Jerusalem by Lagerlöf, Selma (2007) Paperback

by Selma Lagerlöf

Paperback

About the author

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was a Swedish author. In 1909 she became the first woman to ever receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings". She later also became the first female member of the Swedish Academy.

Born in the forested countryside of Sweden she was told many of the classic Swedish fairytales, which she would later use as inspiration in her magic realist writings. Since she for some of her early years had problems with her legs (she was born with a faulty hip) she would also spend a lot of time reading books such as the Bible.

As a young woman she was a teacher in the southern parts of Sweden for ten years before her first novel Gösta Berling's Saga was published. As her writer career progressed she would keep up a correspondance with some of her former female collegues for almost her entire life.

Lagerlöf never married and was almost certainly a lesbian (she never officially stated that she was, but most later researchers believe this to be the case). For many years her constant companion was fellow writer Sophie Elkan, with whom she traveled to Italy and the Middle East. Her visit to Palestine and a colony of Christians there, would inspire her to write Jerusalem, her story of Swedish farmers converting into a evangelical Christian group and travelling to "The American Colony" in Jerusalem.

Lagerlöf was involved in both women issues as well as politics. She would among other things help the Jewish writer Nelly Sachs to come to Sweden and donated her Nobel medal to the Finnish war effort against the Soviet union.

Outside of Sweden she's perhaps most widely known for her children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils).

Reviews

[Simon Lökken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bästa boken jag någonsin läst. Väldigt spirituell och inspirerande bok med levande karaktärer och djupa teman som fick mig fångad och påverkade min tro starkt.

[Stein J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the first books I read by the Swedish author, Selma Lagerlöf and due to this, I have read every single book she has ever written. Needless to say, it affected me profoundly.
The book is usually categorized as fiction, but is based on a real incident and events. A whole community close to the author´s own hometown; Sunne, sold everything they owned, broke up and moved to Jerusalem due to a vision by one of the congregation members.
Selma, the author, herself, was a declared atheist, but intrigued by this story, she travelled to Palestine to follow the destinies of these people.
In spite of having a completely different conviction, she wrote about the people she met with love, admiration and understanding. The book is a must- read if you try to understand the religious mind, because, what drives a person and a whole community to leave everything they know behind, start anew in another country and choose to stay, even when life becomes so extremely much harder than expected?

[Tyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Det här är min nya favoritbok! Jag SÖRJER att den tagit slut. Jag älskar hur djupa alla karaktärer är, hur rytmiskt skriven den är och hur det kristna, vardagliga och mytologiska går samman i en slags magisk realism där allt bär betydelse. Det är en roman om väckelserörelsen, en sekt men också om det ganska hårda samhälle och den kyrka som är innan.
Genom det magiska i narrativet fastnade jag snabbt i sektens verklighet som både är just sektig och hård men också djupt mänsklig och vacker. Samtidigt sitter hela tiden också genom annan mytologi och religion fast i ett annat samhälle: ett hårt svenskt samhälle präglat av dygd och arbetsmoral, men där också en väldigt stark kärlek får ta plats. Ingenting i den här romanen är svart eller vitt, och alla karaktärer går både att älska och ogilla.

[Simon Rosendahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ett fint byporträtt.
När jag väl släppte att jag inte var jättesugen på att läsa skönlitterärt om kristna dalmasar så fick jag verkligen upp ögonen för Selmas prosa (tror man använder detta ordet såhär?) och kunde leva mig in i berättelsen/-erna på ett helt annat sätt. Mitt favoritkapitel var Baram pascha, han som hyrde ut huset till Gordonnianerna, var en gungande rytmik i den och ett väldigt fint avslut på kapitlet, men även hela boken. På något sätt väldigt trovärdiga människor. Gillart
Kommer dessvärre inte ihåg särskilt mycket av första delen då jag läste den 2021, men förvånansvärt bra läsning av andra halvan.