HENNES By Maja Elmer

Author is the model!

She wrote her first poem at eight, tucked up in bed at night, with the streetlight outside as her only light source, and twenty-two years later, her debut “Fragments Of Me” was published.

The novel tells the story about Celine, a 16-year old girl from Stockholm who suddenly one day is »discovered« and ends up in the limelight as a model. But it isn’t predominantly the modeling industry the author describes but a young girl’s emotional development to womanhood.

Maria Theresia declares that the book is not an autobiography but the research has been thorough to say the least. She has worked in front of the camera, behind the camera, been a fashion editor of a magazine as well as run her own model agency.

Describe yourself!

- I am too impulsive and do everything too quickly. I think too fast, talk too fast, walk too fast. Because of this it is maybe noteworthy that »Fragments Of Me« took four years to write?

- I re-wrote it at least twenty times until I was happy, she says. First I wrote it in a more traditional fashion, and then I started peeling away anything I didn’t think was entirely crucial for the story. I wanted it to reflect the fast moving times we live in, and chose the style to be as similar to how we think as possible. I didn’t want it over descriptive, didn’t want to interfere with the readers mental picture. What I wanted to let the audience make up their own mind regarding characters and events. I wanted to make them really think and be fully involved as the story unfolded.

Maria Theresia has always written – everything from diaries to hastily scribbled notes of sudden experiences and impressions. She has an amazing ability to grasp things that that occurs and her memory is superb. When she writes she strives to achieve true emotions. To just be oneself and not correct and beautify. Rawness is paramount. She’s not afraid of negative feelings and sentiments.

- The human being isn’t all that agreeable through and through. We’re complex characters and it’s important to dare to face our own ugliness. I try to convince myself I’m not actually the person writing, or I become too respectful towards the text.
But she quickly adds:
- There’s nothing more wonderful than when you are on a roll.

Who or what influenced you?

August Strindberg and Hjalmar Soderberg are two heroes. Wolfgang Koeppen is another favourite. She also says she’s very inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s work.
- I’m a Bergman fanatic, she exclaims excitedly. I own his entire back-catalogue of films! I never tire of them. I love the dialogues, the actors, the sets, the photography. Stills photography is very important to me as well. I’m obsessed with photographers like Guy Bordin, Helmut Newton and Paolo Roversi.

How did you find your years as a model?

- I loved to be in front of the camera, but hated everything around it. My need to be in control and being in the driving seat was too great.
- To be able to be a good model you need self-distance and how many young girls have that? One day you’re the most amazing woman ever and the next your worth nothing just because you’ve got a couple of spots, or weigh half a kilo too much. You become rather insecure and feel both inadequate and uncomfortably replaceable.

What does London mean to you?

- London means freedom. People on the whole accept you regardless of who you are or what you look like. But even though London is a fantastic city Sweden will always stay close to her heart.
- I recently bought an old school house in Vastergotland, which I’m currently restoring. It’s the most beautiful and magical place in the world. A real hideout where I can just be.