Skram, Amalie

Skram, Amalie (ämä`lēə skräm), 1846–1905, Norwegian writer. In Denmark, where she lived most of her life, Skram wrote Constance Ring (1885, tr. 1988), her first major novel and the first volume in her novel series about marriage (1885–92). It was followed by the series of novels entitled Hellemyrsfolket [the people of Hellemyr] (4 vol., 1887–98), the play Agnete (1893), and the collection of short stories Julehelg [Christmas] (1900). Another set of novels, the semiautobiographical Professor Hieronimus (1895, tr. 1899) and At St. Jørgen's (1895), document conditions in Danish mental hospitals. Skram's works, written in a naturalistic style and pessimistic in tone, are often concerned with the problems of women.

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Skram, Amalie 

Born Aug. 22, 1847, in Bergen; died Mar. 15, 1905, in Copenhagen. Norwegian writer.

Skram began publishing in 1877. Her early works revealed the influence of J. P. Jacobsen. The novels Constance Ring (1884), Fru Inés (1891), and Betrayed (1892) are devoted to problems of love and marriage. Skram’s cycle of naturalist novels The People of Hellemyr (vols. 1–4, 1887–98), which portrayed the rise and fall of a family, indicted bourgeois society and morality. The problem of the mentally ill and society, treated in the novels Professor Hieronymus (1895) and St. Jørgen’s Hospital (1896), provoked discussions in the press.

WORKS

Samlede verker, vols. 1-26. Kristiania-Copenhagen, 1905–07.
Samlede verker, vols. 1-6. Oslo, 1943.
In Russian translation:
“Siiur Gabriel.” Russkaia mysl’, 1897, no. 9.
Agnessa. St. Petersburg, 1899.
Muzh i zhena. St. Petersburg, 1899.
Iunga. Petrograd, 1914.
“Kar’era Sivarta.” Russkaia mysl’, 1917, nos. 1-10.

REFERENCES

Krane, B. Amalie Skram og kvinnens problem. Oslo, 1951.
Krane, B. Amalie Skrams diktning. Oslo, 1961.