In childhood, most of us enjoyed watching and watching a cartoon about a cheerful little man with a motor living on the roof, and read out the adventures of the brave Pippi Longstocking and the funny prankster Emil from Lenneberg. Who is the author of Carlson and many other familiar and beloved literary heroes, both children and adults?
Swedish storyteller
Astrid Lindgren, known to all readers of our country as Astrid Lindgren, the world-famous Swedish children's writer created not only Carlson, but also many other famous and beloved literary characters. She was born back in 1907 in the provincial Swedish town of Wimmerby (Wimmerby), in the farming family of Samuel August Ericsson and his wife Hannah. The author of the fairy tale “Carlson, who lives on the roof” considered her childhood happy, as it was filled with both adventure and games, as well as work on the farm. The writer spoke about special relationships in a parental family filled with love and care in her only adult book, Samuel August from Sevedstorp and Hannah from Hult.
After graduating from school, Astrid begins his career as a proofreader and freelance journalist in the local Wimmerby Tidningen, where he specializes in describing various festive ceremonies and celebrations. At the age of 18, not being married, she became pregnant. This prompted the girl to move to Stockholm, where at the end of the courses she receives the specialty of secretary. In 1926, she gave birth to a son, Lars, but due to financial difficulties, Astrid had to transfer the baby to the foster family of the Danes. In 1928, the future author of Carlson receives the position of Secretary of the Royal Automobile Club, where she meets Sture Lindgren, who later became her husband. After the wedding, held in the spring of 1931, the writer managed to return her son Lars and leave the job, devoting herself to her husband, raising children and home.
How did children's books appear?
However, Lindgren was not only concerned with home and children. At times, she undertook secretarial work, and also wrote small fairy tales and travel descriptions for various family publications and calendars. The first book for children was “Peppy Longstocking”, the idea of which was prompted by Astrid's daughter Karin, but the publishers were wary of this work and decided not to publish it immediately. Great success at that time was brought to the writer by the work “Britt-Marie Pours Out the Soul”, which received a second prize and the possibility of publication at the competition of the Raben & Shegren publishing house in 1944.
Lindgren’s next story, “Calle Blumquist Plays,” written in 1946, receives the first prize at a literary competition .
The first fairy tale novel written by the writer (“Myo, My Myo!”) Was published in 1954. But in 1955, the author of the tale "The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof" gave birth to a cheerful little man with a motor.
For her long creative life, Astrid Lindgren has written more than one hundred works for children and only one for adults.
How and when did Carlson appear?
The Swedish storyteller herself considers her daughter Karin to be the author of this character. During her illness, she asked her mother to tell about Mr. Liljem Kvarsten, who flies to the children who remain at home alone. Based on this story, Lindgren created a fairy tale about Niels Carlson, who visited a boy whose sister died. Combining these two characters, the author of “Baby and Carlson, who lives on the roof” created in 1955 such a funny hero, our favorite merry fellow and prankster with a propeller on his back.
The continuation of the beloved story - “Carlson, who lives on the roof, flew in again” was published seven years after the first part, and in 1968 the final part of the trilogy - “Carlson, who lives on the roof, pranks again” was released.
Unlike the book “Peppy Longstocking”, in which the writer portrayed a cheerful and optimistic image of Peppy, Carlson's author shows how charming, but extremely infantile, egocentric and boastful man with a motor lives on the roof of an ordinary Swedish high-rise building.
They do not like him in Sweden!
It is unlikely that Astrid Lindgren knew that in her native Sweden and her characters, Carlson, whom we loved, is treated completely differently. For Swedes, this character is more likely negative than positive. This is facilitated by his behavior: he lies, is rude, boasts, deceives, steals buns, confuses a little boy, and even has bad habits, as it is written in the text of the book: “he smokes a pipe”.
The Americans went even further and, accusing the fat man with a motor of destructive behavior, in 2003 expelled the tale of him from the school curriculum. Thus, American younger students do not know anything about this fabulous character, as well as about who wrote "Carlson". The author A. Lindgren and the works she created are not studied and read in the framework of a regular school curriculum.
Our Russian Carlson
In 1957, the USSR published the first edition of the book by the Swedish storyteller “The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof” in the translation of Lilianna Zinovievna Lungina. It is this first translation that is considered classic today. Subsequently, the work was translated by Eduard Uspensky and Lyudmila Braude, but critics did not give them high marks. Later, Astrid Lindgren herself, the author of Carlson, herself admitted that she owed much of her other books to the USSR to the beautiful translations of Liliane Lungina.
However, the real popularity for Carlson in the Soviet Union came after the screening of the animated films "Carlson Returned" and "Kid and Carlson", drawn by Yuri Butyrin and Anatoly Savchenko, in 1968 and 1970.
"Carlsonomania" on the radio, in the theater and cinema
On the whole territory of the USSR of the second half of the 20th century, the radio show and the performance of the Satire Theater with the same name - “The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof” were very popular. At first, in 1958, directors Lvov and Litvinov created a radio version, and 13 years later M. Mikaelyan and V. Pluchek staged a film production. The cast was truly stellar: in the roles of Carlson - Spartak Mishulin, Freken Bock - Tatyana Peltzer, Kid - Misha Zashipin, rogues were played by Andrei Mironov and Yu. Sokovnin.
It is not known whether the Swedish storyteller Lindgren, the author of “Toddler and Carlson, Who Lives on the Roof,” saw the Soviet theater production and how she reacted to the film by Swedish director Ule Hellbum, shot in 1974 from her work. It is this famous director for thirty years of the last century that created 17 films based on the works of the writer.
In Sweden, Astrid Lindgren was not only a living legend, but also a symbol of the country. The storyteller left this world in 2002, but her memory lives in her books, translated into many languages and published in more than a hundred countries.