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Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (1901-1902) by Selma Lagerlof, first woman author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, is a story of Swedish families caught up in desire and divine exultation. Homestead tradition and religious inspiration, love and duty, come in conflict in this inspirational and gently bittersweet period novel that follows a pilgrimage of the idealist human spirit of Ingmar Ingmarsson and his kin.
236 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1901
49 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
About the author
Selma Lagerlöf
1,344 books700 followersSelma 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).
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).
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 28, 2008
Moving, perceptive book about religious mania, full of both intellectual and emotional intelligence. The author, who was herself deeply religious, does an excellent job of telling the story without judging the main characters.
Extremely relevant to the world today - it's a shame this book isn't better known. The film is also outstanding, and equally unknown outside Sweden.
February 16, 2019
I enjoyed the writing style of the author but found the structure of the book awkward. The rating is actually 2.5 stars.
December 30, 2020
Vad glad!!! Jag är att jag läste den här nu!!
June 29, 2024
Slutet va spännande men tyckte den liksom inte riktigt kom igång förrän då.
January 17, 2018
Selma Lagerlöf är Sveriges egendomligaste författare. Underskattad av sina samtida som bara såg en sagoberättande lärarinna från Värmlands inland, men senare väldigt överskattad av moderna litteraturvetare som talade en målmedveten genustänkandekvinna som på en gång var författare till romaner med både episka och postmoderna drag. Att hon var den första svenska berättarvirtuosen kan man möjligen vara enig i, att hon spelade en smart kvinnoroll för sin tid , men om hennes romaner egentligen håller är en annan fråga.
Det som är gemensamt för de flesta av Lagerlöfs romaner är dock deras ojämnhet och att de små delarna är oftast intressanta än de större. Undantaget för denna regel är kortromanen Kejsaren av Portugallien där de intressanta idéer hon har fungerar i en tragisk kontext och människorna är betydligt mindre viktiga samt skolboken Nils Holgerssons underbara resa som av naturliga skäl är mindre sammanhållen, samt hennes underbara noveller
Jerusalem är en synnerligen respekterad svenska klassiker, vars handling alltså är om en väckelse i Dalarna, där medlemmarna efter en kallelse från Gud utvandrar till den heliga staden Jerusalem. En central komponent i bakgrunden är den legendariska släkt, Ingmarssönerna, och deras sista ättling, Ingmars, kamp att leva upp till dessa förväntningar och hur detta inverkar på honom själv och hans stora kärlek Gertrud som är en av de som utvandrar, där Ingmar är en som stannar kvar till en början.
Jerusalem har de flesta egenskaper av en Lagerlöfroman, de mindre berättelserna och människoödena som befolkar Ingmar, Gertruds och deras gemensamme bekant Gabriels väg från Dalarna till Jerusalem, ofta är mer intressant än huvudintrigen. Denna huvudhandling, Ingmars egen vandring till dödsskuggans dal och tillbaka igen för att bli en riktig Ingmarsbonde, Gertruds religiösa utveckling och deras gemensamme bekante Gabriels resa vid sidan om från en tragisk tönt till riktig man, har bitvis vissa kvalitéer och har intentioner att bygga någon form av episk känsla, men tar sig aldrig riktigt på allvar. Slutpunkten känns alldeles för självklar och den berättartekniska myten, som visserligen alltid gör en episk berättelse, men blir här alldeles för tydlig utan att fylla ut med riktiga människor och en riktig tidsanda.
En avslutande rövarhistoria handlar om att då Vilhelm Moberg mötte Sven Lidman utanför Kungliga biblioteket, då den förstnämnda just avslutat sin utvandrarroman, så kramade Lidman om honom och berättade om att Selma Lagerlöf hade planerat en liknande historia om den svenska utvandringen till Amerika, men på något vis hade svenskarna hamnat i Jerusalem istället. Så nu tackade Lidman Moberg att det var den sistnämnde som skrev denna bok om svenskar i Amerika istället. Och jag får nog hålla med Lidman, Mobergs roman är det största mästerverket i svensk litteratur där han gör allting rätt och där Lagerlöf gör alldeles för mycket fel. Synd, men sant.
