Laura Kieler


Laura Kieler was a Norwegian-Danish novelist. Events from her life and marriage served as the inspiration for the character Nora Helmer in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House.

Biography

She was born Laura Anna Sophie Müller to a Norwegian father, Morten Smith Petersen von Führen, and Danish mother, Anna Hansine Kjerulf Müller.
When Kieler was nineteen years old, she wrote a response to Henrik Ibsen's play Brand that endeared her to Ibsen and his wife. They became friends and nurtured her literary ambitions.
In 1873, she married Victor Kieler, a schoolteacher. The events of her marriage served as the inspiration for the character Nora Helmer in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House. Kieler's husband contracted tuberculosis soon after their wedding, and like the character Nora, Laura Kieler borrowed money under false pretenses in order to finance a trip to Italy for a cure. Some years later, in a desperate attempt to repay the loan, Kieler forged a check. When Kieler's husband learned of the fraud, he demanded a divorce and sought to bar his wife from their children. Kieler had a nervous breakdown and entered a mental asylum for a month. They were later reconciled, but Kieler never forgave Ibsen for using her life as fodder for his controversial drama.