Each great writer has his or her central theme, a great vision, an obsession perhaps. For Selma Lagerlöf it was her belief in love, particularly the liberating power of a woman’s love. This redeeming love has not only a moral significance, but also a social purpose — female love was supposed to save the man for his family, society and human fellowship.

Her first book, The Story of Gösta Berling, focuses on the character of Gösta Berling, a defrocked minister. He was one of the officers discharged after the Napoleonic Wars, lingering on as “cavaliers” (a euphemism for “spongers”). The novel takes place at Ekeby Manor, a matriarchate governed with energy and prudence by the powerful “Majoress,” who has broken the matriarchal commandment, “Thou shalt honor thy mother.” For this, she is punished by the cavaliers who take over the manor, which they also do their best to destroy. Only when Gösta Berling is brought to his senses through the love of a woman does this little community return to order and productivity.

The Story of Gösta Berling has been translated into many languages.

Modern writer with a living mythology

Selma Lagerlöf belonged to a now very distant generation of women who were much more members of a family than individuals. They had heard about their female ancestors and had felt a bond with them, entered their lives by means of the story and felt their presence in the evenings.

These women lived close to the earth and to nature, which so capriciously bestowed and denied its gifts — were there not supernatural beings that existed around them? They lived a life that transformed spirits and elemental beings into genuine and intimate friends.

Even as an adult, Selma Lagerlöf might catch sight of the “Lady of the Woods,” a fairy queen who lay underneath a bush and enjoyed the fragrance of roses in her own garden. Selma Lagerlöf felt no fear at all, but withdrew with a feeling that her presence was not really desired. She was close to an extremely ancient culture in which cavewomen lived side by side with nature’s good or evil spirits.

The supernatural and mythical often emerge in texts where the doctrine of love is put to difficult or overpowering tests. In The Tale of a Manor, there is the strange Lady Sorg (Sorrow), a huge bat with the figure of a woman. The figure enters the story when Ingrid is close to despair about her great mission: to save Gunnar Hede from insanity by means of love.

In Herr Arne’s Hoard, ghosts and supernatural beings abound, but here female love has exerted itself in vain. Sir Archie’s crime is too great; he cannot be saved by a loving woman and paternal justice demands punishment.

Nobel Prize in 1909

Literary research concentrating on the genesis of Selma Lagerlöf’s fiction can find the origin of these supernatural beings in Swedish folklore, but in doing so it is nevertheless unable to explain the artistic force of her work in totally different environments worldwide and in modern times. Nor can it explain the strange phenomenon of a work of fiction having universal appeal — even though its roots are in the provincial.

Selma Lagerlöf was the first Swedish Nobel laureate and the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Photo: Henry B Goodwin 

It was only natural and right that in 1909, at the age of 51, Selma Lagerlöf received the first Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to a Swede, since she had already been translated into several major languages and was loved in many countries. A consequence of this mark of distinction was that she reached still wider audiences.

Productive old age

Selma Lagerlöf was blessed with a strong character and constitution and was granted a productive old age. At the age of 75, she published her last collection of short stories, and she was at work on a novel when she died in 1940.

Her last years and remaining strength had been devoted to the novel trilogy about Charlotte Löwensköld and her closest circle. She no longer dared believe in her doctrine of love; she could not dispel the memories of the two great wars. In her novels, Charlotte loved Karl Artur Ekenstedt, but he was one of those men who could not or would not be saved through a woman’s love.

Anna Svärd, her last novel, is considered by many to be her best, a brilliant example of authenticity and self-deception. Selma Lagerlöf’s view of the world and mankind had become darker but perhaps also more truthful. She had enriched her natural narrative ability with features from the contemporary psychological novel; she was never slow to learn, even from young authors.

Selma Lagerlöf’s childhood home of Mårbacka, which she renovated in the 1920s following the designs of the architect Isak Gustaf Clason. Photo: KM idé

Popularity that endures

Selma Lagerlöf was subjective, visionary, obsessed by an idea. She was a great writer who happened to be born in Sweden, and from experiences in her native country she managed to shape her special vision of redeeming love. It is remarkable how often she succeeds in making it plausible.

We may find her doctrine of love exalted and too demanding, but one has to admit that it was well-reasoned, and that she clearly envisaged the obstacles love had to contend with in a harsh world. In her best hours, Selma Lagerlöf speaks the truth, as only a great writer can.

Sven Delblanc

This is a shortened, edited version of Sven Delblanc's contribution to the Swedish Institute’s series of portraits, “Famous Swedes,” from 1986.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this publication.

Translation for the 1986 edition by Leif Sjöberg; 2008 additions by Susan Long.

© 1986, 2008, 2009 Sven Delblanc and the Swedish Institute.