Selma Lagerlöf

[Bjorn]

I said I'd start a thread, didn't I? Partly fetched from Wikipedia as usual.

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerl?f (1858-1940) was and remains one of Sweden's most popular authors, partly thanks to the children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, 1907) but also for novels like G?sta Berlings saga (G?sta Berling's Saga, 1891), Kejsaren av Portugalien (The Emperor of Portugalia, 1914) and Jerusalem (Jerusalem, 1902). She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1909) and the first woman to be elected into the Swedish Academy (1914). Oh, and she's on the 20-kronor banknote along with Nils and G?sta.


Most of her stories are set in her home province of V?rmland, at the time a pretty rural place consisting largely of forests, small farms, and a few great mansions. Like other writers from the same area, notably her friend the poet Gustaf Fr?ding, she shows a mix of influences echoing both 19th century romanticism, early modernism (though she didn't care for strict realism), old folk tales and religious writings; an early-modern Sweden suffused by the myths and stories that built it.

She was also active in the women's suffragette movement, one of the founders of Sweden's liberal party, as well as an outspoken critic of rising national socialism in Germany. At the start of World War II, she sent her Nobel Prize medal and gold medal from the Swedish Academy to the government of Finland to help raise money to fight the Soviet Union. The Finnish government was so touched that it raised the necessary money by other means and returned her medal to her.

Many of her books have been turned into plays and movies, starting as early as in the silent film age, and continuing to this day.

Threads

• Jerusalem

Links

• Wikipedia
• M?rbacka
• Nobelprize.org motivation and biography
• Gutenberg.org

Bibliography

• G?sta Berlings saga (1891) (Translated 1911 as The story of G?sta Berling and 1933 as G?sta Berling's saga)
• Osynliga l?nkar (1894) (The Outlaws)
• Antikrists mirakler (1897) (The miracles of Antichrist)
• En herrg?rdss?gen (1899)
• Jerusalem (1901-02) (Jerusalem)
• Herr Arnes penningar (1903)
• Kristuslegender (1904) (Christ Legends)
• Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (1906-07) (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils)
• En saga om en saga och andra sagor (1908)
• Liljecronas hem (1911)
• K?rkarlen (1912)
• Kejsarn av Portugallien (1914) (The Emperor of Portugallia)
• Troll och M?nniskor (1915)
• Zacharias Topelius (1920)
• L?wensk?ldska ringen (1925) (The ring of the L?wensk?lds I)
• Charlotte L?wensk?ld (1925) (The ring of the L?wensk?lds II)
• M?rbacka (1926)
• Anna Sv?rd (1928) (The ring of the L?wensk?lds III)
• H?st (1933)
• Meli (1934)

[hdw]

Thanks for reviving the memory of Selma Lagerl?f, Bj?rn. It's nice to see one of the great classic writers of yesteryear getting a write-up, among all the new kids on the block.

Many years ago I read Jerusalem:I Dalarne as it was one of the set books for the Swedish part of my University of London external BA exams. in Scandinavian Studies. I remember the poignant ending of the book, as the villagers who have been influenced by the religious revival set off in a procession of carts and wagons to the railway station, to start their journey to the Holy Land. There are some emotional passages. Here are my instant translations of a couple -

"As the long procession made its way through the countryside, it passed a poor farm, which was called Myckelmyra.

The people who lived there were a poor lot, the kind of dregs who are created when Our Lord averts his eyes or is busy elsewhere.

There was a whole tribe of dirty, ragged children who hurled curses all day long at people passing by, and there was an old crone who would sit drunk at the side of the road, and there was a husband and wife who were always quarrelling or fighting.

No-one had ever seen them working, and people didn't know if they begged more than they stole or stole more than they begged.

As the procession now moved past this miserable and wretched cottage, which was as a place becomes when for many years wind and weather have been allowed to do their worst undisturbed, the old crone was standing steady and upright by the side of the road where she normally used to sit swaying and drooling, and four of the children were standing around her, and all four of them were washed clean and combed and as well-dressed as they could manage.

When those who were riding in the first cart caught sight of them, they slackened their pace and went past them very slowly, and the others all did the same; they went past so slowly that the horses barely moved.

And everyone who was leaving began at once to weep uncontrollably. The adults wept quietly and sobbed, but the children wept with screams and loud lamentation."

I was close to tears myself when I first read that.

Gunhild Clementsson has been estranged from her parents since deciding to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but as the cart she is travelling in passes their house she gets down to go and say her last goodbyes. She goes from room to room, but there seems to be nobody at home. She looks for a pen and paper to write a note to them, and comes across the pretty case her mother received as a wedding present from her husband, and in which she kept her few treasures ...

