Ragnhild Jølsen’s “Det Forbandede Ord”: A Fairy Tale of Light and Darkness in Female Desire

Abstract

Norwegian author Ragnhild Jølsen wrote compelling novels, yet her last collection of short stories in Efterlatte Arbeider [Later Work] reveals her artistry through her shorter works and literary fragments. In Efterlatte Arbeider, Jølsen crafts a fairy tale, “Det Forbandede Ord” [“The Forbidden Word”], that tells of a woman gifted with the ability to perceive the darkest evil and the purest beauty in nature, a gift that propels her into exploring the mysteries of nature and creation. Because “Den Forbandede Ord” was uncovered after Jølsen’s death and was most likely unedited, many English-speaking readers have not read it, let alone analyzed it. Given a cursory glance, most readers would understand this story as a mere cautionary tale that warns women against acting on their curiosity about strange men. Due to Jølsen’s nonconformity in her lifestyle and form of expression, however, I interpret Jølsen’s story as one of female empowerment, one that portrays the light and darkness in women’s experiences in the form of a folk tale to assert women’s resilience.