Camilla Collett facts for kids
Jacobine Camilla Collett (born Wergeland; January 23, 1813 – March 6, 1895) was a Norwegian writer. Many people call her the first Norwegian feminist, meaning she was a pioneer for women's rights. She was also the younger sister of the famous Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland. Camilla Collett is known for being one of the first writers to use realism in Norwegian literature, showing life as it truly was. Her younger brother was Major General Joseph Frantz Oscar Wergeland. In 1884, she became an honorary member of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights when it was started.
Her Life Story
Camilla was born in Kristiansand, Norway. Her father, Nicolai Wergeland, was a well-known thinker, politician, and musician. Her mother was Alette Thaulow. Her brother was the writer Henrik Wergeland. When Camilla was four, her family moved to Eidsvoll, where her father became a local priest. Camilla grew up in a family that loved books and writing. She started keeping a diary when she was young, partly because she found life in Eidsvoll a bit boring. She spent most of her teenage years at a special school for young ladies in Christiansfeld, Denmark.
During a visit to Kristiania (now Oslo), she met and fell in love with the poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven. He was also her brother Henrik's rival in writing. The relationships between Camilla, Henrik, and Welhaven were complicated and became famous in Norwegian Romanticism. Camilla agreed more with Welhaven's ideas. Her relationship with her brother might have been difficult for a while. There are signs that Camilla felt some anger towards her father and brother because they didn't approve of her relationship with Welhaven. She also had some health problems. In the summer of 1834, her father took her to Paris to help her get stronger and feel better.
Eventually, her relationship with Welhaven ended. In 1841, she married Peter Jonas Collett. He was an important politician, a critic of books, and a member of the Intelligence Party. Their marriage was full of love. Peter was a supportive husband who understood Camilla and with whom she could talk about anything. She began writing for publication after she married him.
Her most famous work is her only novel, The District Governor's Daughters. It was published without her name on it in two parts, in 1854 and 1855. This book is seen as one of the first political and social realism novels in Norway. It talks about the challenges women faced in a society where men had most of the power. It especially focused on marriages arranged by families, not always based on love. People believe that her own life experiences, especially her relationship with Welhaven, influenced the book. After this novel, she wrote very little fiction. However, she continued to write essays, strong arguments, and stories about her own life.
She looked up to other female writers like Rahel Varnhagen and George Sand. She also admired Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Theodor Mundt. Her writing style was different from others at the time. She preferred a more relaxed and natural way of writing.
In 1851, after ten years of marriage, her husband died suddenly. Camilla was left to raise four young sons. She had to sell her house and never bought another one. Her three oldest sons were sent to live with relatives. She struggled with money problems for the rest of her life. She passed away in Kristiania (Oslo) on March 6, 1895.
Her Writing Style and Ideas
Camilla Collett grew up in a home that admired the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a famous writer. His ideas greatly influenced both Camilla and her brother, Nicolai. When she started writing The District Governor's Daughters, she found inspiration from George Sand. However, she felt some of Sand's ideas were too extreme. In her novel, Camilla discusses how young women and girls didn't get enough training or education to help them succeed in life. But she didn't argue that women should live and succeed completely on their own, without getting married. Collett suggested that for the four daughters in her book, marriage based on love and respect was the best chance for a happy life. The book is considered "very critical" of marriages that were forced or happened just for social reasons and popularity. She supported the idea of true love and women's freedom to choose their own relationships, through their own independence.
As Collett got older, her own views became more direct and strong. She supported social and political changes to give women bigger roles in society. The articles she published were often anonymous at first. Later, they were collected and published in a book. There was a negative feeling or shame attached to a woman writing and sharing the ideas she did in public. This affected her career and how she felt emotionally. Collett used this frustration in her writing, where she often explored that very issue. After writing The District Governor's Daughters, she mostly focused on reviews and essays about literature. Many of these writings made Collett known as the first feminist literary critic in Norway. In these essays and opinion pieces, she declared that women needed a new image. She rejected the idea of women being quiet and always putting others first in their lives.
Her work was mentioned by other writers of her time, like Henrik Ibsen.
See also
In Spanish: Camilla Collett para niños
