FIBIGER, MATHILDE

(1830-1872)

   A Danish novelist, Fibiger was the first writer in her country to introduce issues of justice for women into literature. In her first novel, Clara Raphael: Tolv Breve (1850; Clara Raphael: Twelve Letters), which was published under the pseudonym Clara Raphael, Fibiger describes the effort of a young governess to create independence for herself. She laments the fact that Danish society offers no significant opportunities for intellectual growth to highly talented women and that women's only viable option in society is marriage. The novel set off a heated debate in Copenhagen, in which Fibiger intervened with a second epistolary novel, Et Besøg (1851; A Visit), which expands on her views concerning the oppression of women. Her novel Minona (1854) goes further still by criticizing the institution of marriage and the double standard in sexual matters.