Det som är gemensamt för de flesta av Lagerlöfs romaner är dock deras ojämnhet och att de små delarna är oftast intressanta än de större. Undantaget för denna regel är kortromanen Kejsaren av Portugallien där de intressanta idéer hon har fungerar i en tragisk kontext och människorna är betydligt mindre viktiga samt skolboken Nils Holgerssons underbara resa som av naturliga skäl är mindre sammanhållen, samt hennes underbara noveller
Jerusalem är en synnerligen respekterad svenska klassiker, vars handling alltså är om en väckelse i Dalarna, där medlemmarna efter en kallelse från Gud utvandrar till den heliga staden Jerusalem. En central komponent i bakgrunden är den legendariska släkt, Ingmarssönerna, och deras sista ättling, Ingmars, kamp att leva upp till dessa förväntningar och hur detta inverkar på honom själv och hans stora kärlek Gertrud som är en av de som utvandrar, där Ingmar är en som stannar kvar till en början.
Jerusalem har de flesta egenskaper av en Lagerlöfroman, de mindre berättelserna och människoödena som befolkar Ingmar, Gertruds och deras gemensamme bekant Gabriels väg från Dalarna till Jerusalem, ofta är mer intressant än huvudintrigen. Denna huvudhandling, Ingmars egen vandring till dödsskuggans dal och tillbaka igen för att bli en riktig Ingmarsbonde, Gertruds religiösa utveckling och deras gemensamme bekante Gabriels resa vid sidan om från en tragisk tönt till riktig man, har bitvis vissa kvalitéer och har intentioner att bygga någon form av episk känsla, men tar sig aldrig riktigt på allvar. Slutpunkten känns alldeles för självklar och den berättartekniska myten, som visserligen alltid gör en episk berättelse, men blir här alldeles för tydlig utan att fylla ut med riktiga människor och en riktig tidsanda.
En avslutande rövarhistoria handlar om att då Vilhelm Moberg mötte Sven Lidman utanför Kungliga biblioteket, då den förstnämnda just avslutat sin utvandrarroman, så kramade Lidman om honom och berättade om att Selma Lagerlöf hade planerat en liknande historia om den svenska utvandringen till Amerika, men på något vis hade svenskarna hamnat i Jerusalem istället. Så nu tackade Lidman Moberg att det var den sistnämnde som skrev denna bok om svenskar i Amerika istället. Och jag får nog hålla med Lidman, Mobergs roman är det största mästerverket i svensk litteratur där han gör allting rätt och där Lagerlöf gör alldeles för mycket fel. Synd, men sant.
November 23, 2016
FINALLY finished this boring-ass-book. A synopsis: Farmers get spooked by an extremist Christian and suddenly they want to move to Jerusalem. That's all these 276 pages told me. The only aspect of this book that I found interesting was the well developed character relationships, but otherwise this book had me falling asleep. So glad to be done with it.
February 26, 2023
Lagerlöf sprudlar av historier, allt är skrivet med klart språk och snabb flykt i handlingen. Dalabönderna som flyttade till Jerusalem bygger på en verklig händelse, och en utvandrargrupp hon själv besökte i Jerusalem några år tidigare, för att samla material. Visserligen diktar hon därefter om historien så det passar hennes egen frågeställning, som främst gäller smärtan att mista sina rötter och sitt föräldrahem.
Däremot har denna roman ingen allvetande berättare som styr våra åsikter om de inblandade. Problematiken kring väckelserörelsen, den religiösa sekten, och alla möjliga åsikter för och emot berättas genom alla de olika karaktärernas inre monologer, deras funderingar om vad de ska välja och ta sig till. Och genom mängden karaktärer får vi ta del av alla möjliga motsatta sätt att se på problemen.
Modernt sätt att skriva, och på många sätt relevant än idag.
Däremot har denna roman ingen allvetande berättare som styr våra åsikter om de inblandade. Problematiken kring väckelserörelsen, den religiösa sekten, och alla möjliga åsikter för och emot berättas genom alla de olika karaktärernas inre monologer, deras funderingar om vad de ska välja och ta sig till. Och genom mängden karaktärer får vi ta del av alla möjliga motsatta sätt att se på problemen.
