The interview was conducted by Yuri Gurman, Radio Sweden.
- What's good about Sweden?
- The best thing is that this is my country. Here I am at home, I am at home in the old peasant culture and in Stockholm.
It is easy for me to love people, it is easy for me to love all my surroundings... Here I feel at home much more than in any other country.
Astrid Lindgren received me in her apartment on Dalagatan Street, now there is something like an apartment-museum, where they already let in for a fee. We sat in the living room, where everything was simple and spacious. An old sofa, few books, Spartan, one might say, furnishings. Astrid Lindgren with a gold pendant on her chest, which actually turned out to be a thick magnifying glass, she could no longer read without it, her assistant was busy with something in the kitchen, everything was very homely...
- What is the worst thing about Sweden?
It is difficult to answer this question, there is also a lot of absurdity here. I can get furious and desperate when I hear fat men flying from Sweden to Thailand and buying little girls for themselves. And then I'm on the verge of not wanting to be Swedish.
She also disliked the power of money.
- Culture has become for many an economic culture, giving way to a real culture.
When I ask about money Astrid Lindgren laughs:
- I could be much more wealthy, but I make sure that I don't have much money left.
At the time of this interview, Astrid Lindgren had seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and she lamented that she would like to meet them much more often than she can. And laughs:
Journalists like this get in the way all the time...
All her money was brought to her by her characters. Most of all, of course, Pippi-Longstocking, or Pippi, as she was first called in Russia, where the main character has always been, of course, Karlsson, who lives on the roof.
Karlsson, he is like a spoiled child who thinks that he is the best, the most beautiful, the most wonderful, many years ago I wrote his song, - Astrid Lindgren sings, - who do you think you are? who do you think you are? Yes, you are nothing against me, la-la-la, la-la-la ... Karlsson is a somewhat distant figure for me, Pippi and, above all, Emil from Lönneberg are closest to my heart. Emil is from my childhood, from Småland, and he lives among people, among peasants, whom I have known well since my youth.
We talked for a long time that time. Astrid Lindgren talked about her children, about her unhealed wound: her son Lasse passed away in 1966, about her daughter, about their children, about great-grandchildren, one of whom, four years old, especially unique, kept repeating:
You're old, you're old, and so on all the way, Astrid Lindgren laughs.
And she asked a lot of questions. It looks like it was an interview within an interview. She was interested in how old I am, whether I am married to a Swede or a Russian, how many children I have, she praised me when she learned that they read her books in both Swedish and Russian. When I said that at a meeting of our editorial staff with listeners in St. Petersburg, they asked her to compose a fairy tale, Astrid Lindgren began:
Once upon a time there was a boy whose name was ... whose name was Yuri. And he came to Sweden and settled here, and one fine day, he ... And then you yourself will continue, - the writer said. To this, I said that I could not compete with Astrid Lindgren, with which she agreed.
Before the interview, when I went to her door, then I heard her humming something. And it was known that Astrid Lindgren always sings something, even when walking down the street. And I plucked up the courage (arrogance?) and asked her to sing something. And she sang:
sorry little child
Wandering through the fields in the cold
Snow in mittens and boots
And eyes full of tears...
It’s hard for children now, they don’t understand, I can’t say that it’s hard for children in Sweden, they are pretty good here, - Astrid Lindgren notes, - but if you look at the whole world, it becomes incredibly sad when you see how children run from their homeland and seek asylum in other countries. All their childhood is destroyed. Very sorry for the children.
Sometimes you think what she would say today ... She also spoke then about her struggle for the rights of animals, which, she believed, were treated inhumanely.
My days fly by so that I don't have time to blink. Don't think I have even a minute of free time. I'm trying to make time for a walk in the park to stretch. There are many people who don't know what to do to spend their time, but I don't know what they want out of life. I never had too much time.
Astrid Lindgren devoted me to the program of one of her days: they came from the film studio, discussed future movie, the following visitors asked about her good friend - photographer Anna Rivkin-Brik, who was born in Gomel and died in 1970 in Israel, her bust stood on a bookshelf, they made nine photo books together, Astrid Lindgren wrote texts for them. The visitors were going to write a book about Anna Rivkin. Then there was the actress "Dramatena", Stockholm Drama Theater, who got the role of Pippi long stocking. Then there was a photographer, then the editor of a newspaper, and the day was practically over.
Every year, I said, when autumn approaches, people ask me: who will win the Nobel Prize in Literature this year? And what do you answer, asked Astrid Lindgren? I always answered: Astrid Lindgren.
I don't need to wish it. I have already received the "Children's Nobel Prize", the children themselves established it, and I could not refuse it. And with the money they raised, an orphanage for homeless children in St. Petersburg will be built.
This "children's Nobel Prize" was collected by subscription at the initiative of a small resident of Hedemura, a town in the province of Dalarna, who decided that it was a flagrant injustice not to award the Nobel Prize to Astrid Lindgren. They collected a lot of money, the writer told me.
The children themselves wanted the money to go to St. Petersburg, 300,000 were there, quite comparable to Nobel Prize laughs Astrid Lindgren.
At the time of that conversation, the writer was 85 years old. For almost 50 years, she, according to her, wrote 35 books, not counting photo books. worldwide fame. The status of the conscience of the nation. But what was it anyway? the highest moments her eventful life?
The highest moments in a woman's life are when she has children. So it was with me. Two children were born to me. And the same moments - the birth of grandchildren. And all this mess with prizes, awards, I quickly forget all this, I have them whole list, I'm an honorary doctor there, I'm an honorary doctor here...
At parting, Astrid Lindgren said:
- Say hello to your children and all your country!
I passed it on then, and I pass it on now...
Today we have an equally important topic - we are studying the world of the works of the great Astrid Lindgren.
Astrid Lindgren became a professional writer relatively late - at the age of 38, after winning the competition of the Raben and Sjogren publishing house, in which she subsequently got a job as an editor in the children's literature department. For my creative career Lindgren wrote about 40 works, and this is not counting picture books and collections. In the spring of 2017, Lindgren's family-owned firm Saltkrokan announced that Lindgren's works have now been translated into a hundred languages. Oriya became the 100th language: 35 million inhabitants of the Indian state of Orissa can now read about the adventures of Pippi Longstocking.
Lindgren is loved not only abroad, but also in her native Sweden, where since 2015 her portrait, along with the image of the same Pippi Longstocking, has been adorned with a 20-krona bill. Interestingly, Lindgren pushed another world-famous Swedish storyteller, Selma Lagerlöf, from the banknote.
In Sweden, Lindgren was loved, and it was always mutual. The action of many key works happens right there. And to understand all the most insignificant household parts, giving the narrative additional comfort, you need to know more about this country and its structure.
Let's take three Lindgren's books extremely popular in Russia, in the narrative outline of which Sweden constantly appears: "Pippi settles in the Villa" Hen "" (1945, translated by L. Lungina 1965), "Kalle Blomkvist plays" (1946, translated by N. Gorodinsky-Wallenius 1959) and "The Kid and Carlson Who Lives on the Roof" (1955, translated by L. Lungina 1957). Of course, Lindgren has much more works that abound with typical Swedish realities, but the analysis of the entire corpus is a subject for deeper research.
In the USSR, the "pioneer" of Lindgren was the translator Lilianna Lungina. Here is how she herself tells about this in the book based on the film by Oleg Dorman “Interlinear”: “And then one day<...>I brought another portion of these meaningless beautiful books, and one cover immediately attracted attention, because it had a drawing of a flying little man with a propeller on his back and it was written: “Carlson po tucket”, which means “Carlson on the roof”. I started reading and literally from the very first page I saw that this was not just a book, that this was some kind of miracle, that this was something one could only dream of.”
It is important to note that what is not always described in original text is reflected in the translation. This is especially true for translations of the Soviet era, when translators sometimes did not have the opportunity to find out what this or that detail meant. The world of Astrid Lindgren is full of such truly Swedish phenomena that you want to take a closer look at.
Names
Heroes Astrid Lindgren wear typically swedish names: Eva-Lotta, Anders, Kalle - short for Karl, Bettan - from Elisabeth, Bosse - on behalf of Bu, etc. Although the dreamer, who brought Astrid Lindgren real success, is called atypically - Pippi Longstocking. Strange name invented by the daughter of the writer Karin. One day she fell ill with pneumonia and asked her mother to tell the story of Pippi Longstocking. So Astrid Lindgren began to invent unusual stories- to match the name of the heroine. The first listeners were the daughter and her friends, who also really liked the red-haired girl. And in 1944, a fateful event occurred - Lindgren slipped, twisted her leg and could not walk for some time. In order not to get bored in bed, she decided to write down the accumulated stories about Pippi. Lindgren gave one copy of the text to her daughter for a decade, and sent the second to the large Bonniers publishing house. The manuscript was accompanied by a letter in which Lindgren called Pippi Longstocking the Superman and asked not to declare herself to the guardianship authorities, because her own children were well brought up and did not look like a heroine radical for that time. The publisher, however, did not see the potential of the book. But in 1945, another publishing house - "Raben and Sjogren" - undertook to publish it.
Interestingly, in Swedish main character Lindgren's name is Pippi. It is clear that Lungina could not keep the girl's name unchanged because of the clear connotations - this is probably how Pippi turned out. There are, however, later translations by Lyudmila Braude and Nina Belyakova, in which the girl is named in the Swedish manner - Pippi. French translators had a similar problem - in France the heroine is known as Fifi.
In 1946, a book was published about the adventures of thirteen-year-old Kalle Blomkvist, who was passionate about detective work. In her youth, Lindgren worked as a secretary for the famous Swedish criminologist Harri Söderman and the acquired knowledge helped her with detective story for children. Swedish readers liked the book so much that it was immediately filmed before the rest of Lindgren's works. Swedish even has a new word "blomkvistare" (blomkvistare) - which means "amateur detective". The writer created a Swedish - more humane - alternative to hard-boy literature popular at that time in the English-speaking world. To replace the dark rainy megacities pulp fiction a cozy Swedish town came to summer holidays. Interestingly, the world-famous detective from Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, Mikael Blomkvist, according to the author himself, is not accidentally Kalle's namesake. In translations into different languages, Calle - just like Pippi - is called differently. IN English version the hero is renamed Bill Bergson and therefore the later connection with the Stieg Larsson trilogy is gone.
