Helsingør - in Fiction and Popular Culture

In Fiction and Popular Culture

  • William Shakespeare's play Hamlet takes place at Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, from whence the English spelling "Elsinore" derived.
  • In the 1983 comedy Strange Brew, which is loosely based on Hamlet, the protagonists are given jobs at Elsinore Brewery.
  • In Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin series, Helsingør fires mortar shells at the heroes in book seven, The Surgeon's Mate, as they sail past on their way to a rendezvous in the Baltic.
  • In Philip Roth's second Chapter of his novel Our Gang ('71), Trick E. Dixon in a fictive speech tries to claim Helsingør as US-territory and tries to convince the audience to occupy the area
  • In Bret Easton Ellis's novel Lunar Park the street on which the character Bret Easton Ellis lives with his own father-son haunting issues is named Helsingør Lane.
  • Several stories written by the Danish author Karen Blixen (or Isak Dinesen) take place in Helsingør, including "The Supper at Elsinore " in her first published volume of stories, Seven Gothic Tales.
  • A well-known poem by the Portuguese surrealist poet Mário Cesariny is named "You are welcome to Helsingør".
  • Children's author Richard Scarry depicted Helsingør as "A Castle in Denmark" in the book Busy, Busy World.
  • The indie rock band The Essex Green recorded a song titled "Elsinore" for their 2006 album Cannibal Sea.

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