DEBUT

After her year at the Viken school, Ingeborg went looking for a job in Oslo in 1914. Lacking education, she did not have many options, but she found employment as a shop assistant. Through this job, she financed her sister Hilda's teacher education. At that time, she met Birgit Abrahamsen, a painter who became an important friend. Birgit helped her when she got ill, and encouraged her to start writing.

In 1920, her first book, "Når elv skifter leie", was published. It was well received by the contemporary author Ingeborg herself rated the best: Hans E. Kinck. He wrote in the newspaper "Tidens Tegn":

"In her art, she is always present, always in good faith (...) Regarding her choice of subject, her view seems thoroughly healthy, with a great humanity (...) a young and unusually warm spirit and sense of humour".

Afterwards, her books appeared regularly till the war broke out. They are marked by a concise, condensed language, and unusually rich and graphic vocabulary. The early short stories and novels may seem gloomy, with the deep forests of Eastern Norway as a backdrop and intense, sometimes violent action. But they also contain small, light nature sketches, pointing towards her later poems.

Pre-war books:


	"Når elv skifter leie"	"Svartsnær"
	"Loke sår havre"	"Ugild"
	"Valvarsel"	"Glaam"
	"Marihand"	"Brudgommen"
	"Fostersverdet"	"Tidehvervsklokken"
	"I skreddertimen"	"Har du hørt det?"
	"Jeg vil hem att"	"Lørdagskveld"
	"Jeg har møtt en engel"	"Himmeriks hellesten"
	"Hvor kom vi fra?"	"Livets dans"
	"Utenfor balkongen"	"Kjørekaren"
	"Sognebudet"	"Annendagsfesten"
	"Den nye læreren"

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[Ingeborgmuseet]