Pages
36
Files
Download Full Text (11.0 MB)
SJSU Faculty Member
Karl Toepfer
Description
This essay discusses how four modernist poets portrayed the Danish movie star Asta Nilesen (1881-1972). German Hans Schiebelhuth (1895-1944) describes the "demonic" power of Nielsen's image to awaken dark aspects of his adolscent personality. For the Flemish poet Paul van Ostaijen (1896-1928), Nielsen's cinematic image provokes a radical shattering of language into extravagant "word-images." Danish writer Rudolf Broby-Johansen (1900-1987) linked Nielsen's image to a radical (Marxist) critique of oppressive sexual politics within a capitalist society. German Franz Behrens (1895-1977) composed a lengthy, expressionist ode to Nielsen from the perspective of one who actually worked as a screenwriter in the German film industry, including scenarios for Nielsen.
Publication Date
2025
Document Type
Article
Publisher
Vosuri Media
City
San Francisco
Keywords
Asta Nielsen, Franz Behrens, Hans Schiebelhuth, Paul Van Ostaijen, Rudolf Broby-Johansen, European Silent Films, Modernist Poetry, Cinema and Poetry
Disciplines
Comparative Literature | Creative Writing | Dutch Studies | European Languages and Societies | Film and Media Studies | German Language and Literature | Language Interpretation and Translation | Modern Literature | Poetry | Scandinavian Studies
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
Recommended Citation
Toepfer, Karl E., "Words and Stardom: Modernist Poetic Responses to Asta Nielsen" (2025). Open Educational Resources. 24.
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/oer/24
Included in
Comparative Literature Commons, Dutch Studies Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, German Language and Literature Commons, Language Interpretation and Translation Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Poetry Commons, Scandinavian Studies Commons