Modernt sätt att skriva, och på många sätt relevant än idag.
September 22, 2015
Different
Enjoy her writing style but somehow I missed the point of this story. I Enjoyed other works of hers more.
Enjoy her writing style but somehow I missed the point of this story. I Enjoyed other works of hers more.
June 30, 2025
This book was not what I expected, but I liked it more than I thought I would at the start. It follows three generations in a Swedish farm family, the Ingmarssons. Each family member who gets a spotlight faces a difficult moral decision at least once in their life, and this story traces the consequences of those decisions on their spiritual and physical lives. It isn't really about Jerusalem, the holy city, until later, when the idea of pilgrimage takes over a group of religious fanatics (more or less a cult) in the local parish. Some of the Ingmarssons are caught up in the enthusiasm, threatening the demise of the family farm that has been in their family for so many generations.
The writing style and storytelling has a fairytale quality; sometimes I wasn't sure if something was literally happening or was just fancifully described. But that made it interesting, and rather endearing. Some hard and sad things happened, but the story showed how the characters overcame them for better or for worse. I didn't really connect to any of the characters because they felt held at arm's length, but my favorites were probably the youngest Ingmar Ingmarsson and the schoolmaster's daughter, Gertrude Storm.
I appreciated the descriptions of Sweden since some of my ancestors were Swedish, even in the country when the main action took place, in the late 19th century.
The writing style and storytelling has a fairytale quality; sometimes I wasn't sure if something was literally happening or was just fancifully described. But that made it interesting, and rather endearing. Some hard and sad things happened, but the story showed how the characters overcame them for better or for worse. I didn't really connect to any of the characters because they felt held at arm's length, but my favorites were probably the youngest Ingmar Ingmarsson and the schoolmaster's daughter, Gertrude Storm.
I appreciated the descriptions of Sweden since some of my ancestors were Swedish, even in the country when the main action took place, in the late 19th century.
April 15, 2023
What if the adventures of "Emil fra Lönneberga" (of Astrid Lindgren) were set in a less modern, but at the same time - quite modern time period and written as a realistic drama for adults full of horribly-realistic details about their complex and tortured past, the deadly influence of Christian patriarchy on the world and Europe in general and on a small village in Dalarna Sweden, and portraying the intergenerational abuse for all to see slice-of-life-cum-social-criticism-trashy-novel-which-you-wont-be-able-to-get-your-eyes-off?!
This book is the result!
We follow a lifetime of a young boy living on a farm which belonged to his family for generation, only now there's a problem - the elderly father died without leaving an adult heir, just his four older sister and the young boy, which by the standards of the time and by the reality of living on a farm and forest estate needed "men's shoulders" to carry it. From then on the intrigue starts, following the more or less successful marriages, single and couple's lives of the elder sisters and even the love aches of Ingmar Ingmarsson.
We see the live exchange of the various kinds of what would be called today "religious extremists" between Sweden and USA, by the means of "itinerant preachers", which certainly gave rise to the sectarian interpretation of Christianity in the US and led to the disaster it is today in 2023, and even more of a disaster it will be in the future, but those itinerant nature of which is also true to the pre-christian adventure-loving spirit of the Swedes as a nation, which likes to go places ... just because those places are there.
