‘THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF NILS’
Selma’s Immortal Creation
of Fairytale
by Bulbul Sarwar
In November 1906 the first part of The wonderful adventures of Nils appeared. The story is world famous: as punishment for his behavior a disobedient boy is turned into an elf, and on the back of a goose he travels through Sweden. The book may be overly famous because of its tales-value, but not everyone knows its background that it was written as a geography course-book for Swedish school children, who were not permitted for travel without legal guardian. As a consequence, young learners did bad results in geography class-tests (as well as history). Observing these strange impacts, in 1901, The National Council of Teachers decided that there was a need for a new book that would familiarize school children with the geography of their country. Selma Lagerlöf was approached as a prospective author to cover the assignment.
Selma was born on 20 November 1858 at Mårbacka, her family’s estate in Värmland, the mountainous west of Sweden. Here she grew up at a time when traditional country life was changing as a consequence of the rising of industry. Upon the death of her father, the estate had to be sold because of debts. After her studies she was a teacher for ten years in Landskrona, a small harbor-town in Skåne, in the very South of Sweden. There she wrote her debut, the novel “Gösta Berling Saga”(1890). After this she wrote a great number of books, mainly romantic stories in which she used sagas and legends, paying great attention to the landscape and regional identity.
Because of her background as a writer and teacher Selma Lagerlöf seemed the ideal person to write this book. She accepted the assignment immediately. (There was another cause — King Oscar offered his Fellowship for this work. Selma became interested because of this money — that enabled her to buy back her parental home, Mårbacka).
For more than two years she collected material before starting to write and the writing itself took another two years. In November 1906 the first part, covering South-Sweden, was published. A year later the second part, on Middle and North-Sweden, followed. Both books were an immediate success in Swedish schools. In November 1907, the full volume published. Outside the schools and abroad the book was an instantaneous hit as well. After the Danish translation had been favorably received, within a few years, editions of Nils appeared in almost all major European and great Asian languages. In 1909, not more than two years after the publication of “The Wonderful Adventure of Nils”, Selma awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She was the first women received this gorgeous prize in literature.
She continued to write well into old age but she never equaled the success of Gösta Berling and The wonderful adventures of Nils. Besides being an author she championed women’s right to vote and was an activist against tuberculosis and for the world peace movement. She died at Mårbacka on March 16th 1940. Since 1994 her portrait appears on the Swedish 20-crowns banknote and on the reverse is Nils flying over Skåne on the back of a goose.
Nils has a great view of the countryside. For example, right from the first Chapter, Nils flies over Skane. At first he thinks he sees a checked cloth below him, but he soon realises that he is looking at the landscape: ‘The bright green checks he recognised first; they were rye-fields that had been sown in the fall, and had kept themselves green under the winter snows. The yellowish-gray checks were stubble-fields – the remains of the oat-crop which had grown there the summer before. The brownish ones were old clover meadows: and the black ones, deserted grazing lands or ploughed-up fallow pastures.’
The geese migrating also offer and ideal natural possibility to deal with the topography in the sense of the names of all the important cities, mountains, rivers and lakes. During their flight under the leadership of the older goose Akka of Kebnekaise (the highest mountain in Sweden), led them to the Lapland with success.
It is great fun to follow the route the Nils and the geese take on a detailed map of Sweden, using those place-names. The goose migration takes the reader through all of Sweden. In spring the geese take a winding route through the regions along the Baltic coast to find places where thaw has already set in. In the autumn they fly as quickly as they can from Laponia back to the south, traveling in a straight line over the border with Norway. This way they call at all of the 25 historical provinces of Sweden and in every province Nils has some kind of adventure or hears an interesting story.
Nils’ journey with the geese is a frame-story, in which the chapters can be read as independent stories. These stories are very diverse. There are adaptations of old folktales, animal fables and personal histories of people Nils meets, as well as his own adventures on his way, and his memories of his former life. The themes touched upon vary widely from climate to soil, through vegetation and the life of animals to landscape, agricultural methods, industries and several social matters.
All in the book “Nils” is still very much alive a hundred years after it first appeared. Obviously Sweden, in the meantime, has changed considerably but many of the books themes remain topical, if not in Sweden itself then elsewhere in the world. And in other respects the book has not aged either. The story does sometimes have a rather moralizing tone that modern readers may not be used to. But Selma Lagerlöf’s narrative skills, the vivacity of her descriptions of the lives of man and animal, the wealth of themes and storylines make the book a well-deserved classic, a favorite with many children, a pleasure to read for grown-ups and a feast of recognition for geographers.
Various Swedish communities have organized events for the centenary of Nils. In Skurup, the municipality in which Nils’village West-Vemmenhog lies, festivities started in March. At Mårbacka, Selma Lagerlofs residence and now a museum, there is an exhibition about the book. In the summer months there will be theatrical performances and Nils will be there ‘in person’. In many other places in Sweden exhibitions and lectures are being organised.
A very different activity for the centenary is the “Den Underbara Resan”-project by photographer Roine Magnusson and writer Anders Wallen. Since the summer of 2004 they have been flying an ultra light airplane over Sweden to photograph the country the way a modern Nils would see.
Why this book is so favorite and still charming? The reviewer of Inside Sweden said:
“Since the days of Hans Christian Andersen we have had nothing in Scandinavian juvenile literature to compare with this remarkable book.” Another reviewer wrote: “Miss Lagerlöf has the keen insight into animal psychology of a Rudyard Kipling.”
Sydsvenska Dagbladet writes: “The significant thing about this book is: while one follows with breathless interest the shifting scenes and adventures, one learns many things without being conscious of it... The author’s imagination unfolds an almost inexhaustible wealth in invention of new and ever-changing adventures, told in such a convincing way that we almost believe them... As amusement reading for the young, this book is a decided acquisition. The intimate blending of fiction and fact is so subtle that one finds it hard to distinguish where one ends and the other begins. It is a classic – a master-work!”
Gefle Poste’s remarks: “The author is here – as always, the great story-teller, the greatest, perhaps, in Scandinavian literature since the days of Hans Christian Andersen. To children whose imaginations have been fostered by Ashbjörnsen, Andersen, and ‘A Thousand and One Nights’, “The Adventures of Nils” will always be precious, as well as to those of us who are older.”
And likewise the Swedish, the Scandinavian and others of the rest world, we also pay our heartiest homage and gratitude to Selma Lagerlöf – on her birth anniversary – for her wonderful creation in such a sweet tune that lives forever.. •
Courtesy: The Swedish Embassy, Dhaka and Internet
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