Gunvor Hofmo (30 June 1921 – 17 October 1995) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, often considered one of Norway's most influential

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

poets.

Background

Gunvor Hofmo was born in Oslo, Norway. Her parents were Erling Hofmo (1893–1959) and Bertha Birkedal (1891–1969). She was raised in a working-class family among socialists, communists and anti-Nazis. Her father's brother Rolf Hofmo (1898–1966) was a sports official who was arrested during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and imprisoned at the

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

Literary career

Hofmo started her literary career submitting poems for publication to a wide variety of presses, including the communist newspaper '' Friheten'' and weekly magazines such as ''

Hjemmet ''Hjemmet'', pronounced "yemmeh" (English: ''Home'') is a Norwegian weekly family magazine published in Oslo, Norway. History and profile ''Hjemmet'' was launched by the Hjemmet Mortensen AB in 1909, which merged with Ernst G. Mortensen, Egmont ...

''. One of her first published poems was dedicated to her close friend and Jewish refugee

Ruth Maier Ruth Maier (10 November 1920 in Vienna, Austria – 1 December 1942 in Auschwitz, Poland) was an Austrian woman whose diaries describing her experiences of the Holocaust in Austria and Norway were published in 2007; reviews described her as "Nor ...

(1920-1942). It was published in '' Magasinet for Alle'', opening with the lines: Ruth Maier was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n native who had found refuge in Norway in 1939. During the

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

, Maier was arrested by German officials in Norway during 1942. She was deported and murdered during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. This event became by all accounts the central tragedy in Hofmo's life. She was hospitalized in 1943 for depression, starting a lifelong struggle with mental illness. Following the liberation of Norway in 1945, Hofmo traveled extensively. She was in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the autumn of 1947 and in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

in the spring of 1950. She also made several trips 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 ...

and also traveled to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She also wrote essays for publication, primarily in the daily newspaper ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

''. The topics included travel, Nordic poetry, and philosophical topics. Among her most noted contributions are a lengthy debate on the minimal daily cost of living a life barely out of penury in

and a treatise in defense of her poet colleague Olav Kaste (1902-1991). In 1953, she stopped publishing essays and instead concentrated on her poetry. ''Dagbladet'' published seven of her poems between 1952 and 1956. She published five poetry collections between 1946 and 1955. She was institutionalized at

Gaustad Hospital Gaustad Hospital ( no, Gaustad sykehus) is a psychiatric hospital in the neighborhood of Gaustad in Oslo, Norway. Founded in 1855, it is Norway's oldest purpose-built psychiatric hospital. It opened as the nation's first insane asylum designed ac ...

, suffering from

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, characterized as

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

, paranoid type, from 1955 to 1971, leading to what was known as her "16 years of silence." Following her discharge, she went into a period of considerable productivity, publishing fifteen poetry collections between 1971 and 1994. From 1977 to her death she never left her apartment at Simensbråten in Oslo.

Personal life

Gunvor Hofmo and

both characterized their relationship as unusually close and intimate. In her diary,

describes Gunvor Hofmo as her lover. In 1947, Hofmo moved in with another writer,

Astrid Tollefsen Astrid Tollefsen (11 December 1897 – 9 October 1973) was a Norwegian poet. She was born in Horten. She made her literary debut with the poetry collection ''Portrett i speil'' (1947). She lived in a long-term relationship with the lyricist G ...

(1897-1973) became one of the first Norwegians living in an openly

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

relationship. They continued to live and travel together until Hofmo was incapacitated and committed for her mental illness.

Works

*''Jeg vil hjem til menneskene'' – (1946) ("I want to go home to the humans") *''Fra en annen virkelighet'' – (1948) ("From another reality") *''Blinde nattergaler'' – (1951) ("Blind nightingales") *''I en våkenatt'' – (1954) ("In a waking night") *''Testamente til en evighet'' – (1955) ("A will to an eternity") *''Treklang'' – dikt i utvalg (1963) (published with

Astrid Hjertenæs Andersen Astrid Hjertenæs Andersen (5 September 1915 – 21 April 1985) was a Norwegian poet and travel-writer. She is a recipient of the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature (''Kritikerprisen''), Riksmål Society Literature Prize (''Riksmålsprisen''), D ...

and

) ("Triad") *''Gjest på jorden'' – (1971) ("Guest on Earth") *''November'' – (1972) *''Veisperringer'' – (1973) ("Road barriers") *''Mellomspill'' – (1974) ("Interlude") *''Hva fanger natten'' – (1976) ("What the night captures") *''Det er sent'' – (1978) ("It is late") *''Nå har hendene rørt meg'' – (1981) ("Now the hands have touched me") *''Gi meg til berget'' – (1984) ("Give me to the mountain") *''Stjernene og barndommen'' – (1986) ("The stars and the childhood") *''Nabot'' – (1987) *''Ord til bilder'' – (1989) ("Words to pictures") *''Fuglen'' – (1990) ("The bird") *''Epilog'' – (1994) ("Epilogue") *''Samlede dikt'' – collected poems(1996) *''Etterlatte dikt'' – poems (1997) (posthumously, edited by Jan Erik Vold) *''Jeg glemmer ingen'' – poems (1999) (edited by Jan Erik Vold, illustrated with water color paintings by Ruth Maier) ("I forget no one")

Prizes and awards

Gyldendal's Endowment Gyldendal's Endowment was a literature prize which was awarded in the period 1934–1995 by the Norwegian publisher Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. The prize was awarded to significant authors, regardless of which publisher the author was associated w ...

- 1951 * Kritikerprisen for ''Gjest på jorden'' - 1971 *

- 1974 *

Dobloug Prize The Dobloug Prize ( sv, Doblougska priset, no, Doblougprisen) is a literature prize awarded for Swedish and Norwegian fiction. The prize is named after Norwegian businessman and philanthropist Birger Dobloug (1881–1944) pursuant to his bequest. T ...

- 1982 * Riksmålsforbundets litteraturpris - 1989

References

External links

Gunvor Hofmo (Gyldendal Norsk Forlag)