Catharina Rosaura "Rosa" Carlén (9 May 1836 – 12 February 1883) was a Swedish novelist, best remembered for ''Agnes Tell: en äktenskaps-historia'' (1861), ''Tuva'' (1862), ''Brölloppet i Bränna: en brottmålshistoria'' (1863), and ''Helène: en qvinnas historia'' (1863).

Life and work

Catharina Rosaura Carlén was born at Lerdalsstom in present Färgelanda Municipality, the child of the Swedish writer

Emilie Flygare-Carlén Emilie Flygare-Carlén (''née'' Smith; August 8, 1807February 5, 1892) was a Swedish people, Swedish novelist. Biography Emilie Smith was born in Strömstad and grew up in the archipelago of Bohuslän. Her father, Rutger Smith, was a retired se ...

(1807–1892) and the lawyer Jacob Reinhold Dalin (1799–1835), although her father died of gangrene before they had time to marry. Through her father, Rosa Carlén belonged to the Ingevald family. The father was described as "a highly idiosyncratic personality, brilliant, fiery, eccentric and melancholy," and came to have a decisive influence on his fiancée's writing and was the one who encouraged her to start writing. The year after Rosa Carlén's birth, she was adopted by her father's childless relatives, Jonas Bågenholm (1803–1864) and his wife Andriette Charlotta Ekelund (1808–1889), who lived on the farm Onsön in Dals-Ed. Carlén's education in

Åmål Åmål () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Åmål Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 9,065 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated on the western shore of Vänern. In 2005 Åmål received second prize in the in ...

was financed by her mother and the two lived together in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

during the years 1853–1855. Rosa Carlén wrote several successful novels making her writing debut in 1861 with ''Agnes Tell''. Thereafter, using the pseudonym "author of Agnes Tell," she published the novel ''Bröllopet i Bränna'', which inspired a 1926 film directed by Erik A. Petschler. Most of her books were favorably received and translated into Danish and German. However, her career was brief. In eleven years (1861–1873) she published eight books, seven novels and one collection of short stories.

Personal life

In 1856, Rosa Carlén married the district governor, Swedish jurist and member of parliament, Richard Carlén (1821–1873). After her husband's death, Rosa Carlén stopped writing and returned to her home town in Dalsland, where she died in 1883. They are buried at the

Norra begravningsplatsen Norra begravningsplatsen, literally "The Northern Burial Place" in Swedish, is a major cemetery of the Stockholm urban area, located in Solna Municipality. Inaugurated on 9 June 1827, it is the burial site for a number of Swedish notables. Th ...

outside Stockholm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlén, Rosa 1836 births 1883 deaths Swedish novelists Writers from Västra Götaland County 19th-century Swedish novelists Swedish women novelists People from Färgelanda Municipality Burials at Norra begravningsplatsen