danish poet and novelist’s whimsical style. In the first essay, “Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity in the Summerhouse,” Christensen beautifully recalls her “first aesthetic experiences”—the sights and sounds of summer in Denmark—which serves to introduce one of the book’s central themes: the relationship of the individual to experience and nature. In “Interplay,” she ponders what it means to see the world from a child’s eyes, recalling, “When I was nine years old, the world too was 9 years old... earth and body as like as two pennies,” and concludes that “the physical world and the inner world are one, indivisible.” In “The Dream of the City,” she considers this thematic preoccupation, asking, “Why write about nature at all, when most people live in cities?” Christensen is at her most intriguing when posing questions, as when she wonders, “Does art originate from the same necessity that gives rise to beehives, the songs of larks, and the dances of cranes?” and asking whether it is possible to write poetry that is compelling if read “out loud to a cockroach?” These borderline silly yet profoundly imaginative questions make for a thought-provoking reading experience. (Nov.)