Danish writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karen Bramson (née Adler; born 10August 1875 in Taarbæk, Denmark and died 26January 1936 in Paris, France) was a Danish author who wrote novels and plays mostly in Danish or French although many of her writings have been translated into English.
Bramson spent her early life in Denmark and her later life in France. She was awarded the Légion d'honneur for her work during the First World War and for her contributions to French literature.
Karen Adler was born on August 10, 1875, in Tårbæk, Denmark with parents Julius Frederick Adler a wealthy cigar merchant in Copenhagen and Dorothea (Thea) Monies[1] a second cousin of the physicist Niels Bohr.[2] She had several siblings, one of which was her elder brother, David Julius Adler. Bramson was apparently a better writer than David, because she would sometimes write David Adler's school essays for him. Karen Adler started writing plays at the age of 12 and at 14, had a play in two acts - "Veninder" (Girlfriends) and "I pension for unge piger" (In a boarding house for young girls) - accepted at the Folketeatret (People's Theatre) in Copenhagen for a fee of 200 Danish Kroner.[3] She had insisted that she should remain anonymous, but the theatre director could not resist giving her name to the local newspaper. Bramson hurriedly withdrew her play and refunded the fee to avoid scandal and her father's wrath, for in 1890s Copenhagen, it was unheard of for a young lady of her class to attract such publicity and get paid for writing a play.[4]
In 1893, at the age of 17, she married Louis Bramson (b. 1861 - d 1952). Louis, like Karen, came from a relatively prosperous Danish family, was a doctor and was 15 years older than Karen.[1] In 1895, they had a son, Mogens Bramson. Karen Bramson continued to write and made her début in print with the two plays "Den unge Frue. Mands Vilje" (The young lady - Man's Will) published in 1900 and performed in 1907[5] at the People's Theatre in Copenhagen.
In 1904, Bramson and her husband built a country mansion which they called Solgården (Sun Yard) near the sea in Strøby Egede, Stevns Municipality just south of Copenhagen.[6] They invited artists from different parts of Europe and held plays on a stage they had built there.[7] King Frederick VIII of Denmark is said to have stayed there in 1911 and, in commemoration, is said to have presented Karen with four marble statues of eagles which were placed on the corners of a tower in the building.[8][9][10]
In 1912, Bramson was elected a councillor of Copenhagen Municipality but declined, preferring to concentrate on writing.[11] In 1914, Bramson left Denmark and moved to France in a personal protest against Denmark remaining neutral during the World War I. She was to spend the rest of her life in France.[9]
After Bramson settled permanently in Paris, France at the beginning of the First World War, she wrote mostly in French. During the war, she was attached to the press department of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which tried to create international awareness of the country's situation. Bramson was an enthusiastic writer and propagandist for the French cause and tried to help the plight of French prisoners of war in Germany.[12][13] She was awarded the rank of Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur in 1917 for the work she did during the First World War.[1]
After the war, her greatest triumph was the performance in 1923 of her play "Le Professeur Klenow" at the Theatre de l'Odeon in Paris[14] with actor Poul Reumert in the lead role.[15] Later in 1923 there was a reworked version of her 1902 play, "Den Stærkeste" (The Strongest), as guest performance at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. Shortly before, at the same theatre, her play "De evige Fjender" (The Eternal Enemies) with Reumert and the actress Bodil Ipsen in the lead roles met with limited success. However, in June 1924 the same play translated into English with the title "Tiger Cats" and starring Edith Evans,[16]Nicholas Hannen[17] and Robert Loraine[18][19] was performed at the Garrick Theatre and then the Royal Strand Theatre in London, where it was much more successful and ran for 116 performances.[20] "Tiger Cats", directed by David Belasco also ran for 48 performances in the Belasco Theatre on Broadway in New York with Katharine Cornell[21] and Robert Lorraine in the lead roles.[22] Other plays by Karen Bramson performed about this time were "The Strong" at the Forty-Ninth Street Theatre, New York (1924)[23] and in England "Medusa" (1926),[24] "The Godless" (Wyndhams theatre December 1925),[25] "The Enchantress" (The Garrick Theatre April 1926),[26] "The Man they Buried" (The Ambassadors Theatre June 1928[27]) and "The Tower of Babel" (Venturers Society July 1929).[17][20][28] "Tiger Cats" was revived at the Royalty theatre in May 1931 with Edith Evans and Robert Lorraine in the same roles as before.[17] In 1925 she was the first foreign female author to have a play accepted at the Comédie-Française in Paris.[29] Other plays of hers performed in Paris included "Puissance de Roi" (Odéon Theatre),[30] "Des yeux qui s'ouvrent" (also at the Odéon) and "Bonheur" (Ambassadeurs theatre).[17] She was made an Officer in the Légion d'honneur in 1927 because of her contributions to French literature and plays.[31] In 1934 she also received the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat Danish award.
