Gösta Berlings Saga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Gösta Berlings saga)
Gösta Berling's Saga (Swedish: Gösta Berlings saga) was Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöf's first novel, published in 1891. The novel is a notable and still much read example of the 1890s wave of Swedish Neo-romanticism. Using wolves, snow, supernatural elements and eccentric upper-class characters to project an exotic image of 1820s Värmland, the novel can be compared to magic realism. The title is meant to give associations to the Icelandic sagas.
Contents |
[edit] Main characters
-
- Gösta Berling, defrocked minister and chief character
- Margarita Samzelius nee 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, the actress, thrown out of her 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 Marta, 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, extremely religious- Gösta's first love
- The 12 Cavaliers: Gösta Berling, Colonel Beerencreutz, major Anders Fuchs, Little Ruster, Rutger von Orneclou, Kristian Bergh, Squire Julius, Kevenhuller, Cousin Kristoffer, Uncle Eberhard, Lovenborg, Lilliecrona
Setting: Värmland (the author's birthplace), Sweden between 1820 and 1830
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] Film
- In 1924 it was made into a Swedish silent film (Gösta Berlings saga) starring the then mostly unknown Greta Garbo and popular film actors Lars Hanson and Gerda Lundequist, directed by Mauritz Stiller.
[edit] Opera
- The opera by Riccardo Zandonai, I cavalieri di Ekebù (1925), based on it.
[edit] Music
- A San Francisco rock band, with many songs about silent film stars and stories, is named Gosta Berling.
- A Swedish progressive rock band is named Gösta Berlings Saga.
[edit] Trivia
- The first sentence, "Finally, the vicar was in the pulpit," is one of the most famous in Swedish literature. However depending on translation, the first sentence is often different. For example, in the 2004 Dover Publications edition with translation by Lillie Tudeer, the first sentence reads as follows, "The pastor was mounting the pulpit steps."
- Listed in Peter Boxall's 1001 Books to Read Before You Die (2006), it has been translated into English by Pauline Bancroft Flach, 1911 (as The Story of Gösta Berling, a much more correct title because of the story) and by Lillie Tudeer, 1933 (as Gösta Berling's Saga).
[edit] External links
- Full text of Gösta Berlings saga in the Swedish language, at Project Runeberg
- Gösta Berlings Saga at the Internet Movie Database
 |
This article about a 19th century novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
