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Sunday, December 28, 2008

Amalie Skram

Bergen has its share of statues. As usual they depict politicians and various cultural personalities, most commonly men. One of the few made to commemorate a woman is this one of the female writer Amalie Skram. Wikipedia describes her literary life like this:

In 1882 Amalie Skram debuted under the name Amalie Mueller with Madam Høiers Leiefolk. Her work continued until her death. She dealt with topics she knew well.

Her work can be divided into three categories:

  • Novels concerning marriage, which explored taboo topics such a female sexuality, and the subservient status of women in that period. These works was received by many as overly provocative and resulted in open hostility from some segments of society.
  • Multi-generation novels, which dealt with the fate of a family over several generations. With these she explored the social institutions and conditions of the time and campaigned for change.
  • Mental hospital works such as Prof Hieronimus and Paa St. Jørgen, which deal with the primitive and brutal conditions of such institutions of the period. Her novels created a major stir in Denmark and precipitated improvements in these institutions.

She is recognized as one of the early and strong proponents of what has come to be known as the women's movement, setting the early European early trend. Her works, which had been generally forgotten with her death, were rediscovered and received strong recognition in the 1960s. Several of her works are currently available in recent translations to English.

The Statue was made by the female sculptor Maja Refsum in 1949 and is placed at "Klosteret" on "Nordnes" in Bergen

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