Marie Petersen
Encyclopedia
Marie Luise Auguste Petersen (July 31, 1816 – Junn 30, 1859 Id
ID
ID, I.D. or id may refer to:* The id, ego, and super-ego comprise the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche- Abbreviations :...

) was a German author famous for her fairy tale Princess Ilse
Princess Ilse
Princess Ilse is a character of German folklore, made famous by Marie Petersen in 1850. While riding to the chase with her father King Ilsing, she lost the way and came at nightfall to the gates of the fairy world, ruled by the fairy queen. The queen met her kindly and invited to the crystal...

.

Petersen came from a well off family of pharmacists in Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...

. Her grandfather, the "university pharmacist" Friedrich Petersen had since 1780 worked at the apothecary "Zur Goldenen Kugel." His second son, Karl later took over the business, marrying Wilhelmine (née Dionysius), and Marie Petersen was the first child of this union.

Shortly after her birth, Petersen developed a chronically deformed spinal curvature
Spinal curvature
Although spinal curvature can refer to the normal concave and convex curvature of the spine, in clinical contexts, the phrase usually refers to deviations from the expected curvature, even when that difference is a reduction in curvature.Types include kyphosis, lordosis, and scoliosis.The thoracic...

, and orthopedic institutions in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 were unable to correct the condition. Upon the death of Petersen's mother in 1834, her father sold his pharmacy in order to devote himself to the care and upbringing of his children. He remarried, and his second wife, Amalie, transformed the household into one of the most musical in Frankfurt. Marie lived modestly and withdrawn and received a well-rounded education, earning her the esteem of her contemporaries.

Because of her illness, Marie rarely left her hometown. In 1851 she made one journey in the Harz
Harz
The Harz is the highest mountain range in northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart , latinized as Hercynia. The legendary Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz...

 mountains, the catalyst for her literary activity. A travel letter she had sent to a relative under the title Prinzessin Ilse was published anonymously in 1852 as A Fairy Tale from the Harz Mountains. The story was widely successful, and but Petersen's identity as the author only appeared in the twelfth edition, this time published with an additional tale. It was also translated into both English and French.

Marie did not live to see the great success of her two stories. She died in 1859 after a slight inflammation took proved too much for her weak body.

Works

  • Prinzessin Ilse
    Princess Ilse
    Princess Ilse is a character of German folklore, made famous by Marie Petersen in 1850. While riding to the chase with her father King Ilsing, she lost the way and came at nightfall to the gates of the fairy world, ruled by the fairy queen. The queen met her kindly and invited to the crystal...

    , a Fairy Tale from the Harz mountains, 1850 (25 editions by 1906)
  • Die Irrlichter (The will-o-the-Wisp), 1854 (48 editions by 1908)
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