Selambs

by Sigfrid Siwertz

Barndomen för de fem syskonen Selamb kan beskrivas som en kamp mellan mitt och ditt. Peter är den penningdyrkande, Stellan den slösaktige och levnadsglade, Laura den njutningslystna, Hedvig en hycklare och Tord ett slags estet med naturen som favoritområde, där grymheten djur emellan är det som fascinerar honom mest. Dock är de lika, alla personligheter bottnar i en och samma egenskap: egoismen.

Syskonen Selamb kom till med första världskrigets konsekvenser i färskt minne och blev ett av författaren Sigfrid Siwertz viktigaste bidrag till den svenska litteraturen. Det är en berättelse om en överklassfamiljs uppgång och fall och hur egoismen i längden slår tillbaka mot en själv.

360 pages

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Per Sigfrid Siwertz (January 24th, 1882 - November 26th, 1970) was a Swedish author and poet as well as a member of the Swedish Academy from 1932 until his death in 1970.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

[The following passage was discovered in 2007 in an early draft of Anthony Powell's novel At Lady Molly's. It was presented at a joint meeting of the Anthony Powell and Sigfrid Siwertz societies held earlier this month in Stockholm, where it was the occasion for considerable debate.]

I suddenly realised that the person talking with Sir Magnus was General Conyers, whom I had not seen in over a year. I scanned his face anxiously - at that age, senility can set in with terrible suddenness - but he seemed almost preternaturally unchanged. A moment later, he had moved over to join me.

"You look well, sir," I hazarded.

"Keeping busy," said the General. "That's the important thing. Had I started reading Swedish when we last met?"

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