Shortly after several of those preachers arrive in the village the quiet and calm life starts to unravel, owing both to the hierarchical nature of the governmental and "establishment-like" Lutheran Church of Sweden, which cannot compete being set in his ways - the figure of the pastor is even deliberately portrayed as small-framed, frail and ill-at-ease among those "Dalarna giants", and farmers who, after having acquired the facility of reading and writing, want to interpret the scripture and create a religion fit for themselves, seeing as the Protestant branch opened the "Pandora's box" of doctrinal freedom. This is, however, in a way of how the narration is written (by the author) harks back not to Christianity or Jerusalem (despite the intention that Selma Lagerlöf might have had) but to the individual freedom and individual choice present in the assemblies of the again - prechristian Scandinavia - "why is a man not free to interpret his doctrine, if God himself says so" - this is a direct descendant of the Tinget, unrelated and unspoiled by hierarchical monarchistic and divine-authority-centered Christianity, which cannot escape its origins. Similarly to that an interesting criticism arises with Helgum (the Saint ? ) - the leaders of the major sect preaching for the departure to Jerusalem - why, if one is to live by the Christian doctrine, one is going to find himself on the bottom of the society, which is quite easily explained tracing the lineage of Christianity from the closed, militant, natalist and vengeful religion of the Old Testament and Judaism derived from it, to the "openness of the Christianity of the New Testament of love, the next life"- still cannot escape the initial unattached and itinerant nature of the Jewish tribes which created it - peace and recompense somehow is never local, hmm :) Locally only the drunk "caporal", the invalid Elias, the realistic but "unfair merchant" Halvår, and the mass of farmers who want to take over and get a piece of the Ingmarsson's formerly powerful estate.
Indeed the recompenses of the fallen are said to be gathered in the "divine Jerusalem", "in the afterlife", somewhere else "abroad", "in the United States", in "Jerusalem" (the physical) - in any way or form - in a "terra nullius" be it physical or imaginary, but not in Dalarne, and not by restoring the actual farm to its functional state, whether by the direct heir, even though he chooses at the end to not depart, following a predictably hypocritical incident with the "new religion" (same as the old religion) . There is as well an interesting remark here which is not heard by the "Jerusalem'ers/Helgumites" - by the "competing" preacher - a local boy and then elaborated further by one of the daughters - Gertrud - of all those who came to Jerusalem, Christians were the most violent, because they expected those lands to be "empty" - a fantasy "terra nullius" of sorts - (like the real USA between 1620-1860ies - as a "promised land" a Wild West, a land of opportunities) where they could shape the society, and reality itself to follow the canons of their religion....
The figure of the solitary old man, mysterious visitor, of whom no-one can remember the voice, or the looks of, even though he spoke to them, the invisible friend walking besides us, is so much related to Odin that it's quite uncanny, that this novel was characterized at the time, as Christian.
An interestingly curious offshoot of European literature, similar to both the Checkovian Cherry orchard", written in the same time period, and "Emil fra Lönneberga" written much later, that I've read to understand what kind of influence the traveling Chinese scholars brought from Sweden, in the years of reforms immediately preceding the republican revolution in China (1908-1910).
This book is the result!
We follow a lifetime of a young boy living on a farm which belonged to his family for generation, only now there's a problem - the elderly father died without leaving an adult heir, just his four older sister and the young boy, which by the standards of the time and by the reality of living on a farm and forest estate needed "men's shoulders" to carry it. From then on the intrigue starts, following the more or less successful marriages, single and couple's lives of the elder sisters and even the love aches of Ingmar Ingmarsson.
We see the live exchange of the various kinds of what would be called today "religious extremists" between Sweden and USA, by the means of "itinerant preachers", which certainly gave rise to the sectarian interpretation of Christianity in the US and led to the disaster it is today in 2023, and even more of a disaster it will be in the future, but those itinerant nature of which is also true to the pre-christian adventure-loving spirit of the Swedes as a nation, which likes to go places ... just because those places are there.
