Axel Jensen: Encyclopedia II - Axel Jensen - Biography

Axel Jensen - Biography

Jensen was born in Trondheim. He first made his debut as a novelist in Oslo in 1955 with the novel Dyretemmerens kors (1955), but later he burned the entire storage of books.

In the 50's he and his wife, Marianne (later renamed Marianne Ihlen), lived on the greek island of Hydra. Jensen was a close friend of the Canadian poet and author Leonard Cohen. Jensen initiated a relationship with Cohen's girlfriend Lena, and Cohen lived a couple of years on Hydra after the break between Axel Jensen and his wife. There is widespread belief that the character Lorenzo in the novel Joacim (1961) is modelled after Cohen, but Jensen also told Cohen that Lorenzo was modelled after the Swedish novelist Göran Tunström.

After some time, Jensen returned to Norway and settled in Fredrikstad. There, Noel Cobb, an English poet and student of psychology, came to interview him. Soon he became sexually involved with Lena. Axel then left Fredrikstad and went to live in London.

Jensen suffered from a severe depression after the break-up with Lena. But in London he met the psychatrist R. D. Laing and received therapy from him. After recovering, Jensen worked as an assistant at the institution Kingsley Hall. Laing was a close friend the rest of his life.

While attending an environmental conference in Stockholm in 1972, Axel met Pratibha, whom he married in India. After returning to Sweden the couple lived in Vaxholm outside Stockholm where they bought an old freightship, built in 1905, which they renamed Shanti Devi. The ship was named after Pratibha's mother and means "The Goddess of Peace".

After restoring the ship with the help of good friends and its former crew, they finally set course for England in 1984. But due to a storm at sea they sought harbor in Oslo after a hazardous journey.

When Axel Jensen arrived in Oslo, he met his old friend, the writer Olav Angell. Together they wanted to transform Oslo into a city renowned for happenings on the scene of international literature. The plan was soon put into action, and Jensen became the front figure in a project which later developed into the Oslo International Poetry Festival, OIPF, occurring in 1985 and 1986.

On the 10th of August 1990 Shanti Devi set course course for its final destination in Ålefjær outside Kristiansand. There Axel and Pratibha settled in a hundred year old school-house, and some years later they sold their old ship.

In the last ten years of his life, Axel Jensen was severely disabled from ALS, amyotrophic lateral schlerosis. He gradually became paralyzed, losing all his motor-coordination abilities. Later, using a breathing-aid, he could neither write nor speak. During this period, he also led a tough campaign against what he termed "the health machinery" for the right to be nursed in his own home. Jensen wrote several essays and articles on this subject. Before the public health service provided the help he needed, private funding to pay for nursing was arranged. Close friends were responsible for this aid including [Leonard Cohen]. His wife also used all of her available energy to nurse her husband until he drew his last breath in his home in Ålefjær.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki