Julli Wiborg
Born(1880-03-11)11 March 1880
Ytre Holmedal, Norway
Died25 August 1947(1947-08-25) (aged 67)
Oslo, Norway
Occupation(s)Author, teacher
Spouse
Nils Olaf Wiborg
​
(m. 1907)​
Children3
Parents
  • Nils Landmark
  • Elise Schram
Relatives
  • Edle Solberg
  • Eva Marie Holthe (sisters)

Juliane Fredrikke "Julli" Wiborg (née Landmark; 11 March 1880 – 25 August 1947) was a Norwegian teacher and author. She published 34 books, mainly children's books and young girls' novels. Cappelen was her publisher.

Family and background

Juliane Landmark was born in 1880 in Ytre Holmedal, Norway. Her father Nils Landmark (1844–1923) was the grandson of judge Nils Landmark, and worked as a skipper on the Norwegian Missionary Society's mission ship Elieser from 1872 to 1880, later working for the Norwegian customs agency.[1] Her mother, Elise Schram, was a teacher.[2] She had two sisters, Edle Solberg and Eva Marie Holthe.[3]

She graduated from the teachers' school in Notodden in 1903, and worked as a teacher in Porsgrunn and Fet from 1903 until 1907. In 1907 she married fellow teacher Nils Olaf Wiborg, and they moved to Kristiania (now Oslo) in 1909. Together they had three children, Elisabeth, Ingrid and Randi.[4] Wiborg died 25 August 1947 in Oslo.

Literary work

Forsida på boka Ragna av Julli Wiborg fra 1914.
Ragna by Julli Wiborg from 1914.

She was part of the new movement of authors who in the first half of the 1900s wrote books in Norwegian aimed at children and young people, similarly to Barbra Ring, Dikken Zwilgmeyer and Nora Thorstensen [no]. Many of Wiborg's book are termed young girls' books, and several of her books were very popular, being published in three to seven editions.[5]

In 1908 she published her first book, Smaafolk. Fortællinger for gutter og piker. Her true breakthrough came with the Kiss series and Ragna books.[2]

Breaking free from family or societal expectations of who one should be is a consistent theme in several of Wiborg's books.[2] While she was free-minded and questions established truths, her books also come from a moral/Christian basis and her characters always end up making the "right" choices.

In Wiborg's books, society is portrayed almost realistically – the girls who work hard to be independent are also students who have to work as domestic help on the side to make ends meet, and the reader sees businesses go bankrupt and travelers to America return disillusioned. Snobbery and class distinction are condemned, while hard work and honest motives are emphasized as good qualities.[2]

When her books were first released, they received both hard criticism and glowing reviews. Critics felt that she wrote romantic books without any literary quality, that she had a very traditional view of women, or that her books were superficial and her use of language was poor.[6] Other newspapers praised her books for their relevance, for quality of entertainment, or for a good moral message.[6][7]

Selected works

Translations

A number of her books were translated into Swedish. In Sweden as well, her books received tough criticism:

Even the authors of girls' books are often too productive. The Norwegian author Julli Wiborg, for example, has written a couple of quite good girls' books, but also a whole series of unnecessary ones to say the least, some of which contain tastelessness to which disapproving parents must react strongly. That these books, with their light-hearted film eroticism, have any role to play in introducing young people to these problems, as I have heard suggested in their defense, is pure nonsense. ... Her books are also exponents of the exasperating continuation narrative that flourishes among girls' books. One is thrown into a hopeless tangle of aunts, uncles, cousins, fiances, etc., about which one never learns anything unless one has read the five previous books in the series.

— by Lizzie Tynell, "Barnbokskataloger" in Biblioteksbladet (1933)

Swedish bibliography

Danish bibliography

Finnish bibliography

German bibliography

Several of Wiborg's books were also translated to German and published by Deutchnordischer Verlag.

References

  1. ^ Landmark, A. Stamtavle over en norsk slegt: Landmark (in Norwegian). Christiania: Cammermeyers bogh. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Arbeidsseminar i barnelitteraturforskning (1991). "Barnelitteratur i mellomkrigstida: artikkelsamling fra et arbeidsseminar : Finse 24.-26. januar 1991" Archived 2022-04-07 at the Wayback Machine. Norbok. Norsk senter for barneforskning. Visited 26 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Forfattarar frå Sogn og Fjordane | Nils Landmark (1844–1923)". forfattarar.sfj.no (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  4. ^ "002 Juliane Wiborg - 04 - 0052 Frognerveien 13 - 053 - Tellingskretsoversikt - Folketelling 1910 for 0301 Kristiania kjøpstad - Digitalarkivet" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  5. ^ Birkeland, Tone; Risa, Gunvor; Vold, Karin Beate (2005). Norsk barnelitteraturhistorie. Samlagets bøker for høgare utdanning (2. utg. ed.). Oslo: Samlaget. ISBN 9788252159332. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b Meen, Heidi. Hundre prosent kvinne (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Stavanger Aftenblad 1911.12.14". Stavanger Aftenblad 1911 (in Norwegian). 14 December 1911. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  8. ^ a b c "Cappelen". www.damsleth.info. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  9. ^ Wiktorsen Kola, Kjersti. "Analyse av Kari Hushjelp" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2014.

Further reading

External links

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