Tove Irma Margit Ditlevsen (Danish:[ˈtsʰoːvəˈtitle̝wsn̩]; 14 December 1917 – 7 March 1976) was a Danish poet and author.[1][2][3] With published works in a variety of genres, she was one of Denmark's best-known authors by the time of her death.[4]
Tove Ditlevsen was born in Copenhagen and grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of Vesterbro. Her childhood experiences were the focal points of her work. Ditlevsen was married (and divorced) four times.[5]
In her life, Ditlevsen published 29 books including short stories, novels, poetry, and memoirs. Female identity, memory, and loss of childhood are recurring themes in her work. She began writing poems at the age of ten.[6] Her first volume of poetry was published in her early twenties.[7] In 1947, she experienced popular success with the publication of her poetry collection Blinkende Lygter (Flickering Lights). The Danish Broadcasting Corporation commissioned her to write a novel, Vi har kun hinanden (We only have each other), which was published in 1954 and broadcast as radio installments.[8] Ditlevsen also authored a column in the weekly Familie Journalen, responding to letters from readers.[4]
Three of her books, Barndom (Childhood), Ungdom (Youth), and Gift (meaning both poison and married), form an autobiographical trilogy.[6][9][10] The first two books were translated by Tiina Nunnally and published in 1985 by Seal Press under the title Early Spring. The complete trilogy, with the third book translated by Michael Favala Goldman, was published in one volume in 2019 (with the titles Childhood, Youth and Dependency) and referred to as The Copenhagen Trilogy.[11]
Throughout her adult life, Ditlevsen struggled with alcohol and drug abuse, and she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital several times, a recurring theme in her later novels.[12] In 1976, she died by suicide from an overdose of sleeping pills.[13]
Her poem "Blinkende Lygter", from the poetry collection of the same name, is referred to and namesake for the 2000 Danish film Flickering Lights, directed by Anders Thomas Jensen and often named the most popular feature film in its native Denmark in various polls. Her novel Barndommens gade was made into a film in mid-1980s and Anne Linnet released an album with poems by Ditlevsen, sung by Linnet. The music from the album was also used in the movie Barndommens gade.
1975 - Dansk Forfatterforenings H.C. Andersen Legat
1975 - Jeanne og Henri Nathansens Mindelegat
1999 – 23 years after her death, the readers of Politiken could choose a book as "Danish book of the Century". Ditlevsen's book Barndommens gade was number 21.[15]
Referencesedit
^Denstoredanske.dk Tove Ditlevsen - The Grand Danish Encyclopedia (in Danish)
^Eberstadt, Fernanda (19 April 2022). "In Tove Ditlevsen's World, Happy Families Don't Stand a Chance" – via NYTimes.com.
^"Tove Ditlevsen's Art of Estrangement". The New Yorker. 3 February 2021.
^ abPetersen, Antje C. (1992). "Tove Ditlevsen and the Aesthetics of Madness". Scandinavian Studies. 64 (2): 243–262. ISSN 0036-5637. JSTOR 40919418.
^Kvinfo.dk Tove Ditlevsen (Kvinfo is a Danish encyclopedia about notable Danish women)
^ abBusk-Jensen, Lise (20 January 2012). "The Labyrinth of Memory". Nordic Women's Literature. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
^"Tove Ditlevsen". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
^Sjåvik, Jan (19 April 2006). Historical dictionary of Scandinavian literature and theater. Scarecrow Press. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-0810865013. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
^Solis, Marie (6 May 2021). "The Brutal Transcendence of Tove Ditlevsen" – via www.thenation.com.
^Eisenberg, Deborah. "Awful But Joyful | Deborah Eisenberg" – via www.nybooks.com.
^Jensen, Liz. "The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen review – confessions of a literary outsider". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
^Syberg, Karen (1997). Tove Ditlevsen: myte og liv. Copenhagen: People's Press. ISBN 9788770552264.
^Liukkonen, Petri. "Tove Ditlevsen". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 5 November 2011.
^From Hoxer, Michelle (14 December 2017). "Tove Ditlevsen 100 år: Derfor skal du læse hendes romaner og digte" (in Danish). DR. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
Siegal, Nina (7 January 2023). "Overlooked No More: Tove Ditlevsen, Danish Writer of Confessional Autofiction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 February 2023.