Great Writers Website

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You'll find here the basic info about glorious literature writers, who I admire most!

Selma Lagerlof (1858-1940)

Female novelist who in 1909 became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. An illness left her lame for a time, but otherwise her childhood was happy. She was taught at home, then trained in Stockholm as a teacher, and in 1885 went to Landskrona as schoolmistress. There she wrote her first novel, Gosta Berlings saga, 2 vol. (1891). A chronicle of life in the heyday of her native Varmland's history, the age of prosperous iron founders and small manors, the book recounts the story of the 12 Cavaliers, led by Gosta Berling, a renegade priest of weak character but irresistible charm. Written in a lyrical style, full of pathos, it showed the influence of Thomas Carlyle and played a part in the Swedish Romantic revival of the 1890s.

In 1894 she published a collection of stories, Osynliga lankar (Invisible Links), and in 1895 she won a traveling scholarship, gave up teaching, and devoted herself to writing. After visiting Italy she published Antikrists mirakler (1897; The Miracles of Antichrist), a socialist novel about Sicily. Another collection, En herrgardssagen (Tales of a Manor), is one of her finest works. A winter in Egypt and Palestine (1899-1900) inspired Jerusalem, 2 vol. (1901-02), which established her as the foremost Swedish novelist. Other notable works were Herr Arnes Penningar (1904), a tersely but powerfully told historical tale; and Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige, 2 vol. (1906-07; The Wonderful Adventures of Nils and Further Adventures of Nils), a geography reader for children.

World War I disturbed her deeply, and for some years she wrote little. Then, in Marbacka (1922), Ett barns memoarer (1930; Memories of My Childhood), and Dagbok for Selma Lagerlof (1932; The Diary of Selma Lagerlof), she recalled her childhood with subtle artistry and also produced a Varmland trilogy: Lowenskoldska ringen (1925; The Ring of the Lowenskolds), set in the 18th century; Charlotte Lowenskold (1925); and Anna Svard (1928). She was deeply attached to the family manor house at Marbacka, which had been sold after her father's death but which she bought back with her Nobel Prize money. Selma Lagerlof ranks among the most naturally gifted of modern storytellers.