''Gösta Berling's Saga'' ( ), also known as ''The Story of Gösta Berling'' or ''The Saga of Gösta Berling'', is the

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

of Swedish

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winning author

Selma Lagerlöf Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...

, published in 1891. It was made into a 1924 silent film directed by

Mauritz Stiller Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 8 November 1928) was a Finnish film director of Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. Stiller was a pioneer of the Swedish film industry, writing ...

starring

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...

(in her first leading role in a film),

Lars Hanson Lars Mauritz Hanson (26 July 1886 – 8 April 1965) was a Swedish film and stage actor, internationally mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film era. Biography Born in Göteborg, Sweden, Hanson began his career on t ...

and

Gerda Lundequist Gerda Carola Cecilia Lundequist (; 14 February 1871 – 23 October 1959) was a Swedish stage actress, an Ibsen and Strindberg-thespian that in her time was known throughout Scandinavia as "The Swedish Sarah Bernhardt". Career Lundequist was ...

. A 1925 opera '' I cavalieri di Ekebù'' by

Riccardo Zandonai Riccardo Zandonai (28 May 1883 – 5 June 1944) was an Italian composer and conducting, conductor. Biography Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, then part of Austria-Hungary. As a young man, he showed such an aptitude for music that he ...

was also based on it.

Background

In the summer of 1890, a Swedish magazine, the ''Idun'', had offered a prize for the best novel of a certain length. Lagerlöf entered the contest with a few chapters from ''Gösta Berling'', a story which was then beginning to take shape in her mind, and won the prize. In ''Gösta Berling'', Lagerlöf is a romanticist and represents a reaction against the realism which prevailed at the time. As a child, she had absorbed the folk tales of her surroundings, and later on in life it occurred to her like a lightning flash that it was her particular mission to give these stories expression. ''Gösta Berling's Saga'' has been called the “prose epic of Swedish country life.” The scene is laid on the shores of Lake Fryken (Lake Löven in the story) in

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

. Using wolves, snow, supernatural elements and eccentric upper-class characters to project an exotic image of 1820s

, the novel can be compared to

magic realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical re ...

. The title is meant to give associations to the Icelandic

sagas Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

. The first sentence, "Finally, the vicar was in the pulpit," is one of the most famous in Swedish literature.

Plot

The hero, Gösta Berling, is a defrocked Lutheran priest who has been saved by the Mistress of Ekeby from freezing to death and thereupon becomes one of her pensioners in the manor at Ekeby. As the pensioners finally get power in their own hands, they manage the property as they themselves see fit and their lives are filled with many wild adventures. Gösta Berling is their leading spirit, the poet, the charming personality among a band of revelers. Before the story ends, Gösta Berling is redeemed, and even the old Mistress of Ekeby is permitted to come to her old home to die.

English translations

It was first translated by Lillie Tudeer in 1894 as ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', but was unavailable in the US and soon out of print in the UK. This edition was re-printed in 1918 by the

American-Scandinavian Foundation The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swe ...

with edits and 8 additional chapters that had been quietly omitted from the 1894 edition. It was also translated in 1898 by Pauline Bancroft Flach as ''The Story of Gösta Berling''. Both of these editions are in the public domain and have been commonly reprinted by various publishers over the years. A later English translation by poet

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ...

was published (with a translator's afterword) in 1962. It was published by Signet Classics under the title ''The Story of Gösta Berling''. The most recent English translation, by Paul Norlen, was published in 2009 by Penguin Books under the title ''The Saga of Gösta Berling''.

Main characters

*Gösta Berling, defrocked minister and chief character *Margarita Samzelius (née Celsing), the Major's wife — in charge of Ekeby; she gives the cavaliers a place to stay *Sintram, the Evil one who only causes mischief *Marienne Sinclaire (Swedish ''Marianne Sinclaire''), thrown out of her parents' house for kissing Gösta *Countess Elizabeth (Karlsdotter), from Italy, married to Count Henrik Dohna *Anna Stjärnhök, engaged to a minor character, at one time loves Gösta *Countess Märta, mother of Henrik, step-mother of Ebba, rich and haughty *Count Henrik Dohna, Elizabeth's husband, known for being 'stupid' *Ebba Dohna, Marta's step-daughter, very pious — Gösta's first love *The 12 Cavaliers: Gösta Berling, Colonel Beerencreutz, major Anders Fuchs, Little Ruster, Rutger von Örneclou, Kristian Bergh, Squire Julius, Kevenhüller, Cousin Kristoffer, Uncle Eberhard, Lövenborg, Lilliecrona

Adaptations

Film * In 1924 it was made into a Swedish

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

('' Gösta Berlings saga'') starring the then mostly unknown

as Elizabeth and popular film actors

and

, directed by

. Television * Beginning on 10 March 1986, it was released as a 6-part, 347-minute mini-series for Swedish television. Opera * The opera by

, '' I cavalieri di Ekebù'' (1925) is based on it. Music *In 2004 a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

group from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

was formed under the name Gösta Berlings Saga. They have so far released six studio albums.

References

External links

* *
''Gösta Berling's Saga''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

and

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

''Gösta Berlings saga''
in Swedish, at

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg () is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded by Lars Aronsson and ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gosta Berlings Saga 1891 Swedish novels 1891 debut novels Novels by Selma Lagerlöf Swedish-language novels Novels set in Sweden Novels set in Värmland County Novels set in the 1820s Swedish novels adapted into films Swedish novels adapted into television shows Novels adapted into operas