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The Story of Gosta Berling Selma Lagerlof 9780451501257 Books

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The Story of Gosta Berling Selma Lagerlof 9780451501257 Books

Selma Lagerlof was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1909). "Gosta Berlings Saga" (The Story of Gosta Berling) is one of her earlier works, dating from 1891. The title character is a defrocked priest in the Swedish countryside, who makes his way to the Ekeby district, where the inhabitants are described as "permanent guests", seemingly doomed to lives of decadence and mental lethargy. While Gosta Berling falls in among the "Ekeby guests", overall, unlike Hogarth's Tom Rakewell, Berling doesn't quite suffer quite such ill fortune, and if anything, more or less gets away with all of his less-than-honorable behavior. If anything, the various women that he meets generally end up the worse the wear for encountering him. There's more than a hint of supernatural forces in the story, such as allusions to sacrificial pacts with the devil. The story doesn't always seem to be perfectly "linear" in the narrative, with various chapters digressing on one particular character and her/his particular story. In the end, however, in spite of some harsh fates doled out to a number of characters, Lagerlof does bring the scattershot novel to a perhaps too-neat ending, rather less harsh compared to Hogarth.

Lagerlof's narrative style is energetic and carries you through easily, supernatural elements and all. The translation is by Robert Bly, of later "Iron John" fame, reworking an earlier translation by Pauline Bancroft Finch. Bly also provides the afterword, and it is definitely a good idea to read the afterword after reading the novel, and not before. Bly doesn't hesitate to provide his own characterizations of the characters and aspects of Lagerlof as reflected in the novel.

If Scandinavian literature of an earlier age interests you, then this rollickingly told tale should tickle your fancy.


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The Story of Gosta Berling Selma Lagerlof 9780451501257 Books Reviews

My first copy of this book was given to me by a Swedish friend, a surgeon, over fifty years ago. It was an English translation, but I learned later that it has all the humanity, all the humour, all the excitement, all the pathos, all the magnetism, all the sadness, and all the ability to enchant, whether read in English or in the original language of Swedish.

Nobody is too young, nobody is too old, to enjoy this book, as long as they still have a heart and mind capable of feelings.

For me, this book, by a nationally famous and popular authoress named Selma Lagerlof, and The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery, share my love. Both writers are now deceased, and both remain national figures in their respective countries, Sweden and France.

Love, did I write? Yes, of course. I should know.

I am an elderly lawyer.

If you do not enjoy the book, you should be in prison!
Selma Lagerlof was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1909). "Gosta Berlings Saga" (The Story of Gosta Berling) is one of her earlier works, dating from 1891. The title character is a defrocked priest in the Swedish countryside, who makes his way to the Ekeby district, where the inhabitants are described as "permanent guests", seemingly doomed to lives of decadence and mental lethargy. While Gosta Berling falls in among the "Ekeby guests", overall, unlike Hogarth's Tom Rakewell, Berling doesn't quite suffer quite such ill fortune, and if anything, more or less gets away with all of his less-than-honorable behavior. If anything, the various women that he meets generally end up the worse the wear for encountering him. There's more than a hint of supernatural forces in the story, such as allusions to sacrificial pacts with the devil. The story doesn't always seem to be perfectly "linear" in the narrative, with various chapters digressing on one particular character and her/his particular story. In the end, however, in spite of some harsh fates doled out to a number of characters, Lagerlof does bring the scattershot novel to a perhaps too-neat ending, rather less harsh compared to Hogarth.

Lagerlof's narrative style is energetic and carries you through easily, supernatural elements and all. The translation is by Robert Bly, of later "Iron John" fame, reworking an earlier translation by Pauline Bancroft Finch. Bly also provides the afterword, and it is definitely a good idea to read the afterword after reading the novel, and not before. Bly doesn't hesitate to provide his own characterizations of the characters and aspects of Lagerlof as reflected in the novel.

If Scandinavian literature of an earlier age interests you, then this rollickingly told tale should tickle your fancy.