The Modern Novel

Biography

Axel Jensen was born in 1932 in Trondheim. His father was a butcher and had a well-known sausage-making company. It was expected young Axel would follow in his father’s footsteps. His parents later divorced. He did go to university but lasted only a couple of days and then took up various odd jobs. He published his first novel in 1955 but was not happy with it and burned the remaining copies.

His first success came with his second novel – Ikaros – ung mann i Sahara (Icarus – A Young Man in Sahara). Jensen had a relationship with Marianne Ihlen, and she thought he was going to take her to Greece. However, he told her he was going with another woman and then changed his mind and went with Marianne. They lived on the Greek island of Hydra. They broke up, got back together and got married. but again he had an affair – with US painter Patricia Amlin. Marianne meanwhile started an affair with poet/singer Leonard Cohen, best remembered by Cohen’s song So Long, Marianne.

Jensen returned to Norway and continued to have a messy love life as well as mental health issues. He would also be very much involved in setting up the Oslo International Poetry Festival. He would later contract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and died in 1971.

He wrote several novels as well as non-fiction works. Three of his novels have been translated into English.

Other links

Axel Jensen
Axel Jensen
Axel Jensen (in Norwegian)
Axel Jensen (in Norwegian)