Pelle Svanslös (English: Peter-No-Tail (film version) or Pelle No-Tail (book version)) is a fictional

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

cat created by the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

author

Gösta Knutsson Gösta Lars August Knutsson (original surname Johansson; 12 October 1908, in Stockholm – 4 April 1973) was a Swedish radio producer and writer of a popular series of children's books about the cat ''Pelle Svanslös''. Gösta Knutsson was born ...

and a children's book series about him. In 1937 ''Pelle Svanslös'' first appeared in a radio series, which was broadcast from a small studio in the university building in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

. A series of twelve children's books based on the character was published between 1939 and 1972. The first eleven books were illustrated by Lucie Lundberg. The books about Pelle are seen as a protest against the ever more overt support seen for Nazism in Sweden during the 1930s, and as such constitute a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

on contemporaneous society. The books have been translated to several European languages.

Characters and story

The stories take place in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The characters of the books are cats; however, they are often based on real people. Knutsson studied at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

and was involved with the student societies

Stockholms nation Stockholms nation is a student society and one of thirteen nations at Uppsala University. The nation has its origins in the mid-17th century and regards 1649 as its official date of foundation, although this is uncertain. A document in the archi ...

and

Uppsala Student Union Uppsala Student Union (''Uppsala studentkår'') is one of four students' unions at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. According to Swedish law, university students are no longer required to be members of a students' union since 2010. Uppsal ...

, and many of the characters are modelled on real-life people from this environment.Sevelin, A.R.
"Verklighetens Pelle Svanslös"
, ''Holmensis: Stockholms Nations Tidning'' no.4/2011, pp. 16–18, accessed 16 May 2012. Pelle is a kindhearted and gullible cat who is constantly being tricked and bullied by Elaka Måns ("Mean Mike") and his dim-witted helpers Bill and Bull, who always echo Måns while slightly misunderstanding him. However, good always prevails over evil, and Pelle even gets to experience true love together with Maja Gräddnos ("Maya Cream-nose"). In the first books Pelle is a house cat in the home of the children Olle and Birgitta, but as he grows he enters a relationship with cohabitant Maja in a basement peep-hole. After a while, the book series become more and more

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

, with less and less mention of the human world around Pelle. Unlike the other cats in the series, Pelle has no tail (his name Svanslös "without a tail" reflects this). A large

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

bit off Pelle's tail when he was only a few days old. Pelle was born in the countryside, but a family from Uppsala adopted him when he was a kitten. Some of the other cats bully Pelle because his lack of a tail.

Book series

# ''Pelle Svanslös på äventyr'' (1939); English: ''The adventures of Pelle No-Tail'' # ''Pelle Svanslös på nya äventyr'' (1940); English: ''Further adventures of Pelle No-Tail'' # ''Pelle Svanslös i Amerika'' (1941) # ''Pelle Svanslös Klarar sig'' (1942); English: ''Pelle No-Tail pulls through'' # ''Hur ska det gå för Pelle Svanslös?'' (1943) # ''Pelle Svanslös och Taxen Max'' (1944) # ''Pelle Svanslös i skolan'' (1945) # ''Heja Pelle Svanslös'' (1946) # ''Pelle Svanslös och Maja Gräddnos'' (1947) # ''Trillingarna Svanslös'' (1948) # ''Alla tiders Pelle Svanslös'' (1951) # ''Pelle Svanslös ger sig inte'' (1972)

Adaptations

In 1949 the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

staged a

Children's opera A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger t ...

, ''Pelle Svanslös'', with music by

Erland von Koch Sigurd Christian Jag Erland Vogt von Koch (26 April 1910 – 31 January 2009) was a Swedish composer. He wrote symphonies, ballets, an opera, and other compositions, including music for film. Life and career Born in Stockholm as the son of compos ...

. This production was subsequently presented each following year until 2001. In 1990 the stage production was filmed and shown by

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

. It featured Mark Bartholdsson as Pelle Svanslös, Iwa Sörenson as Maja Gräddnos and Magnus Lindén as elaka Måns. The series has been adapted for film multiple times. In 1981 the feature

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

'' Peter-No-Tail'' was released, starring Mats Åhlfeldt as Peter and

Ernst-Hugo Järegård Ernst-Hugo Alfred Järegård (12 December 1928 – 6 September 1998) was a Swedish actor. Biography Järegård was born in Ystad. He received his acting training at Malmö City Theatre. From 1962 he was an actor in Sweden's prominent Royal Dra ...

as Elaka Måns. A sequel, ''

Peter-No-Tail in Americat ''Peter-No-Tail in Americat'' ( sv, Pelle Svanslös i Amerikatt) is a 1985 Swedish animation based on stories about the tail-less cat ''Pelle Svanslös'' by Gösta Knutsson. The cartoon is a sequel to the 1981 cartoon '' Peter-No-Tail'', and is k ...

'', followed in 1985, with much of the same cast but Erik Lindgren voicing Peter. In 1997,

produced the

Nordic Christmas calendar A Christmas calendar ( da, julekalender, sv, julkalender, no, julekalender, fi, joulukalenteri, is, jóladagatal, fo, jólakalendari), is a form of Nordic episodic radio or television advent calendar focused on Christmas. It was first intro ...

live action TV series '' Peter-No-Tail'' with

Björn Kjellman John Björn Sture Kjellman (born 4 June 1963), is a Swedish actor and singer. Kjellman was born in Östra Grevie, Scania. He played roles in Swedish movies like ''Klassfesten'' and '' Livet är en schlager'', in which he plays a Melodifestival ...

portraying Peter. This was followed in 2000 by the live action feature ''

Peter-No-Tail and the Great Treasure Hunt ''Peter-No-Tail and the Great Treasure Hunt'' ( sv, Pelle Svanslös och den stora skattjakten) is a 2000 Swedish live action film directed by Mikael Ekman. Plot Cast * Björn Kjellman-Pelle Svanslös * Cecilia Ljung-Maja Gräddnos * Christer ...

''. Picture books as well as two editions as a comics series have also been published; one comic magazine ran between 1965 and 1972. A new 2D animated feature-length film musical will be released by SF Studios in January 2020, with the art style largely based on the 1980s films.

Eponymous asteroids

An asteroid that was discovered in March 1993 is eponymously named 8535 Pellesvanslös. Similarly the asteroids 8534 Knutsson, 8536 Måns, 8537 Billochbull, 8538 Gammelmaja and 8539 Laban were discovered at about the same time. 8534 was named after Gösta Knutsson and asteroids 8535-8539 after various characters in the series. They were all named by Swedish astronomer

Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist (born 1944) is a Swedish astronomer at the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory. He is known for his work on the shapes and spin properties of minor planets. He has discovered three comets, P/1996 R2, C/1996 R3 and 308P/La ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelle Svanslos Literary characters introduced in 1939 Fictional cats Anthropomorphic cats Swedish children's literature Anti-fascist books Sweden in fiction Uppsala in fiction Nazism in Sweden Political history of Sweden Satirical books Swedish comics titles 1965 comics debuts 1972 comics endings Cats in literature Novels adapted into comics Novels adapted into operas Swedish novels adapted into films Sveriges Television original programming Book series introduced in 1939

Characters and story

Book series

Adaptations

Eponymous asteroids

See also

References