Andersen-Nexo was one of the great proletariat writers of this century. He grew up in poverty in Denmark and raised social concsciousness by the depiction of the oppressed life of the poor in his novels. Pelle The Conqueror is his masterpiece. The first of four volumes describes how young Pelle and his father leave Skåne (in Sweden) to work as tenent farmers in rural Denmark. The film based on this novel, directed by Bille August, won the Palme d'or at Cannes and the Oscar for Best foreign film in 1988. The film is masterfull (not necessarily the dubbed version). However similar to Angela's Ashes, I felt that the film medium stressed the brutal realities of the horrors of poverty much more strongly than the book. In the book, the theme of survival and conquering all obstacles leaves a much more positive impression. In any case, Pelle is definitely a boy worth knowing!
