Lagerlöf Selma and her amazing story. Biography and works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Writer Lagerlöf Selma, who gave the world an amazing story about the boy Niels and wild geese, in all her works tried to teach humanity from an early age to love nature, cherish friendship and respect the homeland. Unfortunately, the life of this wonderful woman was not easy and cloudless.

Noble blood

Selma Lagerlef was born in 1858 in Sweden in a large family that belonged to the oldest noble family. The girl's father is a retired military man, and her mother is a teacher. The appearance of the baby was an unusually happy moment in the life of the whole family.

However, at the time when Selma Lagerlöf was born, only the old estate of Morbakka and beautiful legends remained from the past ancestral grandeur. Their girl was often told by her father, who did not have a soul in her. And she, in turn, really needed love, affection, support and constant care.

Hard childhood

Selma needed more care than other children in the family. After all, when the girl was three years old, she was paralyzed. Fortunately, she survived, but became disabled. During the time whenthe rest of the children walked in the street, the girl was forced to stay in bed. In order to somehow drive away sad thoughts, Selma altered at her own discretion various real and fictional stories heard from her father and grandmother. Thus passed an extraordinarily difficult six years. But not only sad moments contain her biography. Selma Lagerlöf and her family couldn't be happier when the Stockholm doctors managed to get the girl back on her feet.

First steps into the big world

With incredible efforts, the future writer learned to walk again, leaning on a stick, which forever became her faithful companion. But despite this, right now the girl felt that the big world opened its doors for her.

However, surviving in a huge society turned out to be very difficult. In addition to the fact that each movement required great physical effort, the surrounding people were sometimes hostile. But how could Selma Lagerlöf give up in the face of difficulties? A brief biography of the future writer repeatedly proves her perseverance, diligence and resilience. Far behind her peers at twenty-three, Selma enters the Stockholm Lyceum. And a year later, in spite of all those who called her overgrown and crippled, the girl was enrolled in the Higher Royal Teachers' Seminary.

Working at school

After successful studies, Lagerlöf successfully finds his first job. This is a teacher's position in a girls' school in a small town in southern Sweden. Extraordinary and educated, she quickly findscommon language with their students. Her classes are always interesting and exciting. Teacher Selma Lagerlöf does not force children to memorize familiar material, but turns lessons into entertaining performances. In such classes, numbers become not so boring, historical characters look like fairy-tale heroes, and place names are easier to remember in the form of unusual places on maps of magical worlds.

Sad realities

However, in real life, a simple provincial teacher is not so beautiful. After the death of the person closest to her - her father - Selma is trying her best not to lose her composure. But trouble does not come alone. After his father's death, the Morbakk family estate, which had belonged to the family since the 16th century, was sold at auction due to huge debts. And then there was a zeal to preserve the old family legends at all costs. So the purposeful and accustomed to difficulties Selma Lagerlöf decided for herself. The brief biography of this amazing girl constantly speaks of her incredible willpower and ability to overcome difficulties.

Creativity

Secretly every night a young teacher Lagerlöf writes her first novel, The Saga of Jesta Beurling. The hero of the work is a traveler who, having visited an old estate, gets acquainted with its real inhabitants and their ancient legends. Many of Lagerlöf's colleagues considered such creativity irrelevant in times of rapid development of science. Despite such unflattering remarks, the young teacher nevertheless decidedsubmit your manuscript to a competition in a well-known newspaper. Much to the surprise of others, it was Lagerlöf Selma who became the winner! The jury members of the competition noted the extraordinary creative imagination of the writer. It is this fact that inspires the girl and helps to believe in her own strength.

Literary success

In the next fourteen years, Lagerlöf becomes a well-known author of historical novels. The success of her works helps the writer to receive a royal scholarship. However, each victory of a girl is perceived in society more as luck, and not as a result of hard work and great talent. It's not easy to break old stereotypes that women can't be great writers.

