Caught in the Enchanter's Net: Amalie and Erik Skram's Letters

by Janet Garton (translator)

Amalie Skram was a major nineteenth-century Norwegian novelist whose novels such as Lucie evoke both the atmosphere of her native town and the battles of the sexes at a time when sexual morality was the subject of a great Nordic debate. Erik Skram was a Danish writer and journalist at the center of the literary life of Copenhagen. The detailed letters they exchanged during the last two decades of the century present a lively picture of a decisive time in the development of both their countries into modern states. They also tell a love story, of a passionate attachment between two very different but equally headstrong people, from the first jolt of attraction through resistance, seduction, marriage, literary partnership, and childbirth, to the final depressing separation.

461 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2004