Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland: Three Crowns and a Republic - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 157

SHAKESPEARE HAD IT WRONG: WHAT COULD BE ROTTEN IN DENMARK?
Unlike Norway, Viking memories in Denmark are confined almost exclusively to mu-
seums. Population density is one way of comparing countries. The more than 5.5 million
Danes crowd together in a country roughly the size of Switzerland. Their major population
centers are on the Jutland peninsula and on three of their largest islands, Sjaelland, Funen,
and Fyn (home to Copenhagen). Eight-five percent of Danes are urban dwellers. (greater
Copenhagen's population is around 1.5 million.) In contrast to Norway, the countryside
in Denmark is fertile. Fifty-seven percent of the land is arable, and Danish agriculture is
highly productive. Eggs, butter, cream, ham, and bacon are traditional Danish exports, but
in recent years Danish farmers have been struggling against the export regulations of their
European neighbors. Denmark, meanwhile, has invested in electronics and in household
items of striking, modern design. (Ironically for Danes, the design is often referred to as
Swedish modern.) The export of Danish design is worldwide; architecturally, its signature
piece is probably the opera house in Sydney, Australia. Its huge roof, suggesting sails loft-
ing, is the design of Jorn Utzon.
Perhaps consumption of alcohol is too fanciful a way of comparing countries and prob-
ing national outlook. Still, these statistics are suggestive. On average, each Norwegian
drinks 4.4 liters of alcohol per year, while Danes consume 10.9 liters.
Like other aspects of beauty, the quality of urban esthetics lies very much in the eyes
of the beholder. Again, and if not too fanciful, a stroll through Oslo and Copenhagen offers
interesting comparisons. Oslo's great park is the magnificent Frogner, whose statues re-
cord the ages and stages of man's life. Their sculptor is Gustav Viegland (1869-1943), who
devoted his life to expressing with hammer and chisel the sorrows and joys, the pain and
pleasures of living. The beauty of classical proportions governs his statues, but so do the
distortions expressing fear, loneliness, angst , and anomie. Photographs of Viegland suggest
a person in command of himself and satisfied with his command. But his biography sug-
gests a man forever fleeing his childhood. He was, he says, psychologically scarred by a
violent father given to explosions of religious guilt. Gustav cannot forget being awakened
at night for a beating. It was Good Friday and, as his father shouted, even children were
expected to suffer on that day.
Gustav aside, most Norwegians are far from angst-ridden and dour. Their warmth
and friendliness to strangers is enviable. And yet, in contemplating Viegland's statues, the
viewer is tempted toward the shadow of another Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch, whose
painting in 1893, The Scream , is widely regarded as the signature of the twentieth century.
The great park in the center of Copenhagen is Tivoli. Opened as a business enterprise
in 1843 and still in corporate hands, Tivoli is a vast flowerbed, an amusement center, an
assemblage of restaurants, and boasts outdoor concerts, variety shows, and thousands of
twinkling lights. Tivoli is summer's enchanted garden. Each year, more than a million vis-
itors (Danes and outlanders) throng the park. Fireworks are part of the nightly spectacle;