Victoria Benedictsson

Victoria Benedictsson

Victoria Maria Benedictsson , b. Bruzelius (born March 6, 1850 on the Domme estate ( Skåne ), † June 21, 1888 in Copenhagen ) was a Swedish writer .

Life

Benedictsson came from a conservative pastor family, which they forced into a marriage of convenience. Although she had dreamed of a career as an artist, she had to marry an unloved man more than twice her age, to whom she had two children and who also conscientiously took care of the house and upbringing in Hörby in the south of Sweden . After a protracted leg illness that confined her to bed and left her time for her studies, as well as under the influence of a free-spirited American who was a family friend, she gradually broke away from her traditional conservative beliefs.

The first publications were published under the pseudonym Tardif and were entirely under the influence of Axel Lundegård , the son of the pastor of Hörby. With her collection of stories from Skåne , published under the name Ernst Ahlgren , she celebrated her first great literary success. This was followed by the novel Geld , which was largely autobiographical and addressed the problem of modern women, the gender problem and emancipation , and which became her greatest success. In 1885 in Copenhagen she met Georg Brandes, who was admired at the time, and his circle. She then stayed for a few months in Stockholm , where she became acquainted with the writers of “Young Sweden” and made a name for herself in the literary salons there .

In 1886 she went back to Copenhagen, where she fell in love with the admired scholar Georg Brandes. But it was only used by the married man. She published the novel Frau Marianne , which again dealt with marital problems. When this was judged very negatively by Brandes, Benedictsson fell into a deep crisis. After severe depression , she made her first suicide attempt in January 1888 . Axel Lundegaard, her sponsor, was able to straighten her up for a short time. She received a scholarship from the Swedish Academy and was able to travel to Paris for some time. But since she no longer had a literary goal in mind and could not free herself from her unhappy love for Brandes, she committed suicide in June 1888 in a Copenhagen hotel.

Axel Lundegaard published her estate, published a seven-volume work edition and wrote a biography of the writer. Victoria Benedictsson is generally regarded as the most important author of Swedish modernism after August Strindberg . Her life as a woman in a time of upheaval has repeatedly attracted the interest of scientists, journalists and women's research. Her work has received little attention in the German-speaking world, and only a few translations exist.

Works

• Från Skåne , novellas 1884
• Pengar , Roman 1885 (German money, 1890)
• Money: Roman , Zug: Achius, 2003, ISBN 3-905351-03-X
• Final , drama 1885
• Fru Marianne , Roman 1886 (German Mrs. Marianne, 1897), film adaptation Sweden 2000 (TV)
• Folklif och smaberättelser , Stories 1887
• Teorier , comedy 1887
• Dicter , 1888
• Den bergtagna , drama 1888
• Modern , novel
• Samlade Skrifter av Ernst Ahlgren , Works, 7 vols., 1918-20
• Out of the dark, narrative, German 1911
• Cedergren is having dinner today. A picture from Swedish student life, German 1912
• Mr. Tobiasson. A Stockholm Christmas story, German 1912
• After the market day and fine people. Two stories, 1913
• Comrades, narration, German 1924
• Criminal blood, narrative, German 1998

literature

• Fredrik Böök: Victoria Benedictsson and Georg Brandes . Norstedt, Stockholm 1950.
• Charlotte Jørgensen: Ernst and Victoria . Munksgaard-Rosinante, Copenhagen 1996, ISBN 87-16-16027-4 .
• Ingrid von Schultén: Ernst Ahlgren . Söderström, Helsingförs 1925.
• Corinna Vonhoegen: Opening up the white to let the black come out: on writing in the drama of Victoria Benedictssons and Cecilie Løveids. Lang, Frankfurt a. M. 1996, ISBN 3-631-30494-3 .
• Ellen Key: The fate of three women . S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin 1908.

Web links

Commons : Victoria Benedictsson  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Victoria Benedictsson in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biographical and literary portrait of Victoria Benedictssons