As for Carlson on the roof, he is called by his last name. What is Carlson's name - unknown. The baby's name is Svante Svanteson, but everyone calls him Lillebror - which literally means " younger brother”, - in this case, Lungina’s translation solution seems brilliant.
Lindgren's works become especially cozy largely due to the fact that their characters are constantly fiddling around in the kitchen, enjoying the aroma of almost ready food and gobbling up some buns. Swedish children do spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking with their parents. This is especially noticeable on the eve of important holidays. The main holiday of the year, Christmas, is associated with the special concept of "julbak" - Christmas baking. All family members gather in the kitchen to prepare gingerbread cookies, saffron buns and homemade toffees - after all, there should be enough until the very New Year. So Pippi Longstocking bakes gingerbread cookies in the form of hearts (translated as cakes), which are usually made with a small hole: then they thread it through satin ribbon and hang cookies on the Christmas tree.
When it comes to Astrid Lindgren, the first thing that comes to mind is the cinnamon rolls and meatballs from Carlson, familiar to us thanks to Ikea. There is no dish more reminiscent of the Swedes of home than meatballs (or meatballs): they are usually eaten with boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam. The favorite delicacy of the Swedes is a cinnamon bun. According to statistics, the Swede eats about 200 pieces annually. This is facilitated by the main Swedish tradition, which is called fika (fika). The Swedes gather several times a day to drink coffee, eat a bun and talk heart to heart. The Kid's family sits down on a traditional fika by the fireplace every evening - and this favorite time boy. Fika is also arranged in the baker's garden after circus performance prepared by Kalle Blomkvist and his friends. Pippi Longstocking also treats Annika and Tommy to coffee and buns on her terrace. Interestingly, coffee in Sweden is tasted in quite early age, so Lindgren's underage heroes take an active part in the fic. Coffee can be served not only with a cinnamon roll, but also with some other dessert. For example, Eva-Lotta's mother had sweet pie sockerkaka, which is also eaten with pleasure at Carlson. Traditionally in Sweden, this is a biscuit cake with a hole in the middle, to which cardamom, vanilla sugar or lemon zest can be added. It is interesting that Ikea has a series of products for baking, which just bears the name of this sweet cupcake, only in Russian it suffered the fate of the name Pippi: one letter was changed in the name, and it turned out “sokkertaka”.
The Swedes pay great attention proper nutrition. For example, Toddler's mother does not want him to eat a lot of sugar and slips him for dinner, much to his displeasure. cauliflower. But still, the children in Lindgren's works constantly eat candy. Now in Sweden there is a tradition of lördagsgodis - Shabbat sweets, but this was not always the case. It wasn't until the 1950s that the Swedes decided to give their children candy once a week, on Saturdays. In many families, this has become a real ritual: to lazily wake up on a day off and go to a candy store, where you can weigh a bag with all sorts of varieties by weight - this type of candy is called lösgodis. Then the doctors came to the conclusion that to reduce the risk of caries, it is better to eat a lot of sweets once a week than a little every day. But when Lindgren wrote her works, this was not yet known, and the happy characters eat sweets almost without hindrance. Especially popular in Lindgren's books are caramels (karameller), raspberry marmalades (geléhallon) and special toffees (kola). There are also boat-shaped liquorice sweets (lakritsbåtar) and chocolate cigarettes (chokladcigaretter), which have been banned in some European Union countries since the early 2000s to discourage smoking. For dessert, in Sweden they like to eat fruktsoppa - berry or fruit jelly, which is poured into a plate and eaten with a spoon (in translation - "compote"). It is him that the Kid eats up before running to Carlson. Pippi claims that more than anything else she loves rabarberkräm - rhubarb jelly, and only then the police.
Swedes spend a lot of time in nature, so picnics and barbeques are common. All thanks to the allemansrätten law, according to which the Swedes have the right to be in nature without any restrictions (but not very close to objects private property). For a Swede to spend the whole day indoors without going outside is nonsense. The nearby park or forest is a natural extension of the living room. What certainly makes Russians related to the Swedes is the love of picking berries and mushrooms. So Peppy and his friends go on a hike. In the forest, she cooks a traditional dish called flaskpankaka (fläskpannkaka), which literally translates as “pork pancake” (translated as pork and pancakes), over a fire. In reality, this dish is more like a pie or a casserole with meat.
Traditions and social structure
Many remember the birthday celebration scene from The Kid and Carlson, thanks in part to Carlson's catchphrase that "eight cakes with one candle" are better than the other way around. In Sweden, the celebration of birthdays does not have a Russian scope, although many families nevertheless have a tradition of "birthday tray". In the morning, all relatives prepare a festive breakfast, put it on a tray along with a lit candle (the main element of Swedish comfort) and go to wake up the birthday boy, taking gifts in advance. They sing a festive song, which is not performed to the tune of “Happy birthday”, - the Swedes have their own special “Ja må du leva” (“Long live ...”), ending with the obligatory four-time “Hurrah!”.
