Jacobine Camilla Collett (née Wergeland; 23 January 1813 – 6 March 1895) was a Norwegian writer, often referred to as the first Norwegian
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
. She was also the younger sister of Norwegian poet
Henrik Wergeland, and is recognized as being one of the first contributors to
realism in
Norwegian literature. Her younger brother was
Major General Joseph Frantz Oscar Wergeland. She became an honorary member of the
Norwegian Association for Women's Rights
The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's rights, women's and girls' rights organization that works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights through political reform, ...
when the association was founded in 1884.
Life
Camilla was born in
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
, Norway,
the daughter of
Nicolai Wergeland, a noted theologian, politician, and composer in his time, and Alette née Thaulow. Her brother, was the writer
Henrik Wergeland.
When Camilla was four, her family moved to
Eidsvoll
Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the munic ...
, where her father was made parish priest.
Camilla grew up in a literary family, and she became a young diarist,
in part because she found life in Eidsvoll dull. She spent most of her teenage years at a finishing school in
Christiansfeld in Denmark.
During a visit to
Kristiania
Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...
she met and fell in love with the poet
Johan Sebastian Welhaven, who was also her brother Henrik's literary nemesis.
Relations between the three were complicated and in time became legendary in Norwegian
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
. Collett was philosophically aligned with the Welhaven side of the debate, and her relationship with her brother may have been uneasy for some time. But there are indications that Camilla carried some resentment toward her father and brother over their opposition to her relationship with Welhaven. She also suffered from health problems during, and in the summer of 1834 her father took her to Paris to regain strength and recover her health.
In any event, her relationship with Welhaven eventually ended, and in 1841 she married
Peter Jonas Collett,
a prominent politician, literary critic, and member of the ''
Intelligenspartiet'' (the Intelligence party). It was by all accounts a marriage born out of love and he was a supportive and understanding husband with whom Camilla could discuss any topic. She started writing for publication after she married Collett.
Her most famous work is her only novel, ''
Amtmandens Døtre'' (The District Governor's Daughters)
which was published anonymously in two separate parts in 1854 and 1855.
The book is considered one of the first political and
social realism
Social realism is work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, filmmakers and some musicians that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures ...
novels in Norway and deals with the difficulties of being a woman in a patriarchical society in general and
forced marriage
Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...
s specifically. It is believed that her personal experiences in life, specifically her relationship with Welhaven, influenced the book.
After this book, she wrote very little fiction,
but did continue to write essays, polemics, and her memoirs.
Her literary models included female writers such as
Rahel Varnhagen and
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...
, as well as
Edward Bulwer-Lytton and
Theodor Mundt. Her style represented a departure from her contemporaries, in that she preferred a more casual, natural tone.
In 1851, after ten years of marriage, her husband died suddenly.
This left Camilla to raise four young sons.
She was forced to sell her house and never managed to buy a new one again. Her three eldest sons were sent to be raised by relatives. She struggled with personal financial problems for the rest of her life. She died in Kristiania (
Oslo
Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
) on 6 March 1895.
Writing style and influences
Collett was raised in a house that admired the works of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...
, which would be a major influence on both Collett and her brother, Nicolai. At the beginning of writing ''Amtmandens Døtre'', she found inspiration from
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...
, though she felt Sand's ideas were too radical. In the novel, she discusses how young women and girls are deprived of training and education that will encourage them better life success, but she does not argue that women should pursue life and success independent of being married. Collett suggests that for the four daughters, marriage based on love and respect is the ultimate opportunity for a successful life. The book is considered to be "sharply critical" of the concepts of forced marriage and marriage that takes place for the sake of social conventions and popularity. She supports the idea of romantic love, and the freedom of women to make their own relationship choice(s), through personal emancipation.
The older Collett got, the more radical her own views became, becoming increasingly
polemic
Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...
. She supported social and political change to further women's roles in society, and the articles that she published were published anonymously, but eventually published in a book of collected works. A stigma was attached to the idea of a woman writing the content and sharing the ideas she shared publicly, and this affected her career and her emotional state. Collett channeled this frustration into her writing, where she often examined that stigma. After the writing of ''Amtmandens Døtre'', she focused largely on reviews and essays about literature, many of which solidified Collett as the first feminist literary critic in Norway. In these essays and opinion pieces, she declared the need for a new image for women and discarded the idea of women being reticent, and self-sacrificing in their lives.
Her work was cited by her contemporaries such as
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
.
Bibliography
A statue of Camilla Collett by in Oslo">Gustav Vigeland in Oslo
*''Amtmandens Døtre'' (novel) 1854–55
(reviewed editions: 1860, 1879)
*''Fortællinger'' (short prose) 1860
*''I de lange Nætter'' (diary) 1862
*''Sidste Blade I–III'' (articles) 1868–73
*''Fra de Stummes Leir'' (articles) 1877
*''Mod Strømmen I–II'' (articles) 1879–85
*''Skrifter I–X'' (collection of works) 1892–93
*''Dagbøker og breve'' (with Peter Jonas Collett) 1926–34
References
External links
Digitized books and manuscripts by Collettin the
National Library of Norway
Short biography on hivolda.no link to all her works, at UiO.noThe family tree of Camilla Collett om Geni.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collett, Camilla
Norwegian novelists
Norwegian women's rights activists
1813 births
1895 deaths
Norwegian feminists
Norwegian women novelists
Writers from Kristiansand
Camilla
19th-century Norwegian writers
19th-century Norwegian women writers
Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people
Wergeland family
Norwegian feminist writers