Shortly after several of those preachers arrive in the village the quiet and calm life starts to unravel, owing both to the hierarchical nature of the governmental and "establishment-like" Lutheran Church of Sweden, which cannot compete being set in his ways - the figure of the pastor is even deliberately portrayed as small-framed, frail and ill-at-ease among those "Dalarna giants", and farmers who, after having acquired the facility of reading and writing, want to interpret the scripture and create a religion fit for themselves, seeing as the Protestant branch opened the "Pandora's box" of doctrinal freedom. This is, however, in a way of how the narration is written (by the author) harks back not to Christianity or Jerusalem (despite the intention that Selma Lagerlöf might have had) but to the individual freedom and individual choice present in the assemblies of the again - prechristian Scandinavia - "why is a man not free to interpret his doctrine, if God himself says so" - this is a direct descendant of the Tinget, unrelated and unspoiled by hierarchical monarchistic and divine-authority-centered Christianity, which cannot escape its origins. Similarly to that an interesting criticism arises with Helgum (the Saint ? ) - the leaders of the major sect preaching for the departure to Jerusalem - why, if one is to live by the Christian doctrine, one is going to find himself on the bottom of the society, which is quite easily explained tracing the lineage of Christianity from the closed, militant, natalist and vengeful religion of the Old Testament and Judaism derived from it, to the "openness of the Christianity of the New Testament of love, the next life"- still cannot escape the initial unattached and itinerant nature of the Jewish tribes which created it - peace and recompense somehow is never local, hmm :) Locally only the drunk "caporal", the invalid Elias, the realistic but "unfair merchant" Halvår, and the mass of farmers who want to take over and get a piece of the Ingmarsson's formerly powerful estate.
Indeed the recompenses of the fallen are said to be gathered in the "divine Jerusalem", "in the afterlife", somewhere else "abroad", "in the United States", in "Jerusalem" (the physical) - in any way or form - in a "terra nullius" be it physical or imaginary, but not in Dalarne, and not by restoring the actual farm to its functional state, whether by the direct heir, even though he chooses at the end to not depart, following a predictably hypocritical incident with the "new religion" (same as the old religion) . There is as well an interesting remark here which is not heard by the "Jerusalem'ers/Helgumites" - by the "competing" preacher - a local boy and then elaborated further by one of the daughters - Gertrud - of all those who came to Jerusalem, Christians were the most violent, because they expected those lands to be "empty" - a fantasy "terra nullius" of sorts - (like the real USA between 1620-1860ies - as a "promised land" a Wild West, a land of opportunities) where they could shape the society, and reality itself to follow the canons of their religion....
The figure of the solitary old man, mysterious visitor, of whom no-one can remember the voice, or the looks of, even though he spoke to them, the invisible friend walking besides us, is so much related to Odin that it's quite uncanny, that this novel was characterized at the time, as Christian.
An interestingly curious offshoot of European literature, similar to both the Checkovian Cherry orchard", written in the same time period, and "Emil fra Lönneberga" written much later, that I've read to understand what kind of influence the traveling Chinese scholars brought from Sweden, in the years of reforms immediately preceding the republican revolution in China (1908-1910).
December 27, 2024
När man läser den MAGNIFIKA boken Jerusalem med alla dess invävda små berättelser inser man hur korrekt det var att Selma, the lesbian ICON, hamnade på tjugolappen! Vilken kvinna hon var wow, hade jag levat på hennes tid hade jag lätt varit hennes bitch
September 20, 2025
Mysig, men fick aldrig en relation till karaktärerna kändes det som. Väldigt intressant att läsa om Jerusalem för så länge sedan och sorgligt att spänningarna och problemen som fanns då finns kvar än idag 🥲
September 24, 2024
Mer intressant än den är rörande. Väldigt vackra natur-beskrivningar och fascinerande hur de olika karaktärerna förhåller sig till gud och tro i allmänhet. Inte långt ifrån 4/5.
October 10, 2025
A Swedish take on religious beliefs.
October 29, 2025
She did it again
December 6, 2025
Religion er skumle saker!
December 12, 2025
This book took me back in time, Selma Lagerlöf is a brilliant author.
June 11, 2023
This was an interesting story. It took some time before I understood that there was no main character, instead many minor characters driving the story forward and that the story itself was the main character.
This is not my favourite by the author, but I could see her signature style both in writing and subject. I have to read the second book in the duology before I make up my mind completely about the story, but I have a feeling the second book is going to make me love this more than I do at the moment.
This is not my favourite by the author, but I could see her signature style both in writing and subject. I have to read the second book in the duology before I make up my mind completely about the story, but I have a feeling the second book is going to make me love this more than I do at the moment.
December 1, 2019
Lite besviken. Hade hoppats på något med liknande höjd som Vilhelm Moberg eller Per Anders Fogelström men tycker inte alls denna bok når upp dit.
Har jag missat något stort?
Har jag missat något stort?
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews