The writer Lagerlef Selma, who presented the world with an amazing story about the boy Nils and the wild geese, in all of her works tried to teach humanity to love nature, cherish friendship and respect the homeland from an early age. 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, which belonged to the oldest noble family. The girlâs father is a retired military, 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 Selma Lagerlef was born, only the old Morbakka estate and beautiful legends remained from the past tribal greatness. Their girl was often told by a father who did not look for souls in her. And she, in turn, was in great need of love, affection, support and constant care.
Hard childhood
Selma needed more care than the other children in the family. After all, when the girl was three years old, she was paralyzed. Fortunately, she remained alive, but became disabled. While the other children were walking on the street, the girl was forced to stay in bed. To at least somehow drive away sad thoughts, Selma redid at her discretion various real and fictional stories heard from her father and grandmother. Thus passed an unusually difficult six years. But not only sad moments does her biography contain. Selma Lagerlef and relatives could not get enough when the Stockholm doctors managed to put the girl on her feet.
First steps to the big world
Making incredible efforts, the future writer learned to walk again, leaning on a stick, which forever became her faithful companion. But despite this, it was now that the girl felt that the big world had opened her doors for her.
However, to survive in a huge society was very difficult. In addition to the fact that each movement required great physical effort, the people around were at times hostile. But how could Selma Lagerlef surrender to the difficulties? A brief biography of the future writer repeatedly proves her perseverance, hard work and vitality. With a big lag behind peers in his twenty-three years, 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.
School work
After successful studies, Lagerlef successfully finds his first job. This is a teacher position in a school for girls in a small town in southern Sweden. Extraordinary and educated, she quickly finds a common language with her students. Her lessons are always interesting and exciting. Teacher Lagerlef Selma does not force children to memorize familiar material, but turns lessons into entertaining performances. In such classes, the numbers become not so boring, historical characters look like fairy-tale characters, and geographical names are easier to remember in the form of unusual places on the 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 - father - Selma struggles not to lose her temper. But trouble does not come alone. After his father's death, the Morbacca family estate, which had belonged to the family since the 16th century, was auctioned off due to huge debts. And then there was a zeal at all costs to preserve the old family legends. So decided for herself the purposeful and used to difficulties Selma Lagerlef. A short biography of this amazing girl constantly speaks of her incredible willpower and ability to overcome difficulties.
Creative beginning
Every evening, secretly from everyone, the young teacher Lagerlef writes his first novel, The Saga of Yest Burling. The hero of the work is a traveler who, having visited an old manor, gets acquainted with its real inhabitants and their ancient legends. Many colleagues of Lagerlef considered such creativity to be irrelevant during the rapid development of science. Despite such unflattering remarks, the young teacher still decided to send her manuscript to the famous newspaper for the contest. To the great surprise of those around, it was Lagerlef Selma who became the winner! The jury members 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, Lagerlef 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 is not so easy to destroy the old stereotypes that women cannot be wonderful writers.
The novels âMiracles of the Antichristâ and âJerusalemâ are becoming very popular in Sweden. Also, these works are saturated with deep religiosity, in which Selma Lagerlef was brought up from childhood. âHoly nightâ, âBethlehem babyâ, âCandle from the Holy Sepulcherâ and other stories included in the collection âLegends of Christâ are clear evidence of this.
The Story of Niels
Despite the fact that many works were written by Lagerlef, it was precisely the fairy tale âA wonderful journey of Niels with wild geeseâ that brought her world fame. Interestingly, it was originally conceived as a study guide for schoolchildren. In such a fascinating way, children had to study the geography and history of Sweden, its culture and traditions. However, the appearance of such a book helped the children not only improve their knowledge of the school curriculum, but together with the main character learn to sympathize with the unfortunate and enjoy good moments, protect the weak and help the poor. In the courtyards it became fashionable to play "gusenavtov" - that was how Nils was nicknamed. At the same time, Selma Lagerlef felt great support for the children, which could not be said about adults. Critics vied to publish devastating articles with sharp condemnations of the author. To spite all ill-wishers, the book received recognition not only in the writer's homeland, but throughout the world.
Nobel Prize
But after all, the writer did not always have dark clouds above her head. And her biography is filled with good moments. Selma Lagerlef in 1909 became the first woman to be awarded one of the highest international literature awards. âFor the noble idealism and wealth of fantasyâ the writer was awarded the Nobel Prize. A gold medal, a diploma and a cashier's check were presented to her by the king of Sweden, Gustav V. And this is not a mere accident. After all, by this time Lagerlef had already released more than thirty books and was loved far beyond the borders of his country. It should be noted that the most famous of her works still remained a fairy tale about a boy who was able to view Sweden from a bird's eye view.
Creative heritage
Having received the Nobel Prize, Lagerlef was able to redeem 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 ââcreating a fairy tale about Nils. The last major works of Selma Lagerlef were written from 1925 to 1928. These are three novels about Levenschilds - âLevensheld's Ringâ, âAnna Sverdâ and âCharlotte Levenscheldâ. They tell about the vicissitudes of one family for several generations. Events in the novels take place from 1730 to 1860.
Religious works for children are amazing today. Some of them have been reprinted. 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 Lagerlef heard from her grandmother as a child: âHoly Nightâ and âVision of the Emperorâ, âIn Nazarethâ and âBethlehem Babyâ, âWell of the Sagesâ and âFlight to Egyptâ, as well other stories.
Skeleton in the closet
Selma Lagerlef in ordinary life was not a very sociable person. Therefore, little is known about her personal life. Of course, she spent most of her time in a family name, which she managed to redeem after being awarded the famous prize. In appearance, one could immediately judge Selma Lagerlef as an old maid. However, there were some secrets in this regard, and they were destined to reveal only fifty years after the death of the famous writer. Suddenly, after such an amount of time, letters were discovered revealing some unusual aspects of her intimate life. After such news about Lagerlef, her mysterious person again interested many.
Social work
Even at a young age and suffering from a serious illness, Lagerlef Selma could not stay away from the troubles that plagued Europe. In wartime between Finland and the Soviet Union, she donated her gold medal to the Swedish National Finnish Assistance Fund.
In the thirties, the storyteller repeatedly participated in the rescue of writers and various cultural figures from Nazi persecution. The charity 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 Lagerlef passed away. But even after many decades, millions of girls and boys still gaze into the sky, holding their breath. After all, maybe there, under the very clouds, in a hurry to meet adventures, a fearless domestic goose Martin flies flying, carrying on the back of his little comrade Niels.