Bramson was known in fashionable circles in Paris had a reputation for being a brilliant hostess inviting artists, diplomats and politicians to receptions in her house. For example, she was friends with the poet and diplomat Saint-John Perse (who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature), the diplomat Philippe Berthelot, his wife Hélène[3] and the French politician Louis Barthou.[32] Despite her versatile talents, her literary ambitions and a life in the media spotlight, her inner personality was mostly hidden. She disliked giving interviews and was reticent about divulging details of her personal life.[4]
Bramson and her husband had one son, Mogens Louis Bramson[33] After 1914, she lived apart from her husband, but had a friendly relationship with him throughout her life. She adored her son Mogens, who was a pilot[33] and aviation engineering consultant. Mogens Bramson lived much of his life in England and played a crucial role in helping Frank Whittle develop the world's first jet engine.[34] Later in his life, Mogens moved to California, USA where he invented a heart lung machine.[35] One source says Karen Bramson's older sister Olga married the Russian Prince Vladimir Orloff.[2][36] Karen's brother David Julius Adler was the father of the author and painter Vera Stanley Alder.
In her final years, she retired from public life and studied spiritualism. She had always loved a cosmopolitan life and travelled throughout Europe staying in various hotels before dying in 1936 of a cerebral hemorrhage[37] in a hotel room in Paris.[38]
Her ashes were buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.[39][a]
Her first plays ("The Young Lady", "Man's Will" in 1900 and "Mothers" in 1901 ) have been described as focussing on the oppression women suffer in marriage and she often explored themes of interpersonal relationships and the battle of the sexes. Deadly love and female masochist tendencies have also been mentioned by reviewers.[1] One newspaper review of her play "Tiger Cats" noted the London audience "...consisting mainly of middle-aged, unmarried women cheered wildly these scenes of sadism."[50] She has also been described as a feminist[11] and a writer of science fiction in the near future.[51] In 1932 she was regarded by some critics as "the most significant figure in Nordic literature since Ibsens time."[52] The opinion of The Times obituary in January 1936 was that she was perhaps more successful as a novelist than a playwright[17] - in particular for her books "Parmi les hommes" (a vast fresco of Europe before and after World War 1 including the curious character of Lenin), "Un seul homme" (an analysis of an English revolutionary), "Nous les barbares" (a study of middle-class life of her day) and "Star" (the story of a young girl and Hollywood).[17]
Den unge Frue. Mands Vilje (The Young Lady. Man's Will; 1900, two plays in Danish published together,[53])
Mødre (Mothers; 1901, play[54] in Danish also translated into German[55])
Den Stærkeste (The Strongest; 1902, play in Danish also translated into English as Professor Klenov,[56] into French[15][57] and Arabic.[58])
Det lyriska versdramat Berengaria, Dronning af Danmark (Berengaria, Queen of Denmark, in lyrical verse; 1904, play in Danish[59])
Livets Glæde (Life's Joy; 1905,[60] in Danish also translated into Finnish[61])
Vore Kælebørn (skrevet af et af dem) (Our Pet Children (written by one of them); 1905, play four acts in Danish[62])
Dr Morel (1906, novel in Danish, also translated into English by David Stanley-Alder[63] as The Case of Dr. Morel,,[64] Russian,[65] Bulgarian,[66] and self-translated into French.[67])
Nous, les barbares... (We the Barbarians ...; 1929,[78] novel in French, also translated into Spanish[79])
Théâtre (1929–30; Compendium of 12 of Karen Bramson's plays in French in four volumes: L'argent {une famille-l'enfer-La tour de Babel}, L'amour {Le professeur Klenow-Méduse-Le Bonheur}, La foi {L'orgueilleux-L'homme qui a compris-Les yeux qui s'ouvrent} and La haine {Le dictateur-Les félines-Depuis l'aurore des temps}[80])
Brenner, Otto (1927). Leksikon over danske familier[Encyclopaedia of Danish families] (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: The Personal Institute. OCLC482088191.
Holst, Holger Christian (4 May 2000). "Le jeune Alexis Leger/Saint-John Perse vu par Karen Bramson"[Young Alexis Leger/Saint-John Perse as seen by Karen Bramson]. Colloque international Postérités de Saint-John Perse (in French and English). Aix Marseilles University. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
"Bramson Karen (1875-1936)" (in French). Amis et Passionés du Père-Lachese; Écrivains - Poètes - Littérateurs; 87eme division (Columbarium). 16 March 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
"Les Relevés de mises en scènes écrites"[List of written productions] (in French). collections de l'Association de la Régie Théâtrale. 23 October 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
Worsley, Luccy (15 September 2014). "Dame Edith Evans". The Times Great Women's Lives: A Celebration in Obituaries. United Kingdom: The History Press. ISBN9780750962346.
Liggera, Lanayre D. (August 2013). The Life of Robert Loraine: The Stage, the Sky, and George Bernard Shaw. USA: University of Delaware Press. p.181. ISBN9781611494594.