In one of the chapters, the mother of the Kid is not at home, she left a note that she had gone to the laundry to do the laundry (tvättstugan). Indeed, until now, many apartments in large Swedish cities do not have their own washing machine, more often it is replaced by a common laundry room in the basement of a building - a situation that is not unique to Sweden. In the laundry, as a rule, a schedule hangs - the washing time must be booked in advance. Rules of common use - an inexhaustible storehouse of conflicts that flare up between neighbors in wall announcements. In Sweden, humorous collections with these announcements are even published. You can find pearls that have nothing to do with washing: “Who hammers nails on Christmas Eve? What's wrong with your head?"
Putting things in order is busy not only the Kid's mother, but also Peppy: at the very beginning of the first book, she starts fredagsstädning (fredagsstädning) - Friday cleaning. Indeed, in Sweden there was a tradition to clean the house or workplace before the weekend. The Swedes have a special attitude to Friday: fredagsmys is widely known - the tradition of Friday coziness, when in the evening you can sit comfortably with your family on the couch, light a floor lamp, turn on your favorite movie and watch it with chips or hot cake. As an alternative, there is a tradition of fredagspub - a Friday trip to the pub with friends or colleagues.
Cleaning is also associated with the holidays that Pippi remembers - Skurlov. It used to be called the autumn holidays, because it was supposed to be devoted to harvesting and picking potatoes. Then the holidays became simply autumn, and in 2016 the Minister of Education Gustav Fridolin proposed to rename them to reading holidays. Politicians hope that such a rebrand will increase the interest of children and young people in books. Their hopes are not accidental: at the end of February - beginning of March in Sweden they go on "sports holidays", and many really go to ride in the mountains or go in for other sports. Swedish schoolchildren also have a rest at Easter and Christmas, but the main holidays are, of course, summer holidays, although in Sweden they are shorter than in Russia: academic year ends in mid-June and starts in mid-August. On the last day of school before the start of the cherished holidays, Swedish schoolchildren will certainly sing "Ida's Summer Song", the text of which was written by Astrid Lindgren.
When Pippi goes to school, she cannot understand in any way that the teacher cannot be addressed as “you”, but you need to say “freken”. Here Lindgren acted as a harbinger of future reforms. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the so-called du-reformen took place in Sweden, after which the appeal to “you” became neutral: now in Swedish schools, teachers are addressed to “you” and by name. In kindergartens, the address "freken" has been preserved, but this is because it is often difficult for young children to remember the name of the teacher (especially if there are several of them). That is, in preschool institutions children speak exactly the same way as Pippi in the book: “du, fröken” - “fröken” and “you”. And this is how they treat both educators and male employees.
For Pippi Longstocking, an orphan, the police come to take her to an orphanage. Fru Appelgren threatens to turn Kalle Blomkvist and his friends into a house of correction. Indeed, in the 1930s-1980s, quite a lot of Swedish children were in orphanages. However, thanks to a series of reforms, there are no orphanages as such in Sweden now. There are so-called "family homes", that is, families that become adopted for a child for a while or permanently for a fee, as well as a system of adoption of children. Astrid Lindgren herself had to use the services of such a “family home”, only in Denmark, where the writer’s son Lars, born out of wedlock, spent the first years of his life: in the 1920s it was impossible to become a mother out of wedlock. The father of the unborn child was married (albeit in the process of divorce), it was impossible to give out his name, and when giving birth in Sweden, information about both parents was required. In Denmark, this was not required, and Lindgren went to Copenhagen to give birth without much fuss. Then she was not yet a famous writer, rented a modest apartment for a couple with a friend, suffered from poverty and loneliness. Lindgren could not immediately take her son with her to Stockholm and left him with her foster mother, to whom she kept gratitude until the end of her life. The writer took her son away only when the boy was three years old.
Another interesting aspect of the social structure of Astrid Lindgren's time can be seen in a minor detail of the Blumqvist Calle. One article in the newspaper that Kalle brings at Uncle Einar's request is called "Why are taxes going up?" ("Varför så höga skatter?"). Obviously, this question was of interest to Astrid Lindgren back in 1946, when the book was published, but the writer openly opposed the tax system later - in 1976. At that time, Lindgren's famous feuilleton Pomperipossa in Monismania, written in the form of a fairy tale, was published in the Expressen newspaper. Pomperipossa is a well-known fairy-tale character, like Baba Yaga, and the country of Monismania is taken from a dystopian film directed by Kenne Fant, released a year before the article, about a state with a one-party totalitarian regime. In a feuilleton, Astrid Lindgren is indignant that, according to Swedish law, she is forced to pay 102% of taxes. The publication was followed by a public discussion, during which the Minister of Finance accused Lindgren of not being able to count, and called for a return to writing fairy tales. Lindgren retorted that the Minister of Finance was taking away her bread, since he himself did not stop telling fairy tales. Since the 1970s, Lindgren has often performed at various public significant topics. So, she was against disciplinary assault against children, and many associate the introduction of a legislative ban in 1979, including with her activities. In addition, in the 1980s, Lindgren began an animal rights campaign with veterinarian Christina Forslund. In 1987, Prime Minister Ingvar Karlsson even presented the writer with a bill for her jubilee (which, however, fell short of Lindgren's expectations). In 1990, a book was published - an expanded and revised collection of articles by Lindgren and Forslund on the topic - called "My cow wants to have fun" ("Min ko vill ha roligt").