"But when Gunhild opened the case, she saw that all these things had been removed, and in their place lay a single letter.

It was a letter from herself. A couple of years earlier she had travelled to Mora and sailed over Lake Siljan in a boat, which had capsized. Several of her companions had lost their lives, and her parents had been told that Gunhild too had been drowned.

Gunhild realised that her mother had been so happy, on receiving the letter saying that her daughter was still alive, that she had taken everything else out of her bridal case and laid the letter in there as her greatest treasure.

Gunhild went as pale as a corpse, and her heart tied itself in knots.

"Now I know that I'm killing mother", she said.

[She returns to the cart and continues on her way to her new life] "She sat unmoving the rest of the way, with her hands in her lap, staring in front of her. "I am murdering mother", she thought. "I know that I'm killing mother. I know that mother will die."

"There will not be another day's happiness for me", she thought. "I may well be going to the Holy Land, but I am killing my own mother."

Harry

[Bjorn]

Phew, I'm glad someone replied to this. Even if I had to skip most of it since I haven't read Jerusalem yet. I'll have to confess that my own experience with Lagerl?f is limited to a few titles - The Emperor of Portugalia being my favourite, the story of a man driven insane by the revelation of just how his daughter makes a living since she moved to the big city, played out as both a comedy and a tragedy - but I've decided to dive deeper into her catalogue and I'll definitely have some thoughts on Jerusalem once I'm done.

[titania7]

Bjorn,
I am infinitely delighted to see this new thread on Lagerlof! I haven't yet read any of her works, and, in fact, don't even own anything she's written (at least, not to my knowledge). However, I do recall being at a book sale a couple of years ago and witnessing a woman three times older than myself snatch a copy of one of Lagerlof's books right from under my nose! I was just about to snatch it up. . .and that little eldery lady beat me to it! *sigh* And you know what? She turned to me with the most benevolent smile in the world and said, "You should read her. She's really good." We went on to have an interesting conversation about the very few distinguised female authors who have won Nobel Prizes, and she convinced me to purchase a copy of Edna Ferber's Saratoga Trunk, which I haven't read to this day. Of course, that was less than two years ago, and I've had other authors whose work I've been much more interested in. However, I did see a film adaptation of Saratoga Trunk, and, even though it left a great deal to be desired (it offered, in fact, one of the worst performances I've ever seen Ingrid Bergman give. . .and since she has always been among my favorite actresses, you can imagine what it means if I say that), it nevertheless fascinated me, and I do want to see how the novel compares with the movie.

At any rate, thanks again for this splendid thread, Bjorn. And I'd like your advice on where to begin in regard to Lagerlof: would you suggest that I read The Emperor of Portugal first? It sounds postively marvelous, I must admit!

Warmest wishes,
Titania (aka Alexis)

". . .it's plain that it's not only the devil no one dares to look straight in the face,
for no one dares to look straight at himself."
~Smoke, Ivan Turgenev

[Bjorn]

At any rate, thanks again for this splendid thread, Bjorn.

You're very welcome.

And I'd like your advice on where to begin in regard to Lagerlof: would you suggest that I read The Emperor of Portugal first? It sounds postively marvelous, I must admit!

I'd say either that one or G?sta Berling, which might be easier to find in print. (Oh, and it's The Emperor of Portugalia; yes, that's incorrect, and yes, it's a plot point.)

[adaorardor]

How is Gosta Berling's Saga, anyone who's read it?

[waalkwriter]

You know, sadly enough, I never got finished with The Wondrous Adventures of Nils. It was a lovely book, a wonderful children's story really, but I had it as a google book tab, and I got distracted with school and interest faded and other projects came up, you know the drill. I shall have to try to get back with it some time as I really want to read through the whole thing. I'm not really familiar with the Berling's Saga however.

[Bjorn]

How is Gosta Berling's Saga, anyone who's read it?

It's been 20 years since I read it, I'm planning a re-read in the near future, but AFAIR it's one of her most acclaimed novels for a very good reason. Highly recommended.

[waalkwriter]

It's been 20 years since I read it, I'm planning a re-read in the near future, but AFAIR it's one of her most acclaimed novels for a very good reason. Highly recommended.

There's not much English-language information on it, can you give me your general take on it? What it's about, how its written, etc? If you can. It'd be helpful in my decision on whether or not to add it to the lengthy list.