Wearing, J.P. (2014). The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (2nded.). London, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education. p.313. ISBN978-0810893016. OCLC863695327.
Adller, F. (8 March 1926). "Theatre collections: Medusa (La Femme Fatale)". University of Kent, UK, Special Collections. the Pleasure Gardens Theatre, Folkestone, Kent, England. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
Adller, F. (2013). "Karen Bramson, Dansk forfatter"[Karen Bramson, Danish author] (in Danish). Kendtes gravsted (Celebrity burials). Retrieved 6 June 2015.
Mulder, Rob J.M., (24 November 2011) Skywriting - Mr. Bramson above Christiana (Oslo) European Airlines, reprinted from original article in "Flight" magazine 21 June 1923, Retrieved 13 May 2015
"the Bramson lung". Independent. Long Beach, California. 23 August 1972. p.27. Retrieved 16 July 2015. "..The instrument, which assists the heart and lungs, is known as the Bramson lung, named for its designer, Mogens L. Bramson, an engineer. Although the device warms blood and enriches it with oxygen, 50 to 60 per cent of the patient's blood can still be pumped by the natural heart. The patient thus retains his natural pulse. Dr. J. Donald Hill of Presbyterian Hospital of Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, says the Bramson lung buys time for damaged lungs to heal. Standard heart-lung machines may lead to blood damage when used for longer than six hours..."
"The death has occurred in Paris from cerebral haemorrhage of Madame Karen- Bramson, the Danish writer". The Dundee Evening Telegraph. Angus, Scotland. 28 January 1936. p.6.
Kraks Blå Bog[Kraks Blue Book] (in Danish). the "Who's Who of Denmark. Copenhagen, Denmark: Krak. 1921. OCLC219836555.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Nunnally Hamilton, Tiina (1979). Kvindelige danske forfattere 1820-1910[Danish women authors 1820-1910] (in Danish). Ballerup Bibliotekscentralen. ISBN87-552-0582-8.
Brostrøm, Torben (1981). Danske digtere i det 20. århundrede[Danish poets of the 20th Century] (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Gad. ISBN9788712174523. OCLC58579575.
Jørgensen, Aage (1989). Dansk litteraturhistorisk bibliografi 1967-1986[Danish literary bibliography 1967-1986] (in Danish). Centre for Undervisning og Kulturformidling. Copenhagen, Denmark: Akademisk forlag, Dansklærerforeningen.
Ellehauge, Martin (1933). Det danske skuespil efter verdenskrigen[Danish drama after the war] (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Levin & Munksgaard. pp.21–23. ASINB000X7QK40. OCLC463332205.
Wearing, J. P. (2014). The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield. p.308. ISBN978-0-8108-9301-6.
Bramson, Karen (1900). Den unge Frue. Mands Vilje[The Young Lady. Man’s Will; two plays] (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: To skuespil, Gyldendalske boghandels forlag (F. Hegel & søn). ASINB000WHFDTE. OCLC493768937.
Bramson, Karen (1901). Mødre skuespil i tre akter[Mothers; Play in three acts] (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Gyldendal. ASINB000WHGO4M. OCLC248764352.
Bramson, Karen (1904). Det lyriska versdramat Berengaria, Dronning af Danmark[Berengaria, Queen of Denmark; drama in lyrical verse] (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark. ASINB000WHK6MS. OCLC465527302.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Bramson, Karen (1926). The Case of Dr. Morel. Translated from Danish into English by the author's brother David Stanley Alder. London, UK: A.M. Philpot. ASINB000WHK6NM. OCLC557484978. Also published in 1950 in English as the "Sins of a Paris Doctor"
Breamson, Karen (1909). Дѣло Доктора Мореля (in Russian). Anna Vasil'evna Ganzen; Petr Gotfridovič Ganzen. St. Petersburg, Russia: A.F. Marks. OCLC24019022.
Bramson, Karen (1919). Un révolté[A revolutionary] (in French). Translated from Danish into French by the author. Paris, France: E. Fasquelle. ASINB0018HCNFY. OCLC491617501.
Bramson, Karen (1912). U morja[The King] (in Russian). Anna Vasil'evna Ganzen; Petr Gotfridovič Ganzen; Alvilde Prydz. St. Petersburg, Russia: A.F. Marks. OCLC71459709.
Bramson, Karen (1929). Théâtre[Theatre] (in French). Compendium of 12 of Karen Bramsons plays in French in four volumes. Paris, France: Ernst Flammarion. ISBN9781278510798.
Bramson, Karen (1932). Una enamorada[A lover] (in Spanish). Translated into Spanish by Francisco Pina. Madrid, Spain. OCLC431804761.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Bramson, Karen (1952). En kjærlighetsnatt[A night of Love] (in Norwegian). translated into Norwegian by Trygve Width. Series Alle tiders forfattere. OCLC467958823.