Games and toys
Games occupied important place in Lindgren's life. The famous Swedish Christina Björk, author of one of the world's most popular picture books, Linnaeus in the Artist's Garden, dedicated another picture book to Lindgren's childhood. The leitmotif in the book is a quote from the writer - "It's a real miracle that we didn't play to death in childhood!". The endless amusements described in Lindgren's books are borrowed from her childhood memories. In particular, Björk describes the game "Don't step on the floor", which little Astrid loved to play with her older brother and two younger sisters. It was necessary to move around the furniture in the room and not step on the floor: they jumped from the bureau to the desk, from the table to the bed, and so on. Pippi Longstocking is playing exactly the same game in her kitchen with Tommy and Annika.
At the time of Astrid Lindgren, miniatures were popular in Sweden. steam engines. With such a toy, the Kid with Carlson, as well as Pippi, amuse themselves. In 1974, there was even a song by Pierre Isaksson about steam engines called "I'll go down to the basement." The hit managed to take the first line of the national hit parade.
Geography
Blumqvist's Calle is set in the fictional city of Lillköping. Its name is typically Swedish. The "-köping" part is related in meaning to the verb att köpa - "to buy". That is, the cities, in the name of which there is a component “-köping”, were places with fairs or a market: take at least Jönköping, Linköping or Norrköping. Lindgren herself grew up on the Naes farm near the town of Vimmerby, which served as the prototype for the fictional town of Bullerby, which now houses an amusement park based on the works of the writer. The “-byu” component in the toponym is also not accidental and means “village”.
Storgatan (Sturgatan) - Big street - appears in both "Pippi" and "Kalle". This is the name of the main shopping street in almost all Swedish cities. Thanks to this toponym, the fictional cities of Astrid Lindgren become even more "average". Lindgren herself lived for 60 years on another street in Stockholm - on Dalagatan, 46, where her museum-apartment has been operating since 2015. The writer's family has kept everything unchanged: here you can see the typewriter, books that Lindgren read, and even the carpet by the bed, worn in the places where the writer put her feet every morning. A visit must be booked in advance, excursions are available on different languages, including in Russian. It was in this apartment that the writer died at the age of 94.
After her death, the Swedish government established the world's premier children's literature award (something like the Nobel equivalent) in memory of Astrid Lindgren. 12 jury members - experts in the field of children's literature - annually award a prize of 5 million Swedish kronor (about 35 million rubles). Choose best work For children, it is not an easy task. Astrid Lindgren herself was once asked what a children's book should be, and she replied: “I assure you, I have thought about this question for a long time, but I can’t find another answer: it should be good.”
Three more places in Sweden for fans of Astrid Lindgren
1. Junibacken. Museum on Djurgården Island in Stockholm. The writer was directly involved in its creation, advising stage designer Marit Törnqvist. The pearl of the museum is the train of fairy tales, which takes visitors through the scenes of the main works of the writer. Lindgren herself wrote a ten-minute accompanying text, which, according to Turnqvist, took several weeks to create. The name of the museum is not accidental - that was the name of the farm where Madiken, one of Lindgren's heroines, lived.
2. Farm Nes. House in the historic province of Småland where Astrid Lindgren was born. Lindgren herself restored the interior and brought it closer to the original. You can take a walk in the orchards, as well as see the permanent exhibition dedicated to Lindgren, or a temporary exhibition.
3. Grave of Astrid Lindgren. The writer is buried in the cemetery in Vimmerby along with her parents. On the grave lies a small stone with Lindgren's autograph, and next to it stands Mailbox. During her lifetime, the writer was very fond of corresponding: with close people, colleagues and readers. The royal archives contain about 75 thousand of her letters. New ones are born epistolary novels based on her correspondence. After Lindgren's death, fans brought all new letters to the grave, and so that the wind did not carry them throughout the cemetery, a mailbox was installed nearby.
We wish you good luck
In that unknown and new world,
So that you don't get lonely
To keep the angels away.
Biography
The biography of Astrid Lindgren is the story of a happy, kind, talented, hardworking woman. She was not only an amazingly talented writer, but also kind of a wonderful child psychologist. Her progressive - in those days - views on the upbringing of children were often perceived with hostility by conservative educators and children's writers. They not only felt that Lindgren's stories were not instructive enough, but they were also convinced that they promote permissiveness and disobedience. Nevertheless, Lindgren's fairy tales are still read by millions of adults and children, and Astrid Lindgren herself is popular not only in her country, but all over the world.
Lindgren was born in a small Swedish town. After school, sixteen-year-old Astrid worked at a local newspaper, but soon a serious event happened in her life - she became pregnant. Young unmarried girl, fearing condemnation, left for Stockholm, with virtually no money and connections. There she continued to work, and when her son was born, she was forced to give the child to a foster family, as she could not feed him. It was a difficult decision for Lindgren, but soon marriage allowed her to take a boy named Lars into her family. In the following years, she devoted herself entirely to caring for the house and children - in marriage she had a daughter named Karen. It was Karen who inspired her mother, the future world famous writer for writing fairy tales. Often, when Karen was ill, Lindgren would sit by her bed and compose different stories to entertain my daughter. It was Karen who came up with the heroine Pippi Longstocking, and the mother only had to tell her daughter a story, and then write a book based on her that made the writer famous. Peppy wasn't the first literary experience Lindgren - in parallel with taking care of the house, Astrid wrote notes, small tales. Her first book was Breety Marie Pours Out Her Soul, which helped her get not only a contract, but also a position as an editor at a publishing house. Further takeoff in writer's biography Lindgren was already completely dependent on herself - a hardworking woman wrote a trilogy about Pippi, several books for girls and plays, collections of fairy tales and more in 5-6 years. etc. A few years later, Lindgren's heroes helped the former housewife earn a huge fortune. Lindgren's books were filmed, plays were staged in theaters, translated into various languages of the world, and the writer Lindgren herself became a very popular person in her country, who was known and loved by children and adults of any age.
