Villy Sørensen's linguistic subtlety and sharp intellect have earned him a prominent place among the top Danish authors of the twentieth century. His absurd, modernistic parables and fantastic tales--translated into many languages--invoke the works of Hans Christian Andersen and Karen Blixen. The stories are "strange"--they break with realism in order to follow a specific, unusual logic. As with the works of Andersen, clichés gain new meaning through the slightest twists, and as with the writings of Søren Kierkegaard, irony makes the text ambiguous and yet revealing, coaxing the reader to take a position.

In a 1969 interview with Ninka og Bendix, Sørensen said, "Jeg kommer altid i forlegenhed, når jeg skal angive min stilling. Filosofferne vil jo i hvert fald ikke kalde mig filosof, men måske nok digter. Mens nogle litterater måske næ...