[Bjorn]

There's not much English-language information on it, can you give me your general take on it? What it's about, how its written, etc? If you can. It'd be helpful in my decision on whether or not to add it to the lengthy list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6sta_Berlings_Saga gives a short description; basically, Gösta Berling is a priest who gets fired for repeated drunkenness and instead takes up with a bunch of other society dropouts as "cavaliers" at a local rich woman's mansion and tries to get by doing as little work as humanly possible. Wikipedia calls it "magic realism" which is a bit of a retrofit, really. Many of Lagerlöf's novels are set in a sort of half-fairytale world - not necessarily one where supernatural things happen, but one where the characters assume they do and it informs their view of the world. It's a modern take on a pre-modern world, reads both like an old saga with the usual morals either preached or parodied, and like a realist take on life in the deep woods.

[Eric]

Every time I am in the Alfa bookshop in Stockholm (which is, on average, once a month) I eye a shelf of Lagerlöfs. But I don't know where to start.

As the first posting on this thread suggests, Lagerlöf wrote a good deal more than only "Gösta Berlings Saga" and "Nils Holgersson". But I do get the impression that, in the English-speaking world, she is known for virtually nothing else. So she's written off as a kind of half-lightweight kid's writer of fantasyish things.

Is there anyone on these threads (Björn?) who could introduce the rest of us to three or four of her other books, whatever their content, so as to dissipate the mists of our ignorance?

[hdw]

Every time I am in the Alfa bookshop in Stockholm (which is, on average, once a month) I eye a shelf of Lagerlöfs. But I don't know where to start.

As the first posting on this thread suggests, Lagerlöf wrote a good deal more than only "Gösta Berlings Saga" and "Nils Holgersson". But I do get the impression that, in the English-speaking world, she is known for virtually nothing else. So she's written off as a kind of half-lightweight kid's writer of fantasyish things.

Is there anyone on these threads (Björn?) who could introduce the rest of us to three or four of her other books, whatever their content, so as to dissipate the mists of our ignorance?

As a member of the Swedish-English Literary Translators' Association (SELTA), I get the occasional embossed invitation from the Ambassador of Sweden to a reception in the embassy in London to mark some book launch or conference, and this time it's the conference

Selma Lagerlöf 2011: Text, Translation, Film.

See more at www.ucl.ac.uk/scandinavian-studies/lagerlof.

If I was 400+ miles nearer to London I might turn up for a free glass of whatever's going, but these days I'm afraid conferences have to come to me, not the other way round, as there's no longer anybody I can claim expenses from. This Mahomet don't go to no mountain.

Harry

[Eric]

I too got my embossed invitation, but alas, I live even further away from London than Harry does. The event is now past, so I do hope to hear something from anyone that attended.

[Cleanthess]

The life of Selma Lagerlöf, this schoolteacher turned writer, is one impressive success story. She published her first novel, Gosta Berlings Saga, during 1891; 18 years later she was awarded the Nobel Prize (and she'd already been a candidate for years at that point), when she was only 50 years of age.

The next work she published after Gosta Berlings Saga was the Invisible Links (Osynliga länkar, 1894), a collection of short stories, some of them belonging to Lagerlöf's divergent brand of the fantastic, of which the most famous is Körkarlen (1912, variously translated as Death's Carter, Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!, The Phantom Carriage, The Stroke of Midnight, etc; and adapted several times for the theater and the movies).

Invisible Links is one interesting book, in the sense that you witness Selma Lagerlöf growth as a writer with each story. She starts the book with the very silly and tedious, pseudo-medieval fictions Legend of the Bird's Nest and The King's Grave, stories where she had not found her mature voice yet. Later on, Lagerlöf moves to the much more interesting Uncle Reuben and His Mother's Portrait, stories that read like a Swedish Zora Neale Hurston without the humor: those two tales are concerned with explaining fictional popular phrases and beliefs (one about why children should not sleep on stone steps, else they'll die like Uncle Reuben did; the other about about Mattson, the bridegroom who ran away from his wedding because his mother's portrait fell to the ground). And then Lagerlöf closes the volume with the fully mature, realistic and modern Downie, with its love triangle, cunning and devious characters, struggle for power and money, and plot reversal at the end with ironic, deadpan summation by the author included. That last story is almost Young-Indian-Kiplingnesque in its artistry and lack of sentimentality. The coda to the book is the ur-Kipling-1908-Story-The-Mother-Hive, Among the Climbing Roses, which reads like the later Kipling story with its plot about parasitic Insects, hard working Bees and cunning Spiders, but does not include the crass political allegory that Kipling forces upon his readers.
Let me close with the irony-brimful final sentence from the book:

'Well, I know that spiders are lying in wait and that beetles will steal, but my lot is a happy one: I have freedom from care. Oh, how blissful is my life, how glorious this existence'.

Later on, I intend to comment on Lagerlöf's later books of short stories, since this thread already has posts on three of her best novels: Gosta Berlings Saga, Jerusalem and Emperor of Portugalia.