Maria Marcus was born in Germany into a Jewish family who fled to Denmark in 1933 and moved on to Sweden, where they stayed from 1943 to 1945.
In 1964, she published her debut work, the ironic novel Kvindespejlet, and in 1974 the particularly controversial, confessional, and analytical book Den frygtelige sandhed – en brugsbog om kvinder og masokisme (1974; Eng. tr. A Taste for Pain – On Masochism and Female Sexuality), about female masochism, a theme she follows up on in Jeg elsker det (N), 1980, written together with Stig Sohlenberg, and the therapy book Kys prinsen, 1984. In Barn af min tid (M), 1987, where she relates the story of her escape from the Nazi persecution of the Jews, the development of identity is once again the central theme. Lili-og-Jimi (N), 1991, is about the relationship between an elderly woman and a younger man, and in Evige ungdom. Om livets vendepunkt, 1994, the author examines the fear of growing old.
Maria Marcus, who has worked as a therapist, offers advice on how to meet a partner in Vi mødes ikke tilfældigt. En guide til kontaktannoncernes verden, 1996. She has also written several books for teenagers, and her works had major impact on the breakthrough of new genres in women’s literature in the 1970s.
Additions by the editorial team 2011:
The above biography was first published in 1998. Since then, Maria Marcus has written Det erotiske isbjerg: om ulyst og nulyst i seksualiteten, 1999, Med krop og sjæl: erindringer: kvinde i min tid, 2002, Dating for dig: en lille guide til netdating, 2004, Bulen i mit bryst: en godartet cancerhistorie, 2005, and Min egen rødstrømpe abc, 2010.
