Agnes Henningsen’s memoirs

Abstract

When Agnes Henningsen (1868-1962) was between the age of 73 and 87, she produced a work of genius. She published eight volumes of memoirs (1941-55) which were permeated with humor, vitality and intensity and which must be regarded as the main work of her extensive authorship.

However, the memoirs do not primarily deal with the difficulties of being accepted as a female author at a time in Danish literary history when such a career would be regarded as a rarity. Rather, they deal with her love affairs and erotic experiences. The entire oeuvre attempts at proving that it would be possible to realize the Danish critic Georg Brandes’ dream of “free love”.

The reader encounters some of the writers of the so-called Modern Breakthrough, among them Brandes himself, who appears as the chief ideologue and fatherly adviser.

Surprisingly, unpublished letters from Henningsen to Brandes reveal that they, in fact, had a sexual relationship around 1901-02. One may speculate why Henningsen omits this affair in her memoirs, since she does not conceal even quite intimate details when writing about other male acquaintances.

Obviously, Agnes Henningsen quite deliberately chose her narrative position, style and the relationship between reality, composition and fiction.