Kjeld Abell’s Den blå pekingeser: Introduction and Translation

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This is the first English translation of Kjeld Abell’s Den blå pekingeser [The Blue Pekinese], which was first published and performed in 1954. The introduction is a reprint of an entry on Kjeld Abell by the translator, originally published in volume 214 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography (1999). The play is in two parts, indicated by the fall of the curtain at the end of act 1. Although there are eleven characters, almost the entire play takes place in the mind of André, who enters the Café Bern at the beginning and leaves it with his wife Marianne before the final curtain. With its virtuosic use of theatre space and a unique soundscape, Den blå pekingeser remains a classic of modern Danish drama.