Jane Elise Wilhelmina Gernandt-Claine was born in Scania like her mother, her father being a factory owner from Stockholm. Due to illness, she was forced to discontinue her studies at the Royal Women’s Superior Training Academy in 1881-1882 in Stockholm. She taught languages, took singing lessons, and acted on stage in Helsinki. During a visit to Paris, she met the consul general and explorer Julius Claine, whom she married in 1894.
Her debut work was Fata Morgana och andra berättelser, 1893, after which numerous novels and short story collections ensued. She also published four poetry collections, in which she proudly highlights her important female predecessors. Her final collection, Hetär, 1931, however, is tinged with resentment towards a cultural establishment that obstructed women. The book is published anonymously by “a female rhymester”. Her autobiography, Mitt vagabondliv, 1929, describes the circumstances of women in different parts of the world.
In the intervals between her frequent travels, she resided in France; however, she remained connected to her home country through her writing. Jane Gernandt-Claine received Bonnier’s Literature Prize for her first poetry collection, Dikter, 1908.
