Serine Regine Normann was born in 1867 in Bø in Vesterålen, in northern Norway. She was the third of eventually five siblings. Her father, a teacher, died when Regine was four years old, leaving behind so much debt that her mother could not afford to keep the whole family. Therefore, to ensure that they were properly looked after, the children were split up and placed out to live with relatives and friends. This was a common practice in the poor farming communities of northern Norway until the middle of the 20th century. Regine was placed first with relatives of her late father, who looked after her well, although they complained about her laziness around the smallholding. After four years, she went to live with friends of her family, where she stayed until she was married.
At the age of 17, Regine married Peder Johnsen, a 39 year-old teacher. Details surrounding the marriage are vague. It is possible that the marriage was forced by the local priest, with whom Regine was probably having an affair. Rumour has it that Peder did not even know he was getting married until he arrived at the church in his best clothes, as he had been instructed. The marriage lasted ten years, although it was an unhappy one. Regine later characterised it as “ten years of rape.”
Having become involved in school life during the years she was married to Johnsen, Regine decided to take a formal qualification that would allow her to teach. Instead of choosing a teacher-training school close to home, she relocated to Kristiania in 1894 to attend Olaf Bergs høiere lærerindeskole (Olaf Berg’s women’s teacher-training college). She began teaching immediately after qualifying, and she continued to teach in Kristiania (later Oslo) until she retired in 1932.
Regine decided that she wanted a divorce from Johnsen while she was taking her education. He wanted money in return for the divorce, and Regine turned to her writing to provide it. She had started writing secretly during her marriage. To begin with, to escape the ridicule of her husband, she wrote in a nearby cave. The manuscript for her first book was nearly finished by the time she moved to Kristiania, and Krabvaag was published by Aschehoug in 1905. Regine paid off Johnsen with the advance, and he divorced her. They had no children.
Krabvaag is a starkly realistic novel set in the north. The main romantic plot depicts the plight of a girl who has fallen in love with a man of whom her family and priest disapprove. Regine intersperses her novel with sketches of small fishing families exploited by the rich Hanseatic merchants, of the perils that face seafaring fishermen, of the anxiety of the women left behind, and of the cynicism and hypocrisy of the church. The novel was given enthusiastic reviews. The critics lauded her realistic treatment of northern Norway, and predicted a successful writing career.
The year after the publication of Krabvaag, Regine married again, this time to Tryggve Andersen, one of the fathers of the neo-romantic movement in Norway. They had been introduced to each other by Anna, Tryggve’s sister, who was a colleague of Regine’s at school; and were divorced in 1913, on account of Tryggve’s marital infidelity. This marriage produced no children, either; Regine never married again.
In contrast to her failed marriages, Regine did enjoy success as a writer, as was predicted by the reviewers of her first book. She published a total of 18 books in the 30 years of her writing career. Many of these are novels or collections of short stories, all in the same realistic vein as Krabvaag. Her realistic fiction received mostly mixed reviews, the notable exception being Dengang (1912), which was uniformly praised for its vivid portrayals of northern Norway, an element the critics had so appreciated in her first book. The realistic fiction was not the pinnacle of Regine’s literary achievement, however.
Critical enthusiasm soared when she published Eventyr, her first collection of fairy tales, in 1925. Adapted from folk tales she had heard and retold since her childhood, a number of these tales had already appeared in her various realistic novels. She collected these together in Eventyr, and added a number of new tales. She published a second collection of fairy tales, Nye Eventyr, the following year, which was received as warmly as the first.
The tales in these collections are diverse—from those of bewitched princesses and princes, to religious tales of the activities of “Our Lord” and Saint Peter. Distinctive to Regine’s fairy tales is the portrayal of the magical coast of northern Norway. In accordance with the change of location from the wooded inland common in other Norwegian collections, Regine has expanded the gallery of characters, to a certain extent. Her tales feature fishermen instead of woodsmen; sea-trolls instead of mountain trolls–with mouths as wide as boat-house doors–and such accomplished rowers that the sea birds cannot keep up.
The success of her fairy tales was followed by the publication of two collections of North-Norwegian legends, Nordlandsnat in 1927, and Det graaner mot høst, in 1930. Regine had been collecting superstitious legends from the north for quite a while. In these two collections, however, she reworked her collected material into a frame story that spans both books. As with her fairy tale collections, these collections were enthusiastically received by reviewers.
In the years following the publication of Det graaner mot høst, Regine retired from all her professional activity, both as a teacher, and as a writer. She retired from teaching and resigned her elected position on the board of the Norwegian Writers' Union in 1932. In 1934, she published her last book, Usynlig selskap, a collection of short narratives previously published in periodicals. The reviews, reflecting the movement in literary fashion, were only lukewarm.
In June 1939, Regine Normann moved back north to her grandfather’s cottage. She died two or three months later, after a brain haemorrhage, and is buried in the churchyard in Skånland.
Regine Normann was considered an important contributor to Norwegian literature during her lifetime. She was also a prominent literary figure, on an equal footing with her friends Sigrid Undset and Nini Roll Anker. However, since her death she has fallen into various degrees of obscurity. Recent Norwegian literature histories grant her life and literature little space.
Bibliography
Regine Normann’s books
- Krabvaag, 1905. Realistic novel set in the north.
- Bortsat, 1906. Three realistic short stories: “Bortsat”, “Heimgåve-kua”, and “Kjærligheds-roden”.
- Stængt, 1908. Realistic novel set in the north.
- Barnets tjenere, 1910. Realistic novel set in Kristiania, but with northern characters.
- Faafængt, 1911. Sequel to Barnets tjenere.
- Dengang, 1912. Realistic novel set in the north. Her longest novel, considered her best work in the realistic mode.
- Eiler Hundevart, 1913. Realistic novel set in the north. Based on a legend. Indications of the supernatural.
- Riket som kommer, 1915. Realistic novel set in the north.
- Til guttene mine ute i den vide, vide verden, 1916. Collection of political writings from various authors, held together by Regine’s narrative.
- Den graa kat og den sorte, 1916. Children’s book.
- Berit Ursin, 1917. Realistic novel set in the north.
- Havørnens nabo, 1921. Realistic novel set in the north.
- Min hvite gut og andre fortellinger, 1922. Collection of previously published short stories.
- Eventyr, 1925. Fairy tales.
- Nye Eventyr, 1926. Fairy tales.
- Nordlandsnat, 1927. North-Norwegian legends.
- Det graaner mot høst, 1930. North-Norwegian legends.
- Usynlig selskap, 1934. Collection of previously published short stories.
Reference works
- Rolf Nyboe Nettum, Per Amdal, Bjarte Birkeland. “Regine Normann” in Norges litteraturhistorie. Bd. 4. Fra Hamsun til Flakberget. Oslo: Bokklubben Nye Bøker, 1983, p. 355–359.
- Liv Helene Willumsen. Havmannens datter: Regine Normann — et livsløp. Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), 1997. (This is, to date, the only biography written about Regine Normann. It brings together all the important oral and written sources.)
- Hans Henrik Hansen og Liv Helene Willumsen. Regine Normann: en bibliografi. Tromsø: Ravnetrykk, 1995.
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