Cornelia Frederikke Juliane Victorine von Levetzow (1836–1921) was a popular Danish author of novels and short stories who published under the pen name J until 1894. Her first work, ''En ung Piges Historie'' (1861), a typically Danish governess novel, was a huge success which sold 50,000 copies in several editions and translations. Becoming increasingly religious in her writing, she published many more novels and short stories until 1908, some of them being published in several editions.

Early life

Born on 14 January 1836 in

Ringkøbing Ringkøbing (older spelling ''Ringkjøbing'') is a town in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality in Region Midtjylland on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. It has a population of 9,894 (1 January 2022).

, Cornelia Frederikke Juliane Victorine von Levetzow was the daughter of the customs accountant Diedrich Vilhelm von Levetzow (1786–1849) and Edle Vilhelmine Fog (1793–1872). The youngest of five children, she was taught at home by her mother and her sisters Mathilde and Vilhelmine who also became writers. She lived in her parents' home in Ringkøbing until the family moved to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

after her father's death, finally settling in

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

in 1854.

Career

Her literary career began when she was 24 with ''En ung Piges Historie'' (''A Young Girl's Story'', 1860) inspired by

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

's ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

''. Like several other Scandinavian novels in the mid-19th century, it tells how a woman experiences hardship after seeking work as a governess outside the home but finally returns home to begin a happy life. It was a huge success, running to eight editions in Danish by the end of the 19th century and translated into several other languages. The following year she published two more books, ''Fem Fortællinger'' (Five Tales, 1861) and ''Tre Fortællinger'' (Three Tales, 1861), both of which she had written before ''En ung Piges Historie''. They also ran to several editions, as did subsequent works such as ''Anna'' (1863), ''To Fortællinger'' (Two Tales, 1866), ''Småskitser'' (Short Sketches, 1869) and ''Livsbilleder'' (Pictures of Life, 1874). Her fiction depicted both men and women as the principal characters, becoming increasingly religious in tone and conveying her views on the good life. In 1875, after being awarded a travel grant, she spent two years in Sweden and Norway, returning to Denmark with many new ideas. After a pause for several years, she resumed publishing in 1881 with ''Fra det daglige Liv'' (From Everyday Life). A long series of new titles followed, culminating with ''Bodil'' (1908). Cornelia von Levetzow died on 26 April 1921 in Lyngby, where she is buried.

References

External links

Bibliography of Cornelia v. Levetzow from ''Dansk Forfatterleksikon''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levetzow, Cornelia 1836 births 1921 deaths People from Ringsted 19th-century Danish novelists 20th-century Danish novelists Danish women short story writers Danish women novelists