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Torill Steinfeld




Personal voices and unaffected writing: Camilla Collett, Rahel Varnhagen, Therese von Bacheracht

During her stay in Hamburg in 1836–37, the young Camilla Wergeland, later Collett, became acquainted with the Russian-German salonnière Therese von Bacheracht and the “Young Germany” author Theodor Mundt, who had recently published Charlotte Stieglitz, ein Denkmal (1835). This might be a coincidence, but in spring 1837 she also read and commented on George Sand's novels, especially on her style. (Bacheracht later published a large essay on George Sand.) Another German writer who fascinated Camilla Wergeland was Rahel Varnhagen. This lecture will explore how these experiences affected Camilla Wergeland's ideas about writing, i.e. how to create a "natural" style, able to transmit oral discourses and to reveal a woman's genuine personality.




SvD, September 2011




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