Practically no-one besides a few Danish literary academics have even heard of Jenny Blicher-Clausen, Danish author from the turn of the previous century. I only came across her work by accident. For some reason I happened to glance at a magazine aimed at librarians of public libraries, from the early years of 1900. At that time, the magazine reviewed all books published in Finland, considering whether they were suitable for great reading public or not. One of the reviews caught my attention: J. Blicher-Clausen had written a book called Uncle Frans, which was described as "morbidly sensitive" and the final verdict was that "suffocating atmosphere leaves readers nauseated, except for women with pathological emotional life"*. Of course I had to find and read this gem!

Well, I have to agree with the reviewer. It was morbid. And so was Sonja by the same writer, which I just recently saved from a trash bin (...book saver syndrome). Both books feature a forbidden, torturous, unconsummated love, a brief experience of happiness – wholly legally and within acceptable societal bounds, no illicit trysts here –, and then separation as painful as a morbidly sensitive author writing to an wholly uncynical audience can come up with.

Certainly, after a hundred years have passed, it is perhaps easier to see why there was such a group of woman readers who needed this kind of book to satisfy their emotional desires and that it probably was not their personal morbidity but a suffocating social context which created such pathologies. But in any case, the modern reader feels somewhat appalled as well as fascinated, reading page after page about romantic love so overwhelming and fulfilling that it leaves no room whatsoever to any other interest – and yet, the net result is pain. All romantic bliss is paid with even more emotional suffering.

Emotional suffering seems to be the main driver of Blicher-Clausen's writing. Both books leave the heroine in searing but noble emotional pain, the aftertaste is one of suspiciously delicious torture. There is no emotional release in the form of a traditional happy end. These books are specifically written for women in constant emotional conflict: they have been conditioned to neglect their own needs as much as possible and to consider sacrifice as the highest virtue, but on the other hand romantic love resulting in happy married life has a strong appeal and moreover, is condoned by society and religion. But to be happily married would not bring the fulfillment of sacrifice. How to reconcile these two mutually exclusive forces? Blicher-Clausen does that by giving her heroines a taste of perfect love and then snatching it away, for-ever, for-eveeeer… The pain her heroines are left with is a permanent after-image left by that fleeting flash of pleasure.

One would expect that the pain caused by lost love would be mitigated by uplifting religious feelings in the end, which is a typical emotional plot in late 19th–early 20th century romances, but no. Blicher-Clausen is not especially religious, even if she was the daughter of a clergyman. Soothingly eternal heavenly love replacing short-lived mortal happiness would ruin perfectly good suffering.

Sonja and Uncle Frans give emotional satisfaction only in case the reader is what could be described as an emotional masochist. That's a bit too kinky for me, as it was for that library magazine reviewer. Other fin-de-siecle romance writers' discreet forays into spanking and submission are quite wholesome and delightful compared to the twisted imagination of Blicher-Clausen, even if in her books outwardly are extremely tame. There's not one stolen kiss, never a hand is raised, hardly even voices. I can only sympathise with the people trapped in the suppressing social conditions, frustrated ambitions and endless introspection which have created the need for Blicher-Clausen, and be extremely thankful there is a safety margin of a century between me and that time. Such good luck it is to born in a time and place where it is OK to want things for yourself and to be happy!

 


* For Finnish readers, enjoy the original text, to which I could not do justice in translation: "kirjassa vallitseva jotenkin ummehtunut ilma vaikuttaa tympäisevästi lukijaan, paitsi sairaalloista tunne-elämää eläviin naisiin".