Lindgren's death came at 94. Lindgren's cause of death was natural. last years life, Lindgren was sick and gradually faded away. Lindgren's funeral took place a month later, due to the peculiarities of the work of funeral services in Sweden. Lindgren's grave, according to her will, is located in her cemetery. hometown Vimmerby.
life line
November 14, 1907 Date of birth of Astrid Lindgren (Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren, née Eriksson).
1926 Moving to Stockholm.
December 1926 Birth of Lindgren's son, Lars.
1927 Work at the Royal Automobile Club, acquaintance with Sture Lindgren.
April 1931 Marriage to Sture Lindgren.
1934 Birth of daughter Karin.
1944 Award for the story "Britt-Marie pours out her soul."
1945 The publication of the book "Pippi Longstocking", the work of the editor of children's literature in the publishing house "Raben and Sjogren".
1946 Publication of the story "Kalle Blomkvist plays".
1947 Screen version of the stories about Kalle Blumkvist.
1952 Death of husband Astrid Lindgren.
1954 Writing the story "Mio, my Mio!".
1955 The release of the book "Kid and Carlson".
1958 Lindgren is awarded the Hans Christian Andersen medal.
1962 The release of the book "Carlson, who lives on the roof, has arrived again."
1968 The release of the book "Carlson, who lives on the roof, plays pranks again."
1969 Getting Swedish state prize on literature.
1969 Production by the Royal drama theater"Carlson, who lives on the roof."
1978 Peace Prize of the German Bookseller for the story "Brothers Lion Heart”, awarding the Albert Schweitzer medal.
1984 Soviet adaptation of Pippi Longstocking.
1987 The release of the film "Mio, my Mio!", Filmed by the USSR together with Norway and Sweden.
January 28, 2002 Date of death of Astrid Lindgren.
March 8, 2002 Funeral of Astrid Lindgren.
Memorable places
1. Vimmerby, Sweden, where Lindgren was born.
2. Astrid Lindgren's house in Stockholm.
3. St. Nicholas Cathedral in Stockholm, where farewell to Astrid Lindgren took place.
4. Amusement park "The World of Astrid Lindgren", located in Vimmerby.
5. Monument to Astrid Lindgren in Stockholm near the Lindgren Museum.
6. Museum Astrid Lindgren "Junibacken" in Stockholm.
7. The cemetery of the city of Vimmerby, where Lindgren is buried.
Episodes of life
Once Astrid Lindgren wrote a letter to the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev with the words: “I am afraid of war, and you?” Gorbachev replied to the world famous children's writer: "Me too."
Astrid Lindgren has always taken care of children. Her books were often instructive, and not so much for children as for their parents. The writer also founded a children's hospital near Stockholm. In 1978, at the presentation of the Peace Prize, she gave a speech entitled "Not Violence". In it, she told a story about a boy whom his mother wanted to punish and sent for the rods. The boy did not find a rod, but brought a stone to his mother, thinking that if his mother wants to hurt him, then a stone is also suitable for this. Mom burst into tears and put the stone on the shelf. Lindgren concluded her speech with the words: “It would be nice if we all put a small pebble on the kitchen shelf as a reminder to the children and to ourselves - no violence!”
Lindgren was not a politician, but she had influence on political life of her country, as she was a very respected person in Sweden. So, for example, her fairy tale about a cow contributed to the law on the protection of animals, which even received the name "Lindgren's Law".
The last years of her life, Lindgren was ill, she became blind and almost lost her sight, so she rarely went anywhere and almost did not give interviews. Nevertheless, the writer tried to stay abreast of what was happening in the world, and also annually personally presented the literature prize named after her.
Covenant
“Work has been the greatest pleasure for me all my life. In the evenings I thought with joy that tomorrow morning would come and I would be able to write again.
"Be afraid of a quiet life!"
TV show about Astrid Lindgren
condolences
"In everything she did, common sense combined with directness and warmth, and in this she was unique.
Suzanne Eman-Sunden, co-editor of Astrid Lindgren's book
“The work of your famous compatriot is not only the property of Swedish literature. Several generations of children from many countries have grown up on her surprisingly bright and witty fairy tales. They are known and loved in Russia. The best memory of Astrid Lindgren - a wonderful writer and a truly great storyteller - will be her books, which teach us to rejoice and fantasize, to appreciate kindness and friendship.
Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation
“Astrid Lindgren and her work meant a lot to all of us, children and adults. Her works delighted readers not only in Sweden, but throughout the world, awakening the best feelings in them. The setting and characters of her fairy tales were so unlike everyday life that it was often impossible to predict what she would talk about. For my family and me, meetings with Astrid Lindgren, as well as with her fairy tales, were moments of celebration. We will all miss Astrid Lindgren, but we are glad that she continues to live on in Pippi Longstocking, Madiken, Mio, the Lionheart brothers and her other heroes. We want to thank Astrid Lindgren for her great and invaluable work throughout her life."
Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden
Inside the Book: Astrid Lindgren's World
Astrid Lindgren was born and spent her childhood in the small town of Vimmerby, a two-hour drive from Stockholm. Today, the city's main attraction is the Literary Theme Park, which recreates spaces from the writer's books. There is Kathult Farm, Matisse's castle and forest, Katla's dragon's castle, Villa "Chicken", Rasmus' barn, the roofs of Stockholm, three houses from Bullerby. We spent the entire first day of our trip here: feeding real sheep, climbing and rolling off roofs, climbing walls and descending into the underground passages of castles, walking around a miniature model of Vimmerby from the time of Astrid Lindgren. And of course, we watched performances. In each of these spaces, half-hour games are played throughout the day. theatrical performances on Swedish. For our children, the language did not become a hindrance - the actions of the actors were understandable without translation.
Oddly enough, it is the performances ( unknown stories in an incomprehensible language) became for children the most strong impression this day. At the evening summing up the results of the day, everyone said this. They were amazed by the songs and dances of the robbers, and the battle with the dragon, the "real" Ida on a real flagpole and Peppy, who easily took the audience of any age in their arms. “I was inside the book,” someone said in the evening, and the rest picked up: yes, yes, I never imagined how robbers dance! Someone liked Carlson's toilet the most - it turns out that the creators of the park thought about this too, placing the restroom in a tiny extension to the rooftop house.
About melancholy, despair and death: Astrid Lindgren's estate in Vimmerby
Next to the park is the Nas Manor, where Astrid Lindgren was born and raised. The writer's sister still lives here, but most of the estate has been turned into a museum and is open to the public. Nas was one of the most important Swedish discoveries for me. Imagine an idyllic rural life: apple orchards, century-old chestnuts (the same ones that became the prototypes of Peppy's lemonade tree), which Astrid herself climbed both in childhood and in old age. Bees in hives, hay, streams, swings and benches, quotes from books scattered throughout the park ...
Walking through a wonderful park, you notice a lonely bench in a shady corner, where there are no special “views”, but there is just a stream, just a tree and just the sun in the foliage. The inscription says: this is "a bench for melancholy." It turns out that Astrid Lindgren really appreciated melancholy - a feeling of sadness and joy at the same time, caused by the transience of life. And many of her books describe this feeling.
Going a little further, you find yourself in front of a small platform painted with white paint. It looks like a bald spot in a green meadow. On this white "floor" there are five dry trunks with bare branches. This is Despair, an installation by a contemporary Swedish artist. Listed here are the books of Astrid Lindgren, whose heroes experience this feeling: “Mio, my Mio”, “Brothers Lionheart”, “Rasmus the Tramp”.
In the "children's" books of the writer, which are known to almost all Russian children, there is neither melancholy nor despair. But in those of her tales that are addressed to teenagers, difficult feelings appear, and difficult situations choice.
Just the other day, I finished reading “Roni, the Robber's Daughter” to the children. Recent pages the stories are dedicated to the death of one of the heroes, Bald Feather: there is also a description of the appearance of the dying person, and a home-made coffin that accompanied Per all his life, and Matisse's grief, and a detailed, literally minute-by-minute description of the very process of dying. My children, like Roni in the book, have not yet had to deal with death. I didn't know how they would react to this text. “Death is not very terrible,” summed up the youngest, Plato. Of course - after all, the great Astrid does everything right. She plunges the reader into the depths of grief and despair and then helps to get out of this depth into the light. Yes, death is grief, and there are no words of consolation. But ... "Spring always comes, regardless of whether someone died or not."
This is what Astrid Lindgren's estate tells about; tells texts, images, language contemporary art And museum exposition. Perhaps this is what attracts teenage and adult audiences here. After all, her fairy tales are not only about pranks and mischief, about a carefree childhood life with family and friends. These are also stories of growing up, becoming, searching for oneself. They say that each of us has the right to despair, hopelessness, fear. And that these feelings can be overcome. Because next to the bare trees there is a flowering meadow, and after winter, spring will certainly come. Even if someone close could not survive the winter.
train to distant country: Junibacken in Stockholm
Astrid Lindgren has lived most of her life in Stockholm. Memorial plaques mark the houses in which she rented apartments, and on the “museum island” Djurgården was created in the late 1990s children's museum fairy tales "Junibacken". It is divided into two parts: playful interactive spaces based on the famous Swedish books for children (Petson's house, Mulle Mek's plane, Pippi the wooden horse and much more) and huge decorations for the six most famous books Astrid Lindgren, past which the viewer rides in a special open trailer (by the way, it is stylized as those trains in which Astrid herself traveled to Vimmerby). This trip is accompanied by an audio recording of the tour. Her text, "Fabulous Journey from Junibacken to Nangilima," is Astrid's last writing. Published in different languages, Fairy Tale Journey, short guide museum, sold in the museum shop.
The trailer passes by Junibacken, where Madiken and Lisabeth live, past the Katkhult farm, where Småland's peasants sit at a huge table, soars over Stockholm and enters Carlson's house, goes down under the bed, to visit little Nils Carlson, rushes past the Bear Cave in the Matisse Forest ... And then the trailer pulls up to Nangiyala - fairyland where children go when they die. That's how it ends last story, told by Astrid Lindgren: “The dragon Katla burned Jonathan with her fiery breath, and he could no longer move at all. Look, here they are sitting there, on a rock above the abyss. Jonathan talks about another beautiful country - Nangilim. Do you remember what Sukharik did? He put his brother on his back and jumped with him into the abyss, there, into the light, into Nangilima.
Dot. The Fairy Train journey is complete. Weird ending, right? But for Astrid Lindgren, it is completely natural. Because she tells the children exactly about this: about the possibility of getting out of the most deaf dead ends, about hope, about overcoming fear.
At the very beginning of our journey, the children received work folders, on the cover of which I placed a photograph of an elderly Astrid Lindgren climbing a tree. I asked the guys: who is this? What character traits might this person have? And someone said: this is Baba Yaga, only with a good smile. I think this is the correct definition.
Read other articles by Anna Rapoport from the Traveling with Children series:
World of Astrid Lindgren is a park located five kilometers from Astrid Lindgren's hometown of Vimmerby, Sweden. On its 130,000 m2 you can meet famous characters from her works. All activities are based on the descriptions given in the books and give children the opportunity to immerse themselves in the beloved worlds of Pippi Longstocking, Emil from Lönneberga, Carlson who lives on the roof and many other favorite characters of the Swedish writer.
It was here that the famous Swedish storyteller was born and raised. “I don’t want to write for adults,” said Astrid Lindgren, and until the end of her life she was faithful to this creed. The writer fully shared the great French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery that all people come from childhood. The theme park "The World of Astrid Lindgren" for the little people and for all those who have childhood alive in their souls. The park is huge. It is located on an area of 8 hectares. It is divided into several zones. All of them are located around a single center - a large circular street. This can be seen on the map:
World of Astrid Lindgren is open from May until the first weekend in November. During the summer season, performances continue all day long. It all starts with a small scene at the entrance to the park and continues with the main stage shows with music, singing and dancing. But what is most appreciated by visitors is meeting their favorite characters who communicate with children in both Swedish and English.
The gem of the park is a miniature model of some of the main streets of Vimmerbrü from the writer's childhood. All play houses are slightly larger than a child. The windows open, you can go into every house, in almost every house you can see a scene from your favorite fairy tales. Small benches, lanterns, small squares, alleys... Children's world, the world of childhood.
And you can also visit the world of giants and feel very, very small.
Visit the cave where the pirates hid the stolen treasures...
Or in a castle...
Or find a real secret underground passage! If you see this house, there inside, in the closet, there is a secret descent down into the tunnel that runs under the castle wall and goes straight into the forest.
In addition, there are other places in the park for the characters of Astrid Lindgren's works: Carlson's house, Rasmus's shed, the tramp, Villa "Chicken" (Pippi's house) and many others. Indeed, during her creative career, more than eighty works came out from under the pen of the storyteller. Each of them is a masterpiece in its own way.
There are many attractions in the park, but these are not the usual roller coasters, tea pairs. This is a huge slide that you can explore (by the way, it takes children about half an hour to do this), various corridors, different passages, here you can walk with Carlson on the roofs ... In the park you can visit a real ferry across the pond. Children can independently or with the help of a parent pull a rope and swim across a wooden raft from one side of the stream to the other. There is also a mini-zoo where animals living in this area of Sweden live.
This park is a real theatre. And not only on stages (and there are many of them in the park). Performances take place every minute. Actors get used to the role, improvise. For children, it is happiness to touch familiar and beloved characters. And when they start playing and talking with them... The star of the park is Pippi Longstocking. A real little anarchist entertains children, puts on a real show. “The work is very hard. We perform both in rain and heat, 8 hours a day. But it's a real pleasure to work in such a wonderful team,” says Lasso Johnson, who plays the role of the elderly bandit Per the Coot from the fairy tale “Ronya, the robber's daughter”.
The park deliberately tries to avoid commercialization. As in any theme park, there are places to eat here. The food here is all homemade, prepared on the spot, not frozen. The organizers of the park are scrupulous about children's food. There are 12 different cafes on the territory of the park: snack bars, ice cream, and almost restaurants. Mostly they are located near the entrance to the park. “We offer ice cream of the most best brands and Pepsi, but the labels can only be seen in the fridges and freezers, everything is sold in our own containers,” says Nils-Magnus Angantyr, Chief Trade Manager of the park. “A few years ago we decided not to sell hamburgers in the park. We keep selling sausages, but only because Emil, Pippi and all the other kids love them.” In addition, everywhere in the park there are stalls with sweets and other little things - the goodies of life.
A visit to the park is not the whole part of the program. You can walk along the streets of Vimmerby itself and be surprised to learn that the wonderful town has not changed much over the century, and those houses that are presented in the park still stand today. Walking along the streets, you can stop by for a cup of coffee and a portion of homemade meatballs with lingonberry sauce in one of the coziest local cafes. If you wish, you can also visit the Astrid Lingren Museum in the town, which, unlike the park, is open all year round.
