Magli Elster (née Raknes; 21 November 1912 – 11 May 1993) was a Norwegian

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...

, literary critic, poet and translator.

Personal life

Elster was born in the neighborhood of

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for its ...

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population o ...

(now Oslo), Norway. She was the daughter of psychologist Ola Raknes (1887–1975) and poet-playwright

Aslaug Vaa Aslaug Vaa (25 August 1889 – 28 November 1965) was a Norwegian poet and playwright. Her works contain elements from local tradition and landscape mixed with international influence. Personal life Aslaug Vaa was born on Nystog in Rauland, ...

(1889–1965). She grew up partly in Vålerenga,

Kviteseid Kviteseid is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseid. The parish ...

and

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. Si ...

. She was married to writer and Director-General of the NRK

Torolf Elster Torolf Elster (27 May 1911 – 4 November 2006) was a Norwegian newspaper and radio journalist, magazine editor, novelist, crime fiction writer and writer of short stories. He was Director-General of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NR ...

(1911–2006) and was the mother of philosopher

Jon Elster Jon Elster (; born 22 February 1940, Oslo) is a Norwegian philosopher and political theorist who holds the Robert K. Merton professorship of Social Science at Columbia University. He received his PhD in social science from the École Norma ...

Career

Elster received psychoanalytic training in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

from 1934 to 1937, and practiced as

from 1937 to 1943. From 1947 to 1985 she was assigned as literary critic for the newspaper ''

Arbeiderbladet ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

''. She made her literary debut in 1952 with the poetry collection ''Trikken går i engen'', and her literary breakthrough was the collection ''Med hilsen fra natten'' from 1953. Further collections are ''Den syngende flåten'' from 1955, ''En pike av tre'' (1959) and ''Sekundene'' (1971). She chaired the association Norsk Litteraturkritikerlag from 1959 to 1969. She was a co-founder of the ''Association Internationale de Critiques Litteraires''. In 1986 she and her husband Torolf were awarded the

Fritt Ord Award Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation (''Stiftelsen Fritt Ord''). Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award ( no, Fritt Ords pris) and the Fritt Or ...

References

1912 births 1993 deaths Writers from Oslo 20th-century Norwegian poets Norwegian literary critics Women literary critics Norwegian women critics Norwegian women non-fiction writers Norwegian psychoanalysts 20th-century Norwegian translators Norwegian women poets 20th-century Norwegian women writers {{Norway-translator-stub