CAMILLA COLLETT: TRANSLATING WOMEN’S SILENCE IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY NORWAY by DONNA STOCKTON B.A., Summa cum laude, University of Colorado, 2001 M.A., University of Colorado, 2003 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Comparative Literature Graduate Program 2011 This thesis entitled: Camilla Collett: Translating Women’s Silence in Nineteenth Century Norway written by Donna Stockton has been approved for Comparative Literature Graduate Program ______________________________________ Professor J. E. Rivers _____________________________________ Professor Paul Gordon Date __________________ The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. iii Stockton, Donna (Ph.D., Comparative Literature) Camilla Collett: Translating Women’s Silence in Nineteenth Century Norway Thesis directed by Professor J. E. Rivers The Norwegian author and feminist, Camilla Collett (1813-1895), who is remembered as the most influential and controversial woman of her time in her own country, is little known in the English-speaking world. Had she written in one of Europe’s major languages, the quality of her literary production and her contribution to the rights of women would undoubtedly have brought her international recognition in her own lifetime. During her life, Collett was known as Scandinavia’s greatest prose stylist and was praised for her beauty of expression. At the same time, she was criticized for the discordant notes of discontentment that pulsated beneath the surface. The works that I translate and discuss here are representative of the wide scope of her genres, her gradual refinement of her ideas, and her stylistic evolution. The translations, along with my translation notes and textual analyses, provide a picture of how her views on the inequities women suffered were influenced by her life story, the revolutionary events taking place in Norway at the time, and the prevailing legal and social codes that restricted young women’s development into independent adults. Her writings from her years as an expatriate brought European thought and culture to readers in remote Norway. Her observations about the iv condition of women anticipate Pierre Bourdieu’s and Laura Mulvey’s theories in our time. Through Bourdieu’s discussion of the manner in which institutions serve to support male dominance, Mulvey’s analysis of male and female interactions, and my contextualization of late eighteenth and nineteenth-century literature and culture, I show how institutionalized male dominance affected Camilla Collett’s life and thought. Legal and social injustice faced by women in nineteenth-century Scandinavia and Europe is the central theme of her writings. For more than fifty years, Camilla Collett wrote about the subjugation of women and searched for ways to inspire women to become independent. For many years she waged a lonely battle, but her cause gained momentum in the last decades of her life. The rights and opportunities enjoyed by Norwegian women today are a testimony to her success. DEDICATION In memory of Bobby, and to Kari, Lisa, Rebekka, Aurora, and Katinka. Follow your dreams and be true to your ideals. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I thank my husband Dr. William Stockton, for his guidance and encouragement, as well as his emotional and practical support. I also thank my other family members for their engagement in my project. Thanks to everyone who has helped me during my journey from concept to completion, especially Dr. Charles Van Hook and Suzann Hart who kept me in good health, and Amanda Walker who formatted this document. I gratefully thank the American-Scandinavian Foundation for the King Olav V Award and the Royal Norwegian Consulate General for NORTANA travel grants to support my research and to enable me to attend academic conferences in Scandinavia. I thank NORTANA, too, for the use of the Bjørn Jensen apartment in Oslo. I am very grateful to generous benefactors of the University of Colorado who awarded me the Beatrice Udick Grant and the Edward P. Nolan Fellowship, in particular, Liesel Nolan. I also thank the Comparative Literature Program, the Graduate School, and UGGS at the University of Colorado, which have supported my work with grants to attend academic conferences and carry out research. I thank, too, the Society of Scandinavian Studies (SASS) for support to present my work at their annual conferences. Members of the academic community devoted to Scandinavian Studies have shown great interest in my Camilla Collett project, and I am grateful to those in SASS, NORTANA, and at the University of Oslo who have shared their insights and knowledge with me. Special thanks to Freddy Paulsen for his invaluable advice and important contributions to the “Kongsgaard” vii chapter. My thanks go to my professors at the University of Colorado who have