Amalie Skram

Biography

Berthe Amalie Alver was born in Bergen, Norway, the only daughter among five children of Mons Monsen Alver and Ingeborg Lovise Sivertsen. Her parents ran a small business that went bankrupt when she was 17. Her father emigrated to the United States to avoid imprisonment, leaving her mother with five children. Under pressure from her mother, Amalie married the older ship captain and mill owner Bernt Ulrik August Müller.

After thirteen years of marriage and two sons, she suffered a nervous breakdown partly due to his infidelity. Following several years in a mental hospital, she divorced Müller and moved with her sons Jacob and Ludvig to Kristiania (now Oslo), where she began writing and joined the bohemian community, including writers Arne Garborg and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. In 1884 she married Danish writer Asbjørn Oluf Erik Skram and moved to Copenhagen. They had a daughter, Ida Johanne.

Obligations as housewife, mother, and author, along with limited public acceptance of her radical work, led to another breakdown in 1894, after which she lived in a psychiatric hospital near Roskilde. Her second marriage was dissolved in 1900. She died in Copenhagen and was buried at Bispebjerg Cemetery.

Literary career

Amalie Skram debuted in 1882 with the short story 'Madam Høiers leiefolk' in the magazine Nyt Tidsskrift. An excerpt from her first novel, Constance Ring, appeared in Tilskueren in 1885. Her work falls into three categories: novels about marriage exploring female sexuality and women's subservient status, which provoked hostility; multi-generation novels examining social institutions and advocating change; and mental hospital works such as Professor Hieronimus and Paa St. Jørgen, which depicted primitive conditions and spurred improvements in Denmark.

She is recognized as an early proponent of the women's movement. Her works, largely forgotten after her death, were rediscovered and gained strong recognition in the 1960s. Several have recent English translations.

Legacy

The Amalie Skram prize, a travel stipend, has been awarded annually since 1994 to Norwegian authors addressing women's issues. A street in Copenhagen's Valby district, Amalie Skrams Allé, is named after her. A statue by Maja Refsum was unveiled at Convent Garden in Bergen in 1949. A bronze bust by Per Ung was installed at Bispebjerg Cemetery in 1996, and a marble bust by Ambrosia Tønnesen is in Bergen Public Library.

She was honored on a Norwegian postage stamp in 1996, and Amalie Skram Upper Secondary School bears her name. In recent years, her reputation has been affected by revelations of antisemitism in letters to her future husband Erik Skram, in which she made derogatory remarks about Jews. Erik Skram responded with disappointment, and she later expressed a wish to overcome her hatred.

Works

Her works include Madam Høiers leiefolk (1882), Constance Ring (1885), Karens Jul (1885), Lucie (1888), Fru Inés (1891), Forraadt (1892), the tetralogy Hellemyrsfolket comprising Sjur Gabriel (1887), To venner (1888), S.G. Myre (1890), and Afkom (1898), Børnefortellinger (1890), Kjærlighed i Nord og Syd (1891), the play Agnete (1893), Professor Hieronimus (1895), Paa St. Jørgen (1895), Mellom Slagene (1895), Sommer (1899), Julehelg (1900), and the unfinished Mennesker (1905).

Did You Know?

• Amalie Skram's father emigrated to the United States to avoid a prison term after the family business went bankrupt.
• In letters to Erik Skram, she used antisemitic slurs, but later wrote that she wanted to learn to erase her hate and love Jewish people.