? Why was Selma Lagerlöf the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
In 1909, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature was none other than the Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf. His major work "The Wonderful Journey of Nils Holgersson through Sweden", widely criticized by teachers when it was published, was a success with the general public.
Perhaps you saw, when you were a child, "Nils Hölgersson's Wonderful Journey to the Land of the Wild Geese"; a Japanese cartoon, broadcast in series form, which was very successful in France in the 1980s. It tells the story of a 14-year-old preteen who lives with his parents in southern Sweden. To punish him for mistreating the farm animals, a spell transforms him into a little elf, no bigger than a mouse. Nils is adopted by wild geese who take him with them on a long journey through all the historic provinces of Sweden. He thus learns tolerance and respect for others; which will allow it to return to its normal size at the end of the journey.
In 1909, Selma Lagerlöf won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
This series is taken from a work by Selma Lagerlöf, published in 1906-1907, which quickly became a classic of children's literature in Sweden, so much so that Nils Hölgersson is one of the only cartoon characters still found on a bank note today. Although she had published several other novels before, it was this work that made its author famous worldwide. Notoriety which earned her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909. As is very often the case, however, we see a gap between Selma Lagerlöf's motivations, when she wrote this book, and its reception within the general public. . Born in 1858, she had been a schoolteacher for 10 years, before becoming a very popular novelist in Sweden. It was this dual skill that prompted Swedish teachers to contact her to write a new textbook designed as an introduction to the country's geography. As reading aloud was still a widely practiced method in Sweden at the beginning of the 20th century, so that the story coincides with the duration of a school year, Selma Lagerlöf wrote a work of 700 pages. Since it was impossible for primary school children to read such a voluminous text aloud, the work was criticized by teachers when it was published, but it was immediately successful among the general public.
Nils Hölgersson’s story is universal
To explain the impact of this work, we cannot therefore invoke only educational reasons. We must also take into account Lagerlöf's civic intentions, because she wanted to strengthen Swedish national feeling by transmitting to readers the love of their country. But unlike school textbooks of this type published in France at the start of the Third Republic, like "the Tour de France by two children", the story of Nils Hölgersson's adventures does not take place in a context marked by national rivalries as intense as in the Franco-German case. The book makes children want to work for their country and for their fellow citizens, but it does not seek to instill in them a feeling of superiority compared to other nations. Furthermore, while the book is specifically about Sweden, Nils' story is universal. It is a kind of coming-of-age novel telling the adventures of a teenager who becomes an adult by discovering the importance of love and solidarity.
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