(Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf)
born on November 20, 1858 in Mårbacka (Värmland), Sweden
died on March 16, 1940 in Mårbacka, Sweden
Swedish writer; Nobel Prize winner (1909)
85th anniversary of her death on March 16, 2025
Biography
For her debut work The Story of Gösta Berling (1891), she was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature from the Swedish Academy in 1909, of which she became the first female member in 1914. This novel and the children's book The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906/1907) established her fame far beyond Sweden, and her works have been translated into more than 40 languages.
Selma Lagerlöf was a born storyteller. She wrote with kindness, compassion and humor of people searching for the meaning of life; she viewed culture as well as the natural environment as embedded in a creative force that imbued all with meaning.
Selma Lagerlöf grew up on her parents' country manor in Värmland. Wolves and bears still lived in the dense forests, the land was sparsely populated, and the dark winters were long. A strong storytelling culture was cultivated in the Lagerlöf family; her grandmother's stories introduced her early on to fairy tales, myths, legends, historical and literary events and left a lasting impression on her.
Selma Lagerlöf and her sister Gerda were educated by governesses. As a child, Selma was almost always ill; once, after swimming in cold spring water, she showed signs of paralysis in her legs. It took a year before she was able to walk again, and one hip remained stiff. She hid her limp by always walking very slowly. “This disability forced me to sit still and look inside myself, and that is why I became a writer.” In 1881, Selma Lagerlöf went to Stockholm, attended a lyceum and trained as a teacher at a teacher training college.
She gave up the teaching she loved in 1897 in order to devote herself entirely to her work as a writer. She had become famous across the world. In Sweden, where she was greatly admired and extremely popular, she was practically a legend. Mauritz Stiller successfully filmed Gösta Berling with Greta Garbo, and another ten of her books were also made into films.
She traveled throughout Europe as well as to Palestine and Egypt over a period of approximately fifteen years with her beloved friend Sophie Elkan. During the First World War, she campaigned for refugee children and for charities. In addition, she was an activist for women's rights: she advocated for women's suffrage and for better education and better job opportunities for women. She twice declined to be elected to the Swedish parliament, preferring to write and to live in the country manor in Mårbacka she had been able to buy back in 1908 when it had been auctioned off.
Thanks to Selma Lagerlöf's intervention, Nelly Sachs and her mother were able to flee Nazi Germany at the last minute.
(Text from 1997; translated with DeepL.com; edited by Ramona Fararo, 2025. Please consult the German version for additional information, pictures, sources, videos, and bibliography.)
Quotes
QUOTES
I shudder to think what would have become of us in those dreadful times if we had not had this blessed woman.
(Carl Larsson, painter, portraitist of Selma Lagerlöf)
There is nothing better than being praised by those who are themselves clever and capable.
Memory is a precious gift; but perhaps it is better to lose it than to have it nourished by a hatred that never extinguishes and never diminishes.
If you don't see your path clearly in front of you, then it's best to remain silent and wait.
(Selma Lagerlöf, quoted in: Ausgewählte Kostbarkeiten. Lahr. SKV-Edition. ISBN 3877294154, p. 23)
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