Liselotte Taarup

1938 - 2016

Denmark

Liselotte Taarup qualified as a teacher in 1960 and graduated in educational science in 1972. After publishing educational science text-books, she made her debut in 1978 with the realist novel De hvide huse, centred on the typical conflict of the time concerning marriage, divorce, and single life. In her subsequent novels Skrænten, 1981, and Bolines femte reinkarnation, 1986, the realism is broken, and the stories move freely between fantasy and reality in a quest for female identity and self-realisation.

The idea of matriarchy is presented, and female communities across time and place materialise in the story’s web of images, characters, and associations. Liselotte Taarup took part in the popular reading tour under the motto “Kærligheden dør aldrig en naturlig død” (love never dies a natural death) in 1980, which also resulted in the publication of an anthology, edited by Ellen Heiberg.