Henningfeld is a professor of English literature and composition who has written widely for educational and academic publishers. In this essay, Henningfeld considers Smilla's Sense of Snow as a postmodern epic.

In an article for Scandinavian Studies, Hans Henrik Møller considers Peter Høeg's work, arguing that it is a "pastiche." According to the writer, pastiche comes from the Italian word for leftovers recombined into a pie. He argues that "pastiche is a radical illustration of the precept that there is nothing new under the sun." Certainly, Smilla's Sense of Snow fits this description: part suspense thriller, part philosophical treatise, part science fiction story, part psychological study, part postcolonial political novel, the novel does not slip easily into classification. Møller further argues, "Pastiche binds Peter Høeg's writing to the literary past: his books and stories are replete with traces of...