Astrid Lindgren

Swedish author Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) is one of the most widely translated authors of all time. She was catapulted to fame in the 1940s after creating the famed storybook character Pippi Longstocking. Over the course of her lifetime, Lindgren wrote more than 40 children's books, selling some 145 million copies worldwide.

Enjoyed Carefree Upbringing

Lindgren was born Astrid Anna Emilia Ericsson on November 14, 1907, in a red wooden house located in small-town Vimmerby, Småland, Sweden. She was the second of four children born to Hanna Jonsson and Samuel August Ericsson. The farm where the Ericssons lived, called Nas, had been around for 500 years, and the Ericsson family had been renting the land for three generations. When Lindgren finished her farm chores, she was allowed to run free in the fields and surrounding woods. Along with her siblings, she enjoyed tree-climbing, swimming in the river, and frolicking in the barns. The joy of childhood freedom Lindgren experienced is replicated in her fiction, particularly with the carefree Pippi Longstocking.

Lindgren discovered the magic of words at the age of five, when one of the farmhand's daughters read her a story. She received her first book, Snow White, from a teacher and was delighted whenever she was able to get a new one. In Astrid Lindgren, author Eva-Maria Metcalf included a quote from Lindgren concerning her love of books: “I can still remember how these books smelled when they arrived fresh from the printer. Yes, I started by smelling them, and there was no lovelier scent in all the world. It was full of foretaste and anticipation.”

Growing up, Lindgren read everything she could find, from English castaway Robinson Crusoe to the precocious adolescent Anne of Green Gables. She also wrote a number of creative essays that caught the attention of her teacher. One of them was published in the local paper, causing Lindgren's classmates to tease her. Afterward she vowed never to write again.

In 1924 Lindgren began working for the local paper, the Wimmerby Tidningen. She caused an uproar in town when she cut her hair in a bob to match the “flappers” of her day. A flapper was a term used to describe liberated women of the 1920s who cut their hair short and bucked the societal norms of the day. Pregnant at 19, Lindgren moved to Stockholm to avoid the scorn of the Vimmerby villagers. Her son, Lars, was born in 1926 and Lindgren was forced to place him in foster care because she could not support him.

In Stockholm, Lindgren studied stenography, then found work as a secretary. The money, however, was barely enough for food, rent, and train tickets to Copenhagen, Denmark, to visit Lars. For a while Lindgren worked for the Royal Swedish Automobile Club writing tour guides for car owners. There she met Sture Lindgren, whom she married on April 4, 1931. Afterward, Lindgren was able to gain custody of Lars. A daughter, Karin, followed in 1934.

Developed Pippi to Entertain Daughter

Despite her natural ability, Lindgren never pursued writing seriously until the 1940s. Pippi Longstocking came into being in 1941 when Lindgren's seven-year-old daughter—bored and bedridden with pneumonia—asked Lindgren to tell her a story about “Pippi Långstrump” (Longstocking). Karin made the name up but it was so inviting that Lindgren instantly pictured the character and began formulating tales about the wiry, spirited, frecklefaced Pippi, whose braids stuck out in either direction. Pippi became an instant hit with Karin and her friends.

The Pippi tales remained an oral tradition until 1944, when Lindgren fell on the ice and sprained her ankle. Laid up during recovery, Lindgren decided to put Pippi's adventures on paper, figuring they would make a nice birthday gift for her daughter. After completing the manuscript, Lindgren sent it to a publisher, who rejected it. Undaunted, Lindgren continued writing because she found she enjoyed it. Later that year she entered a manuscript titled Britt Mari lättar sitt hjärta (Confidences of Britt-Mari) in a writing contest sponsored by Stockholm publishing house Rabén and Sjögren. Britt-Mari won second place and was published in 1944. The book, written in diary form, delves into the life of a proper, well-behaved girl.

Lindgren revamped Pippi, and in 1945 her revised manuscript won first prize in Rabén and Sjögren's children's book competition. Pippi Longstocking hit the shelves in 1945 and over the next several decades went on to capture the attention of multitudes of children around the globe. More volumes followed, including Pippi Goes on Board, 1946, Pippi in the South Seas, 1948, and Pippi on the Run, 1971.

Pippi, short for Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking, represented a new kind of heroine for the children's book world. Pippi was loud, boisterous, and brave and did not care what others thought of her. She wore mismatched stockings and oversized shoes. Her mother was dead and her father was a sea captain who had never returned from his last voyage. Thus, Pippi lived alone with no adults telling her what to do. With a supply of never-ending gold, she lived a grand life. Pippi threw parties, downed entire chocolate cakes and lived in a ramshackle cottage with a monkey named Mr. Nilsson and a horse, Alfonso. She was so strong she could even lift the horse. Pippi had terrible manners, too. She slept upside-down in her bed with her feet on the pillow, and rolled out biscuits on the kitchen floor. Pippi took on bullies, refused to go to school, and mocked adults, especially those who were condescending toward children.

Children loved and admired Pippi because she was able to do many things they wished they could do themselves. Many parents, however, criticized Pippi's manners and general lack of respect for adults. Deemed an unsuitable role model, Pippi even sparked letters to the editor in the newspaper, where letter writers chastised the publishing company for honoring the book. Pippi sold well, however, and was soon translated into other languages. Pippi appeared in the United States in 1950 and in England in 1954. Eventually the book was translated into more than 70 languages, including Arabic, Hindi and Spanish. Pippi is known as Pippi Toong-Taw Yao in Thailand, Nagakutsushita-No-Pippi in Japan and Pippi Langkous in Holland.