The novels "Miracles of the Antichrist" and "Jerusalem" are becoming very popular in Sweden. Also, these works are saturated with deep religiosity, in which Selma Lagerlöf was brought up from childhood. "Holy Night", "Child of Bethlehem", "Candle from the Holy Sepulcher" and other stories included in the collection "Legends of Christ" are a clear confirmation of this.

The story of Niels

Despite the fact that Lagerlöf wrote many works, it was the fairy tale "Niels' Wonderful Journey with the Wild Geese" that brought her world fame. Interestingly, it was originally conceived as a textbook for schoolchildren. In such a fascinating way, the children had to study the geography and history of Sweden, its culture and traditions. However, the appearance of such a book helped the guys not onlyimprove the knowledge of the school curriculum, but also, together with the main character, learn to sympathize with the unfortunate and enjoy good moments, protect the weak and help the poor. In the yards it became fashionable to play "catsenautes" - that's how Niels was nicknamed. Selma Lagerlöf at the same time felt great support from the children, which could not be said about adults. Critics vied with each other to publish devastating articles with harsh condemnations of the author. To spite all ill-wishers, the book was recognized not only in the homeland of the writer, but throughout the world.

Nobel Prize

But the writer didn't always have dark clouds hovering over her head. And her biography is filled with good moments. Selma Lagerlöf in 1909 became the first woman to receive one of the highest international awards in literature. "For noble idealism and richness of imagination" the writer was awarded the Nobel Prize. A gold medal, a diploma and a cash check were presented to her by the King of Sweden Gustav V himself. And this is not a mere accident. After all, by this time Lagerlöf had already published more than thirty books and was loved far beyond the borders of her country. It should be noted that the most famous of her works still remained a fairy tale about a boy who was able to see Sweden from a bird's eye view.

Creative legacy

Having received the Nobel Prize, Lagerlöf was able to buy the family estate in which she lived until the end of her days, because it was thanks to Morbakka that she had the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a fairy tale about Niels. Selma Lagerlöf's latest greatest workswere written from 1925 to 1928. These are three novels about the Levenskiölds - "The Ring of the Levenskiölds", "Anna Sverd" and "Charlotte Levenskiöld". They tell about the vicissitudes of life of one family for several generations. The events in the novels take place from 1730 to 1860.

Religious works for children are still a terrific success today. Some of them have been reissued. The first updated edition of The Legends of Christ was published in 1904 in Sweden. In Russia, this happened in 2001 thanks to the work of the ROSMEN-PRESS publishing house. The book includes stories about Christ that Selma Lagerlöf heard from her grandmother as a child: “Holy Night” and “The Vision of the Emperor”, “In Nazareth” and “The Baby of Bethlehem”, “The Well of the Wise Men” and “Flight into Egypt”, as well as other stories.

Skeleton in closet

Selma Lagerlef was not a very sociable person in ordinary life. Therefore, little is known about her personal life. Of course, she spent most of her time in the family estate, which she managed to redeem after being awarded a well-known prize. In appearance, one could immediately judge Selma Lagerlöf as an old maid. However, there were some secrets in this plan, and they were destined to be revealed only fifty years after the death of the famous writer. Unexpectedly, after so much time, letters were discovered revealing some unusual aspects of her intimate life. After such news about Lagerlöf, her mysterious persona again interested many.

Community activities

Evenalready at an advanced age and suffering from a serious illness, Lagerlöf Selma could not stay away from the troubles that haunted Europe. During the wartime between Finland and the Soviet Union, she donated her gold medal to the Swedish National Relief Fund for Finland.

In the thirties, the storyteller repeatedly took part in the rescue of writers and various cultural figures from Nazi persecution. The charitable foundation organized by her efforts saved many talented people from prison and death. These were the last good deeds of the writer.

In March 1940, Selma Lagerlöf passed away. But even after many decades, millions of girls and boys still peer into the sky with bated breath. After all, maybe there, under the very clouds, hurrying towards adventure, the fearless domestic goose Martin flies by, carrying his little comrade Niels on his back.