Cläre Grevérus Mjøen (, 5 June 1874 – 18 April 1963) was a German and Norwegian translator and women's rights activist.

Early life

Mjøen was born in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

, then part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

, in 1874. Her father Rudolph Berndt was the director of the German insurance company Magdeburger Feuerversicherungs-Gesellschaft and her mother was Emilie Grevérus. She was educated in languages, art history, singing and piano at a school for girls in Switzerland.

Marriage

Mjøen married pharmacist and “race biologist” Jon Alfred Mjøen in Magdeburg in 1896. She moved to Christiania, Norway in 1898 and the couple had six children together, five of whom became actors. The Mjøen family were close friends with first Nobel Laureate in Literature,

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

Career

Mjøen translated from Norwegian to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. Her translations included

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...

's travel writing and short stories, along with works by Andreas Aubert, Bjørnson,

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

Nordahl Grieg Johan Nordahl Brun Grieg (1 November 1902 – 2 December 1943) was a Norwegian poet, novelist, dramatist, journalist and activism, political activist. He was a popular author and a controversial public figure. He served in World War II as a war c ...

, Barbra Ring, Gunnar Larsen, Wilhelm Keilhau, Kristian Schjelderup and

Herman Wildenvey Herman Wildenvey (20 July 1885 – 27 September 1959), born Herman Theodor Portaas, was one of the most prominent Norwegian poets of the twentieth century. During his lifetime he published 44 books of his own poetry, in addition to transla ...

. She also wrote some articles on "race biology."

Activism

Mjøen was also active in the women's rights movement and was the general secretary of the

Norwegian National Women's Council The Norwegian National Women's Council () was founded on 8 January 1904 as an umbrella organization for the various Norwegian women's associations. It was established by Gina Krog whose international contacts had revealed that the International Co ...

for 12 years. She supported the recognition of illegitimate children's rights, feeling that this improved the position of single mothers and their children.

Death

Mjøen died in 1963 in

Vestre Aker Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It has a population of 50,157 as of 2020. The previous Aker Municipality was merged into the city of Oslo in 1948. The borough of Vestre Aker was org ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mjøen, Cläre 1874 births 1963 deaths 20th-century German translators German feminists Norwegian feminists German translators Norwegian translators Norwegian women's rights activists