Ragnhild Jolsen

Ragnhild Jølsen was a Norwegian author who wrote in the early 20th century. She grew up on a large farm that belonged to her family for generations, but had to move to Kristiania (now Oslo) when her father's industrial ventures failed. She returned to Enebakk in 1896 and started to collect oral traditions and write stories based on the rural life and culture. She was influenced by the art nouveau and decadent movements, and her style was original and expressive. She wrote novels and short stories that often depicted the conflict between the old and the new, the natural and the artificial, the human and the animal. She also explored the themes of sexuality, madness, death, and the supernatural. Some of her most famous works are Ve's mor (1903), Efterladte Fortællinger (1904), Rikka Gan (1904), and Den røde hane (1907). She had a brief affair with a married painter, Carl Dørnberger, and traveled to Rome with a grant in 1906. She died in 1908, allegedly from an overdose of sleeping powder, at the age of 32. She is regarded as one of the most original and innovative authors of her time, and her works have been translated into several languages.