encouraged me and contributed to my academic growth, among them Dr. Michael Du Plessis, Dr. Troy Storfjell, and Dr. Shirley Carnahan. I especially thank Dr. Tracey Sands for her contribution to and support of my studies of Scandinavian literature and culture during the last decade. I thank the members of my committee, Dr. Paul Gordon, Dr. Jill Heydt-Stevenson, Dr. Scot Douglass, and Dr. Rose Marie Oster for their advice and guidance. Finally, I give my deepest thanks to my reader, Dr. Nancy Mann, and my dissertation director, Dr. J. E. Rivers. Without them, this dissertation would not exist. viii CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Finding her Voice 15 Chapter 2 “Nogle Strikketøisbetragtninger” (“Some Reflections While Knitting”) 2.1 Translation 39 2.2 Translation Commentary 48 2.3 Textual Analysis 54 Chapter 3 “Kongsgaard” (“The Royal Estate”) 3.1 Translation 82 3.2 Translation Commentary 109 3.3 Textual Analysis 114 Chapter 4 “I de Lange Nætter” (In the Long Nights) 4.1 Translation 138 4.2 Translation Commentary 145 4.3 Textual Analysis 148 Chapter 5 En Undersøisk Debat (An Undersea Debate) 5.1 Translation 166 5.2 Translation Commentary 184 5.3 Textual Analysis 189 Chapter 6 “Om Kvinden og Hendes Stilling” (“On the Status of Women”) 6.1 Translation 207 6.2 Translation Commentary 212 6.3 Textual Analysis 215 Chapter 7 Fra De Stummes Leir (From the Encampment of the Mutes) 7.1 Translation 227 7.2 Translation Commentary 242 7.3 Textual Analysis 247 Conclusion 263 Bibliography Published Works by Camilla Collett, including Previous English Translations: 278 List of Works Cited 279 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Camilla Collett: Gustav Vigeland, 1911 Photo: Rebekka Westgaard, 2010 1 2. “Nogle Strikketøisbetragtninger” Part 1 60 3. Native and non-native ornamental plants 121 4. Ved Dødssengen by Edvard Munch, 1895 154 5. Slindrebirken by Thomas Fearnley, 1839 160 1 INTRODUCTION Breaking the Silence In 1911, a statue of Camilla Collett was erected on the grounds of the royal palace in Christiania. The sculptor Gustav Vigeland had long debated how he would portray her: as a charming young debutante, as a woman in the prime of life, or as an old woman formed by her life’s struggle. When most Norwegians remember Collett, the image captured in this statue comes to mind. Fig. 1. Camilla Collett: Gustav Vigeland, 1911. Photo: Rebekka Westgaard, 2010. Vigeland’s statue is of an aged woman holding a shawl tightly around her, her back turned towards the storm. She is wearing a lace cap, and a lace collar is fastened in place with a 2 circular brooch. The wind that flutters her skirts brings movement to the figure; her body exhibits feminine grace in cold, hard, bronze. Her head is slightly turned and bowed. From her stance, she appears to be looking back and reflecting upon her life. Her eyes look down, but her gaze is steady, wise, and pensive, as if she is envisioning what others cannot comprehend, or continues to examine her fellow Norwegians—as they stand below and look up at her on her pedestal—and find them wanting. Gustav Vigeland sculpted a surface that contains clues to the character of the woman he has replicated. It is there for the viewer to study. A static figure trapped at a moment of time cannot portray the life of an individual, but it can evoke associations in the observer. The viewer’s interpretation breaks the silence of the image in bronze. Purpose This dissertation breaks the silence. It explores the life and work of the Norwegian author and feminist Camilla Collett (1813-1895) who is remembered as the most influential and controversial woman of her time in her own country, but who is little known in the English- speaking world. By means of a series of translations of key works previously untranslated, accompanied by my translation notes and textual analysis, I provide a picture of how her views on the inequities women suffered were influenced by her life story, the revolutionary events taking place in Norway at the time, and the prevailing legal and social codes that restricted young women’s development into independent adults. Through this first English-language dissertation about her, I hope to make Camilla Collett and her literary production internationally known. Had she written in one of Europe’s major languages, the quality of her literary production and her contribution to the rights of woman would undoubtedly have brought her international recognition in her own lifetime. Yet few outside of Scandinavia recognize her 3 name. Aside from translations of her only novel and inclusions in several anthologies, little about her life and work has been published in English. Throughout all phases of her life, Collett expressed herself by writing. Her private letters, diaries, and journals from her earlier years are among the richest memoirs in Norwegian literary history.