Camilla Collett

Camilla was born in Kristiansand, Norway,[1] the daughter of Nicolai Wergeland, a noted theologian, politician, and composer in his time, and Alette née Thaulow.

[2] Camilla grew up in a literary family, and she became a young diarist,[2] in part because she found life in Eidsvoll dull.

[2] During a visit to Kristiania she met and fell in love with the poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven, who was also her brother Henrik's literary nemesis.

[2] In any event, her relationship with Welhaven eventually ended, and in 1841 she married Peter Jonas Collett,[1] a prominent politician, literary critic, and member of the Intelligenspartiet (the Intelligence party).

[citation needed] Her most famous work is her only novel, Amtmandens Døtre (The District Governor's Daughters)[1] which was published anonymously in two separate parts in 1854 and 1855.

[1] The book is considered one of the first political and social realism[1] novels in Norway and deals with the difficulties of being a woman in a patriarchical society in general and forced marriages specifically.

[citation needed] Her literary models included female writers such as Rahel Varnhagen and George Sand, as well as Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Theodor Mundt.

After the writing of Amtmandens Døtre, she focused largely on reviews and essays about literature, many of which solidified Collett as the first feminist literary critic in Norway.