Lagerlöf - Selma Ottiliana Lovisa Lagerlöf

A Swedish female writer. Born into a landowning family in Mårbacka in the picturesque Värmland region. The house passed through the hands of others, but she later bought it back and spent her later years there. It is now the Lagerlöf Memorial Museum. While teaching at a girls' school, she entered a novel contest and won a prize for her work, The Story of Gjösta Berling (1891). This full-length novel, which is sprinkled with folk tales and legends from her hometown, centers on the priest Gjösta Berling, who is expelled from the church for drinking, and tells the story of a society's idle members awakening to a life of work and service, but her poetic prose is free from any didacticism. Following her collection of short stories, The Invisible Bond (1894), she traveled to Italy, Egypt, and Palestine, and established her own literary foothold with her two-part novel, Jerusalem (1901-02). After publishing "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" (1906-07), she became the first Swedish woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1909. In 1914, she also became the first woman to be elected as an academician. Although her works after winning the Nobel Prize have not been generally highly acclaimed, her achievements before the award alone make her worthy of the name of a great author. Her works praise the scenery of her hometown and her love for the people, and she invites readers into a world of fantasy by depicting supernatural phenomena, making them realize that human nature is good amid a religious sentiment. Her works are heartwarming and have been familiar to Japanese readers since the Taisho period, including "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" and "The Pastor" translated by Mori Ogai (Chapter 1 of "The Tale of Gösta Berling", 1925), as well as "The Tale of the Landlord's House" and "The Daughter of the Swamp House". In 1929, 10 volumes of her collected works were published. "The Immortality of the Soul" (1920), considered one of the early masterpieces of the film world, was based on her work "The Coachman" (1912), known in Japan as "The Phantom Coach."

[Michio Tanaka]

"The Phantom Carriage" translated by Shizuo Yamamuro (Shincho Bunko)" ▽ "The Daughter of the Swamp House" translated by Shizuo Ishimaru (Kadokawa Bunko)" ▽ "The Tale of the Landlord's House" translated by Motokazu Sasaki (Kadokawa Bunko)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

スウェーデンの女流作家。風光明媚(めいび)なベルムランド地方、モールバッカの地主の家に生まれる。この家はいったん人手に渡るが、のちに買い戻し、ここで晩年を過ごす。現在はラーゲルレーブ記念館。女学校教師時代、懸賞小説の応募作品『イェスタ・ベルリング物語』（1891）が当選し一躍有名になる。酒のため教会を追われる牧師イェスタ・ベルリングを主人公に、郷里の民話、伝説をちりばめた長編小説で、社会の有閑分子が勤労と奉仕の生活に目覚めるのがテーマであるが、彼女の詩情豊かな文章は教訓臭を脱している。ついで短編集『見えざる絆(きずな)』（1894）ののち、イタリア、エジプト、パレスチナへ旅行、二部作の長編小説『エルサレム』（1901～02）で文壇的地歩を築く。『ニルスのふしぎな旅』（1906～07）発表後、1909年、スウェーデン女性として初のノーベル文学賞を受賞。14年、これも女性として初のアカデミー会員に選ばれる。ノーベル賞受賞後の作品は一般に高い評価を受けていないが、受賞以前の業績のみでも大作家の名に値する。郷里の風物と、民衆への愛情をたたえ、超自然的現象を描いて空想の世界へ読者を誘い、宗教的情緒のなかに人間の性は善と実感させる心温まる文学といえる。日本では大正期以来『ニルスのふしぎな旅』、森鴎外(おうがい)訳『牧師』（『イェスタ・ベルリング物語』の第1章。1925）のほか、『地主の家の物語』『沼の家の娘』などは日本の読者になじみ深い。29年作品集10巻が発行される。映画界初期の名作といわれる『霊魂の不滅』（1920）は彼女の作品『御者』（1912）が原作で、日本では『幻の馬車』の名で知られる。

［田中三千夫］

『山室静訳『幻の馬車』（新潮文庫）』▽『石丸静雄訳『沼の家の娘』（角川文庫）』▽『佐々木基一訳『地主の家の物語』（角川文庫）』

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