Contents
“I don’t want to write for adults!” – proclaiming this, the creator of Carlson and Pippi Longstocking was cunning: her books are addressed to the child who lives in the soul of a person of any age.
When looking at her photograph, the heart shrinks: thin, thin, in a halo of light gray curls, Astrid Lindgren looks defenseless and young beyond her age. But this impression is deceptive: fate endowed a farmer’s daughter from southern Sweden with a passionate, unbending and self-willed character. At the age of eighteen, having become pregnant without a husband, Astrid Anna Emilia Erikson, at her own peril and risk, fled from her native Vimmerby, from loving and ready to help parents, to Stockholm. The result of two years of continuous struggle for survival in a large metropolitan city, not very friendly to young provincial women, turned out to be sad: starving, sick and exhausted Astrid still had to give the child up for adoption in a strange family.
And although in the future her family life developed quite happily – she got married, took her son from foster parents, and a couple of years later she had a daughter – the trace of the experience remained forever in her soul: that is why love in Lindgren’s books so often goes hand in hand with pain and separation.
Throughout her long life, the creator of Pippi Longstocking and Carlson has fought for something: for the rights of children and animals, for social justice and women’s equality. The same volcanic fever of the soul, which organically does not accept mediocrity, vulgarity and injustice, also permeates her books: Lindgren’s passionate, extraordinary and bright characters come to us in childhood in order to stay with us for life.
Her dates
- November 14, 1907: Born into a peasant family.
- 1926: moves to Stockholm. Birth of son Lars.
- 1931: Marries Sture Lindgren.
- 1934: Daughter Karin is born.
- 1945: Lindgren’s first book, Pippi Longstocking, is published. Enters the position of editor at the publishing house “Raben and Shegren”.
- 1952: Death of Sture Lindgren.
- 1955: first part of the Carlson trilogy.
- 1958: Astrid Lindgren is awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize.
- 1970: retires.
- 1985: Starts campaign against animal cruelty and pushes for legislation to protect animal rights (Lex Lindgren).
- January 28, 2002: Died in Stockholm.
Keys to Understanding
choose good
Breaking taboos, ignoring conventions, doing whatever comes into your head – isn’t this what everyone (at least secretly) dreams of? However, freedom reigns in Lindgren’s world, not chaos: habitual attitudes – fidelity to friendship, love for loved ones, respect for other people’s values - play the same role here as in the real world, becoming the result of a conscious choice of free people.
Resourcefulness instead of obedience
“Your school has too many apples, hedgehogs and snakes for me. I just felt dizzy, ”Pippi sadly states, desperate to solve meaningless arithmetic problems. The conservative model of upbringing has not worked for a long time: the world is changing too quickly, and sometimes not children have to learn from adults, but adults from children. It was Lindgren who became the first children’s writer to proclaim: to demand unconditional obedience from a child means dooming him to defeat. The main thing that is worth developing in children is their inherent creativity, ingenuity and openness to new things.
Love yourself
“I am a handsome, smart, moderately well-fed man in the prime of life!” – the winged formula of Carlson, who lives on the roof, most accurately describes the attitude of Lindgren’s heroes towards themselves. Alive, imperfect, and sometimes simply comical, they treat themselves with respect and love, not excluding, however, charming self-irony.
Joy and suffering
Lindgren does not hide from the reader that loneliness, poverty and death exist in the world: the little tramp Rasmus and the Lionheart brothers are familiar with them firsthand. However, suffering is inseparable from joy: pain does not exclude, but, on the contrary, emphasizes and enhances its taste. And the best metaphor for this unity is the sad bird Goryun from the story “Mio, my Mio”, singing its hysterical songs in a serene rose garden.
Find your way
“The storm of freedom will crush the oppressors!” exclaims Urvar, the hero of the book The Brothers of the Lionheart. “And if it crushes, will it kill?” – asks little Jonathan and, having received an affirmative answer, refuses to shed blood. Lindgren contrasts thoughtless participation in the collective struggle with the creative mental work of the individual. Only in this way can one serve the common cause and earn the right to self-respect.