Places and Non-Places in Klaus Rifbjerg's Work

For the first time Klaus Rifbjerg's diary Berlinerdage (1995) and other of his most important prose and lyric texts from different periods of his authorship are examined in the context of Marc Auge's theory of places and non-places in this paper. The analysis of Rifbjerg's texts focuses on the implicit presence of places and non-places. Reading Rifbjerg in context of Auge and Walter Benjamin's Berliner Kindheit um neunzehnhundert (final version 1938) opens up for a new research position; it proves Rifbjerg's considerable interest in German culture, and elucidates his opposition to 'supermodernity'. Places and non-places are palimpsests in Rifbjerg's texts about Berlin's and Copenhagen's urbanity. His texts focus on cultural continuity and historical foundation of modern life.