Showed Versatility in Writing

By 1946 Lindgren was writing full-time. For Lindgren, writing became a vehicle for reclaiming her happy childhood. For the next 30 years, she averaged about one book per year for Rabén and Sjögren. The company also made her an editor and head of the children's book department. As such, Lindgren's job was to track down popular American books for translation. She helped with some translations, using the pseudonym Anna Ericsson or Emilia Ericsson. Throughout the bulk of her career, Lindgren spent mornings writing her own books, film manuscripts, radio plays, and theater adaptations. The afternoons were devoted to editorial jobs for Rabén and Sjögren, and evenings were spent with her family. During the summer, the family stayed at their vacation home on a small island outside Stockholm, where Lindgren woke at dawn to write on her balcony overlooking the Baltic.

Lindgren developed many popular children's book protagonists, including Bill Bergson, Master Detective, who appeared in 1946; Mischievous Meg in 1960; and the boy hero Emil, who came into being in 1963. Her second most popular character after Pippi was Karlsson-on-the-Roof. This series of fairy tales hit bookshelves in 1955. Short and tubby, Karlsson has a propeller on his back that allows him to fly from his rooftop apartment. Much of the storyline revolves around the friendship between Karlsson and Lillebror—which translates literally to Little Boy—who lives with his family in the same house as Karlsson. Karlsson, playful and slightly naughty, often gets Lillebror in trouble. In the 1960s Lindgren created the Noisy Village books, which covered the lives of several Swedish children living on countryside farms. Another hit, Ronja Rövardotter (Ronia, the Robber's Daughter), came out in the 1980s.

Over the course of her writing career, Lindgren pushed the bounds of what was considered acceptable literature for children. Mio, My Son, published in 1954, dealt with fatherlessness. This fantasy tale follows an orphan who, with the help of a genie trapped in a bottle, is reunited with his father in a magic place called Farawayland.

In 1973 Lindgren published The Brothers Lionheart, a book that dealt with death. The story centers around two brothers, Karl and Jonatan. Nine-year-old Karl is ill and facing death. Jonatan comforts Karl by telling him that when he dies, he will go to a magnificent place called Nangijala. The brothers face a terrible fire in which Jonatan dies while saving Karl. In time, they are reunited in Nangijala, but the place is not as wonderful as Jonatan had described. The book delves into evil and fear, as the brothers battle dark forces. Under the guise of a fantasy tale, the book also explored the emotional growth of the brothers. Critics said the book was not suitable for children because death was too heavy of a topic for them to digest. Lindgren, however, maintained that death was a real part of life with which children had to deal. Many of her fans credited the book with helping them resolve issues surrounding death. The Brothers Lionheart became a movie in 1977.

In the early 1970s Lindgren retired from the publishing company, but continued writing. In 1976, facing a huge tax burden as a self-employed writer, Lindgren published a satirical fairy tale titled Pomperipossa in the World of Money. The piece struck a chord with fellow Swedes and helped lead to the demise of the ruling Social Democrats, who lost the next election. Tax laws were amended, with Lindgren credited for the change. In the 1980s Lindgren turned her attention to the plight of farm animals, publishing a series of newspaper articles that depicted God coming to earth to assess living conditions and becoming appalled at the way animals were forced to live. In turn, the government introduced legislation to protect livestock animals.

Revered by Fellow Swedes

In Sweden, Lindgren is a household name. She was voted “Swede of the Century” in 1999. Generations of Swedish children have grown up reading her books and hearing her tell her stories in recordings and on the radio. Several of her characters sparked Swedish movies and television series, some earning worldwide syndication. Pippi herself was featured in three Swedish feature films. In 1989 a theme park, called Astrid Lindgren's Varld, opened in her hometown and draws about 300,000 tourists annually. The theme park depicts many of the settings of her books. There is a model of Pippi's house, in which children are allowed to play.

Despite her monetary success, Lindgren never moved from the modest Stockholm apartment she had settled into during the 1940s. Toward the end of her life, Lindgren's eyesight began to fail and she wrote sparingly. She died on January 28, 2002, at the age of 94. Her husband preceded her in death in 1952 and Lars in 1986.

In 2007, to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Lindgren's birth, Britain's Oxford University Press issued a fresh edition of Pippi Longstocking with a new translation by Tiina Nunnally and illustrations by Lauren Child, creator of the popular Charlie and Lola series. When approached to do the artwork, Child jumped at the chance. Speaking to the London Daily Telegraph, Child discussed the character's universal appeal: “Pippi is all-powerful. She's completely independent and doesn't have to answer to anybody. She has a chest of gold so she can buy whatever she wants. She's a comic-book superhero with super-human strength, so nobody can frighten her. She just doesn't care what anybody thinks about her.” Pippi translations have continued into the twenty-first century. In 2007 Pippi was tapped for translation into Arabic by the groundbreaking Kalima project, which seeks to translate leading books from across the world for Middle East readers. Pippi reached the list, along with classics by other authors, including John Milton, William Faulkner and George Eliot.

Books

Hurwitz, Johanna, Astrid Lindgren: Storyteller to the World, Viking Kestrel, 1989.

Metcalf, Eva-Maria, Astrid Lindgren, Twayne Publishers, 1995.

Periodicals

Daily Telegraph (London), September 29, 2007.

Guardian (London), June 18, 1994.

Horn Book Magazine, November 2007.

Irish Times, February 2, 2002.

New York Times, January 29, 2002.

Times (London), January 29, 2002.

Online

“How Pippi Longstocking and John Milton Went Arabic,” TimesOnline, http://www.entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2917627.ece (December 8, 2007).