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

Pelle Svanslös Pelle Svanslös (English: Peter-No-Tail (film version) or Pelle No-Tail (book version)) is a fictional anthropomorphic cat created by the Swedish people, Swedish author Gösta Knutsson and a children's literature, children's book series about hi ...

''. Gösta Knutsson was born in a middle-class family in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and came to the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

as a student, remaining in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital 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 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

for the rest of his life. After completing an M.A. degree, he was curator (chairman) of the Stockholm Nation and later chairman of the Uppsala Student Union (1936–1938). He was also editor of the student union paper ''Ergo'' 1940–42. During his time as student union chairman, he was also employed as head of the Uppsala office of the Swedish National Radio and remained there from 1936 until 1969. As such he introduced the quiz show in Sweden, with the first one recruiting the two teams from two of the

student nation Student nations or simply nations ( meaning "being born") are regional corporations of students at a university. Once widespread across Europe in medieval times, they are now largely restricted to the oldest universities of Sweden and Finland, in p ...

s in Uppsala. Knutsson is most remembered for his series of

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

about ''

'', , a good-hearted and often naïve

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

whose tail had been bitten off by a rat when he was a kitten. The books contain a number of other cats such as Pelle's darling ''Maja Gräddnos'' () or his adversary, the bully ''Elaka Måns'' (), who never fails to remind Pelle of his lack of a tail, and Måns' two followers ''Bill'' and ''Bull'', who tend to repeat everything Måns says in fragmentary and garbled form. The

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 to ...

cats mostly live in the area around the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

and the university in Uppsala, seen from a somewhat feline perspective. Knutsson has said that the tailless cat Pelle was based on a real cat he had himself known for a summer in his childhood, but also that the cat was his own

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

. Maja Gräddnos is supposedly based on his own wife Erna (1926–2023). Måns is generically evil with elements fetched from

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...

. The other cats were all caricatures of people among Knutsson's own circle of friends and acquaintances in Uppsala. Pelle Svanslös made his public debut in a story told by Knutsson on radio in 1937, with the first book appearing in 1939. The ''Pelle Svanslös'' books have been reprinted in Swedish many times and have also been translated to Finnish, Danish, Norwegian,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Latvian, Ukrainian, Polish and English. As a nationally well-known and liked character, Pelle Svanslös has been used by the municipality of Uppsala for marketing purposes. There is a "Pelle Svanslös House" for children in Uppsala, and during summer the tourist office arranges daily Pelle Svanslös-related walks for children (and nostalgic adults). The asteroid 8534 Knutsson has been named by Uppsala astronomers in honour of Gösta Knutsson, and other asteroids have been named after cats from his books: 8535 Pellesvanslös, 8536 Måns, 8537 Billochbull, 8538 Gammelmaja (named after Gammel-Maja, , a wise old cat living in the cathedral) and 8539 Laban (after the cat Laban, who lives in the Observatory park and has also given name to one of the first computers of the Department of Astronomy).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knutsson, Gosta 1908 births 1973 deaths Writers from Stockholm Swedish-language writers Swedish children's writers Uppsala University alumni Burials at Uppsala old cemetery