Cora Sandel

Cora Sandel (20 December 1880, Oslo — 3 April 1974, Uppsala) was the pen name of Sara Cecilia Görvell Fabricius, a Norwegian writer and painter who lived most of her life abroad. Her most famous works are the novels now known as the Alberta Trilogy.^[1][2]

Biography

Sara Cecilia Görvell Fabricius was born in Kristiania (now Oslo). Her parents were Jens Schow Fabricius (1839–1910) and Anna Margareta Greger (1858–1903). When she was 12 years old, financial difficulties forced her family to move to Tromsø where her father was appointed a naval commander. She started painting under the tutelage of Harriet Backer, and while still a teenager moved to Paris, where she married the Swedish sculptor Anders Jönsson (1883-1965). In 1921 they returned to Sweden, where she won custody of her son Erik after divorcing Jönsson.

In her youth she tried, without much success, to establish herself as a painter. And it wasn't until she was 46 years old that her debut novel, Alberte and Jakob was published, the first in what became the semi-autobiographical Alberta trilogy. Sandel used many elements from her own life and experiences in her stories, which often centre on the spiritual struggles of inarticulate and isolated women. The Alberta trilogy traced the emotional development of a lethargic and unhappy girl into a self-sufficient woman. These novels earned her an immediate place in the Scandinavian canon, but it was not until the 1960s that Sandel, now living as a recluse in Sweden, was discovered by the English-speaking world. ^[3]

Despite her great literary success, she remained hidden behind her pseudonym and lived a rather secluded life. She was decorated with the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1957. Her home in Tromsø, built in 1838, now houses the Perspektivet Museum.^[4]

Works

• Alberte og Jakob, novel ("Alberta and Jacob", 1926, tr. 1962)
• En blå sofa, short story collection ("A Blue Sofa", 1927)
• Alberte og friheten, novel ("Alberta and Freedom", 1931, tr. 1963)
• Carmen og Maja, short story collection ("Carmen and Maja", 1932)
• Mange takk, doktor, short story collection ("Many Thanks, Doctor", 1935)
• Bare Alberte, novel ("Alberta Alone", 1939, tr. 1965)
• Dyr jeg har kjent, short story collection ("Animals I've Known", 1945)
• Kranes konditori, novel ("Krane's Café", 1945-1946, tr. 1968)
• Figurer på mørk bunn, short story collection ("Figures on a dark background", 1949)
• Translation of Colette's La Vagabonde (1952)
• Kjøp ikke Dondi, novel ("Don't Buy Dondi", 1958, tr. 1960 as "The Leech")
• Vårt vanskelige liv, short story collection ("Our Difficult Life", 1960)
• Barnet som elsket veier, short story collection with artwork ("The Child Who Loved Roads", 1973)

Awards

• Gyldendal's Endowment for 1937

See also

• Sandel (disambiguation)

References

1. ^ Cora Sandel (Store norske leksikon)
2. ^ Alberta and Freedom (Peter Owen Publishers)
3. ^ Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers, Volume 2 (Katharina M. Wilson, Routledge; 1991)
4. ^ Cora Sandel – utdypning (Janneken Øverland. Store norske leksikon)

Other sources

• Øverland, Janneken Cora Sandel : en biografi (Gyldendal 1995) ISBN 82-05-22366-1
• Essex, Ruth Cora Sandel: Seeker of Truth (New York: Peter Lang, 1995) ISBN 978-0-8204-2229-9
• Rees, Ellen A Quiet Renaissance in Cora Sandel Scholarship (Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, Volume: 75 Issue: 4 Page: 591(10), 2003)

External links

• Cora Sandel in Dagbladet
• Cora Sandel in NRK
• Family genealogy
• Nortana reading guide for Alberta and Jacob

Persondata
Name	Sandel, Cora
Alternative names	Fabricius, Sara Cecilia Görvell
Short description	Norwegian writer and painter
Date of birth	20 December 1880
Place of birth	Oslo, Norway
Date of death	3 April 1974
Place of death	Uppsala, Sweden