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Ernst Hakon Jahr. Clara Holst: En kvinnelig pioner i akademia i Norge.

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Ernst Hakon Jahr. Clara Holst: En kvinnelig pioner i akademia i Norge. Oslo: Novus Forlag, 2006. Pp 240.

The title of this book is quite revealing--it is the biography of Clara Holst, who was one of the first women in the Norwegian academe. She was, most notably, the first woman who received her doctoral degree in Norway and was a pioneer in many other ways as we see later in the book. 2003 marked one hundred years since Holst received her degree, and the stated goal of the book is "to maintain the knowledge that was spread about Clara Holst in 2003 and 2004" (6). The necessity of this task is justified by the fact that Holst is often and undeservingly neglected or completely forgotten when the annals of the Norwegian academe are written. The reason for this omission specifies Jahr is paradoxal: Clara Holst refused to accept a government position because she did not agree with its particulars. The job that she had been offered was far below her qualifications, and what she really should have been doing was left to older, far less qualified male colleagues. Holst refused to comply with this position and its implications--that women could not have priority before any other possible male counterparts. As an eloquent act of protest she withdrew from her appointment and from any other future scholarly work. Instead of being recognized for her act, Holst and her academic achievement were almost completely forgotten. This last claim by Jahr does not quite seem to correspond to the truth because in the preface he also mentions several facts that testify that there is already knowledge and appreciation of Holst's academic accomplishment. Most notably, he lists the activities that marked the centennial of her defense, from which one can...

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