Selma Lagerlöf, who was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1858, is the
Swedish idol in literature. She has had a series of honors such as
rarely have fallen to the lot of a woman novelist, the climax of which
has been the winning of the Nobel prize.[C] This enrolls her in a small
group of authors of cosmopolitan interest--writers who belong to the
whole world. Yet she is a woman who aspires to no prominence. She is
modest, retiring, and unconscious of self.
[C] The Nobel prizes are prizes given for the encouragement of men and
women who work for the interests of humanity, and were established by
the will of Alfred B. Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite, who
left his entire estate for this purpose. They are awarded yearly by the
Academy of Sweden, for what is regarded as the most important work
during the year in physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology,
idealistic literature, and service in the interests of peace. The
prizes, averaging $40,000 each, were first awarded in 1901.
No other Swedish writer of any period has so faithfully mirrored the
soul of the Swedish people as has Selma Lagerlöf, nor has any other
writer been so worshipped by her people. In her native province her
work has sunk deep into the hearts of the people. The places and
characters she has described have become so intimately associated with
her stories and legends that the real names are constantly being
confused with the fictitious ones she has given them in her _Wonderful
Adventures of Nils_ and _Gösta Berling_. Everywhere in Sweden one finds
postal cards representing scenes from the _Wonderful Adventures of
Nils_. This is an enchanting fairy story that may be compared to the
fairy classics of Grimm and of Hans Andersen. In it fact and fancy are
delicately interwoven with the geography and natural history of Sweden.
Miss Lagerlöf's popularity is not confined exclusively to Scandinavian
countries, however. In Germany, Russia, and Holland, she is more widely
read than almost any other foreign writer. In recent years, moreover,
she has conquered France, and since the bestowal of the Nobel prize,
she has become a world figure. It is since that event that she has
become known in America, though she is not yet read here so much as she
deserves.
She might well be called the founder of a new school of literature. She
turned away from the general tendency of the European literature of her
day, a tendency to morbid realism, or dealing with the ugliest facts of
life. Her method is to throw into obscurity human frailties and vices
and turn the light on what is biggest and strongest in people. This
idealistic tendency may be readily traced in the story of "The Silver
Mine," which is given in this text. It was for _Optimism in Literature_
that Selma Lagerlöf was given the Nobel prize.