For a long time neglected by critics and literary institutions, the work of the Danish poet and novelist Tove Ditlevsen (1917-1976) is today considered one of the most decisive in contemporary Scandinavian literature. Among other things, the author is seen as an important precursor of the trend of autofiction that has been spreading through the literature of the North since the turn of the century. In my article, I will study the autobiographical trajectory of Ditlevsen, focusing on the reflections – implicit and explicit – offered by the author herself throughout her late work. More specifically, I will propose a reading of Ditlevsen’s memoirs Childhood, Youth and Dependency, written and published around 1970, and posthumously gathered under the title The Copenhagen Trilogy. In this work, the author presents her engagement in literary writing as an ambiguous movement of liberation, protection, and isolation from her initial proletarian environment. Before entering the world of the The Copenhagen Trilogy, I will therefore consider the fundamental importance of its starting point – that is, the childhood of Tove Ditlevsen in the working-class district of Vesterbro, Copenhagen. As we will likewise see, the author’s belated acceptance by critics is a phenomenon intimately linked to her social status, namely her childhood and adolescence spent at the bottom of the ladder.