K. L. Aastrup – en nordisk salmedigter og -gendigter

Abstract

The article analyzes the translations of hymns by the Danish hymnwriter K.L. Aastrup (1899–1980). After an introduction to Aastrup and his distinct poetics and theology, it focuses on his translations or reworkings of Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Biblical Hymns and the translations of his hymns in the present Swedish and Norwegian hymnbooks. The article closes with a view on the canonization process of Aastrup’s hymns in the Danish hymnbook. Emphasis in the article is on how Aastrup’s own theology is put into his translation and how his originality is preserved in the used translations. This is shown through synoptic quotations of original and translation. The article also presents hitherto unknown material: Aastrup’s first unofficial hymnal, two original letters and a transcription of his last written hymn from the manuscript.