In the world, Swedish literature has a female literary section whose largest representative is Selma Lagerlöf.
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| Female writer Selma Lagerlof. |
The novel Miracles of the Antichrist (1897) was written after Lagerlöf's return from Italy. She still used the technique of mixing modern reality with legendary fiction to address socio-political issues. The story takes place in the 19th century, on the poor island of Sicily. But then the railway was laid, life improved thanks to a series of miracles of socialism, the anti-Christian doctrine.
There is much debate about how much Selma Lagerlöf opposed the philosophy of socialism; it is possible that she also recognized the potential of socialism to improve the material conditions of human life, but she wanted to synthesize and reconcile socialism with Christianity. The Tale of a Hamlet (1899) reflects the ideological tendency in late 19th-century Europe that favored occult science and complex psychological analysis.
A trip to Jerusalem and Egypt inspired Lagerlöf to write Jerusalem I, II (1901, 1902). The novel describes the fanatical "revivalist" peasants who leave their Swedish fields to migrate to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, to live as in the time of Jesus. They experience much suffering and hardship. In the end, some of the main characters return to the Swedish countryside to continue living as before, true to the teachings of their ancestors. Only a small group of loyalists remain in Jerusalem.
The lyrical short story collection The Legend of Christ (1904) exalts Christianity, the spiritual strength of young Christ and those around him.
A great work, no less famous in the world than Gästa Berling, is The Adventures of Nils Holgersson (1906-1907). This is a book made to order, Lagerlöf received a commission to write a book to teach Swedish geography for primary school students, she composed it in the form of a fairy tale. Perhaps, she paid more attention to the appeal than the knowledge. The main characters are animals who can think and act with human appearance, they have the power to educate about the spirit of solidarity like The Jungle Book by British writer R. Kipling.
Despite initial opposition from teachers, Lagerlöf's 500-page work has conquered Swedish schools, children in the country and around the world; to date, the book has been translated into more than forty languages, including Vietnamese. The story is about Nils, a mischievous 14-year-old boy who teases a little devil and is transformed into a dwarf. So he flies all over the country, getting to know people and animals, and local legends. After six months, he returns home, has grown up again, and knows how to behave well with people and animals.
The story The Charioteer of Death (1912) shows an interest in the occult. It tells of a good worker who becomes an alcoholic, abusing his wife; she leaves him. He attempts suicide with his children on New Year's Eve. A devout woman dies that night and drives a ghost chariot to save him. The story is a social critique that was made into the famous film The Ghost Chariot . The story The Emperor of Portugal (1914) tells of an old man who loses his mind when his daughter becomes a victim of the big city. She goes away and never returns home. He becomes paranoid, thinking he is the Emperor of Portugal.
The Soul Will Bear Witness (1912) is a short story that reflects the author's belief in the victory of Good, the need for repentance, and the combination of religion and occult science. The story takes place mostly in the afterlife, when the soul leaves the body. The depiction of illness and deprivation is inherently critical realism.
The World War 1914-1918 was a blow to Lagerlöf's belief in Goodness. The Outcast (1918) tells the story of a participant in an Arctic expedition who, due to survival circumstances, is forced to eat human flesh. Afterwards, he lives in seclusion, trying to find comfort in the love of others.
Lagerlöf spent the rest of her life writing an autobiography of her childhood and youth. She also wrote a three-volume novel about the Lövenskold family; the setting was still the countryside of Varmland with its romantic ghost stories, and the peasant life in the old hamlet with its rather complicated problems.
Selma Lagerlöf occupies a special place in Swedish and world literature. The famous modern Swedish novelist S. Delblanc explained that Lagerlöf represents Swedishness, Nordicness, and provinciality, all originating from Icelandic legends expressed through the oral folk storytelling technique; the content and narration are simple, attractive, contain simple morals, and wonderfully combine reality and fantasy.
The Swedish novel genre continued this old tradition and did not suffer the same crisis as in Western Europe, where literature was more academic and bourgeois. The art of telling local, provincial folk tales survived in the rural hamlets. The stories were often told by women; women had real power in life. Selma Lagerlöf's theme was the belief in the liberating and comforting power of love, female love; through love women save men, draw them back to family and community.
This view contrasts with Strindberg's hatred of women and the family. Lagerlöf has a pantheistic outlook; in her writing, she exploits magical and mystical elements whenever female love is faced with a difficult challenge... Norse mythology for her is often expressionist - very much in line with the German mentality.
Lagerlöf's style can be at times a bit old-fashioned romantic, a bit sentimental, but it is always engaging because of its storytelling talent, its humanity, and its belief in the positive that brings harmony to a chaotic life.
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