Michaelis, Karin

(1872-1950)

   A Danish novelist, short story writer, and journalist, Michaelis was, like her contemporary Thit Jensen, involved in a number of causes, primarily pacifism and animal rights; her early opposition to vivisection is notable. A highly productive writer throughout her life, she had her debut with a collection of short stories, Højt Spil (1898; Risky Game), a rather immature work that was not well received. She did much better with the diary novel Barnet (1902; The Child), in which her female protagonist goes through puberty. Lillemor (1902) is an epistolary novel. Michaelis found that the diary and epistolary forms were useful for portraying the mental life of her protagonist within a realistic frame.

   The novel Den farlige Alder (1910; tr. The Dangerous Age, 1912) and its sequel Elsie Lindtner (1912) discuss postmenopausal female eroticism. Michaelis also shows how difficult it is for a middle-aged woman to go through a divorce, for men tend to seek younger partners, and a nontraditional relationship between a younger man and an older woman is a threat to the male ego. Atter det skilte (1918; Again, the Divorced) deals with similar themes. Michaelis perfected interior monologue as a narrative technique in the novels Syv Søstre sad (1923; Seven Sisters Sat) and Hjertets Vagabond (1931; The Vagabond of the Heart).

   Michaelis was well informed about American intellectual life and spent World War II as a refugee from the Nazis in the United States, where she worked as a journalist. She was concerned about reforming education for girls—she appears to have learned from John Dewey— and discussed this topic in her four-volume autobiographical novel Træet paa godt og ondt (1924-1930; The Tree, for Good and Evil). She also wrote books for young women.