I tolfte timmen : En gammal, dåraktig kvinnas bekännelser by Gertrud Almqvist
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I tolfte timmen by Gertrud Almqvist is a novel written in the early 20th century. Framed as a backward-moving diary, it follows Ronny (fru Berglöf), a sharp, self-scrutinizing woman entering late middle age, as she wrestles with aging, sexuality, marriage, motherhood, and sanity. Her world orbits a brittle marriage to Albert, a tender yet testing bond with her daughter Viveke, probing sessions with a nerve specialist, and unresolved memories of past love
that challenge norms. The opening of the novel shows Ronny beginning her diary after a devastating birthday, skewering her social circle’s hypocrisies while admitting her own isolation. Medical visits expose exhaustion, fear of becoming “useless,” and a doctor’s clinical framing of her desire; under analysis she revisits a searing attachment to a woman, Carla, a later affair with a married man taken as “anesthesia,” and fleeting thoughts of self-destruction. A women’s club jubilee sparks bitter, hallucinatory reflections on female aging, and a tense morning exchange with Albert lays bare their incompatibilities. On a spring outing, Viveke gently compels honesty: Ronny admits a former love and urges mutual truth, but afterward suffers a panic vision tied to childhood fear. As treatment continues, she slides into a controlled, therapeutic infatuation with the doctor and discovers relief in “letting go of control,” briefly feeling in rhythm with the world. Further sessions probe her shame before her daughter and recall a tolerant confidante, suggesting that judgment and “purity” are often masks for hidden desires. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Almqvist, Gertrud, 1875-1954 |
|---|---|
| Title | I tolfte timmen : En gammal, dåraktig kvinnas bekännelser |
| Original Publication | Stockholm: Albert Bonniers förlag, 1928. |
| Credits | Jens Sadowski and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Language | Swedish |
| LoC Class | PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures |
| Subject | Diary fiction |
| Subject | Lesbians -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77571 |
| Release Date | Dec 30, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 4276 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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