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Alla vilda
Alla vilda är fortsättningen på Birgitta Stenbergs uppmärksammade självbiografiska romansvit, som inleddes med Kärlek i Europa. Här skriver hon fortsatt om den period på 50-talet då hon levde på Mallorca i en internationell krets av bohemer, konstnärer, författare, alkisar, bögar och flator. Det speciella med Birgitta Stenbergs berättelser om sitt liv är berättartonen, blandningen av självironi, koketteri och rättframhet, framförd på ett slags välbehärskad hemingwaysk lakonisk prosa.
179 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
3 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Birgitta Stenberg
76 books12 followersBirgitta Stenberg was born in Stockholm in 1932. She was educated in Visby and finally in Paris. Stenberg spent a lot of time in southern Europe improving her language skills. She became a Swedish author, translator and illustrator. Stenberg was, during the early 1950s, a part of the literary assembly Metamorfosgruppen. She wrote the script for the film Raskenstam.
During the Cold War in the 1950s, Stenberg was named secretary of the Swedish department of the Congress for Cultural Freedom and editor for Kulturkontakt which was founded by the CIA under the cover name of Ford Foundation.
Stenbergs first novel Fritt förfall was refused by Bonnier Group in 1952 due to the novels "lack of literary quality". According to the authour herself, the publishing house was put off by the novels controversial lesbian motive. The novel was published in 2008. Stenberg later wrote an autobiographical suit that deals with sex, drugs and art making, starting with Kärlek i Europa in 1981 and continuing with Apelsinmannen (1983), Spanska trappan (1987) and Alla vilda (2004). In 2009, she argued for the legalization of cannabis during the live studio news show Rapport.
Stenberg's first published novel was Mikael och Poeten in 1956. The novel dealt with the Kejne Affair, a topic that is further explored in the later work Apelsinmannen.
She worked at the radio interception at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as a journalist at the magazine Arbetaren (The Worker), as an interpreter, fisherman and local politician for the Left Party.
During the Cold War in the 1950s, Stenberg was named secretary of the Swedish department of the Congress for Cultural Freedom and editor for Kulturkontakt which was founded by the CIA under the cover name of Ford Foundation.
Stenbergs first novel Fritt förfall was refused by Bonnier Group in 1952 due to the novels "lack of literary quality". According to the authour herself, the publishing house was put off by the novels controversial lesbian motive. The novel was published in 2008. Stenberg later wrote an autobiographical suit that deals with sex, drugs and art making, starting with Kärlek i Europa in 1981 and continuing with Apelsinmannen (1983), Spanska trappan (1987) and Alla vilda (2004). In 2009, she argued for the legalization of cannabis during the live studio news show Rapport.
Stenberg's first published novel was Mikael och Poeten in 1956. The novel dealt with the Kejne Affair, a topic that is further explored in the later work Apelsinmannen.
She worked at the radio interception at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as a journalist at the magazine Arbetaren (The Worker), as an interpreter, fisherman and local politician for the Left Party.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 18, 2025
Har i flera år velat läsa något av Birgitta Stenberg, sedan jag bara hört gott om henne och hennes böcker ifrån Freja och Malva J. Så ni kunde tro att jag blev förtjust när jag fann hennes Alla Vilda på Nybro Biblotekets bokrea till ett pris av ynka två kronor.
Birgitta är en lesbisk Jack Kerouac. Kvinnor, alkohol, männsikoskildringar och konst. Jag gillade de teman hon skrev om. Kvinnlig sexualitet, äventyr, resor, exentriska och homosexuella vänner, relationer, men tyckte att språket föll lite platt. Boken består av två delar kan man säga. En del där hon beskriver sina resor som 21-åring på 50-talet och en del där hon är gammal och reflekterar över och återser de vänner hon lärde känna då. Tyckte att den sista delen var mer ödmjuk och vacker men såklart mer kittlande och facinerande läsning i första delen. Kanske var det känslomässigt djup den första delen saknade. Men det är också det som gör boken så äventyrlig och ungdomlig, nästan nihilistisk och absurd. Och därför vill jag läsa mer av henne.
Birgitta är en lesbisk Jack Kerouac. Kvinnor, alkohol, männsikoskildringar och konst. Jag gillade de teman hon skrev om. Kvinnlig sexualitet, äventyr, resor, exentriska och homosexuella vänner, relationer, men tyckte att språket föll lite platt. Boken består av två delar kan man säga. En del där hon beskriver sina resor som 21-åring på 50-talet och en del där hon är gammal och reflekterar över och återser de vänner hon lärde känna då. Tyckte att den sista delen var mer ödmjuk och vacker men såklart mer kittlande och facinerande läsning i första delen. Kanske var det känslomässigt djup den första delen saknade. Men det är också det som gör boken så äventyrlig och ungdomlig, nästan nihilistisk och absurd. Och därför vill jag läsa mer av henne.
August 12, 2025
i like. tempot var rätt högt, jag bläddrade snabbt igenom den (när jag alltså väl tog tag i att läsa ut den, för typ en vecka sen). eftersom jag tog en så lång paus mitt i så minns jag inte riktigt början…. fint skrivet om åldrandet där mot slutet av boken, fast det inte var så mycket berättar om det (som hon själv skriver). gav mig liiiite dödsångest. men också inte?
November 8, 2022
3,5! Värme, lust, persongalleri, skapande. Tycker mycket om de små berättelserna om varje person som sticks in här och var. Men språket var inte riktigt för mig, lite för enkelt. Fattade även först efter halva boken att den är en del av en serie!
August 14, 2022
Semesterns sista bok, kort och lättläst. Tydligen hoppade jag över några verk mellan denna och ”Kärlek i Europa”, men det försämrade inte läsupplevelsen. Vilka äventyr och total orädsla hon hade!
November 2, 2022
A very short, autobiographical read that is quite easy to get through. Stenberg depicts a reality in Mallorca while staying there with her lover Louise and many other travelers throughout the west. She captures the details of the people around her in a very immersive way and as the reader you even get an insight later on in the autobiography into one of the novels she has planned to write while on her vacation.
I really respect the fact that she is proud of her sexual orientation but it does not feel like any of the sex scenes has any depth to it. They are randomly pulled in to several scenes but it feels pornographical instead of deeply-psychological. it is very clear that sex is a topic that Stenberg cares wholeheartedly about, but the topic of sex certaintly do not define her brilliance as an authour. The mention of her few sex scenes I feel could have been written in a way that serve as more emotional and in-depth to the reader, but instead the descriptions makes sex and the concept of sex feel more rushed and come in as out-of-nowhere. Yet again, it is not sex that is the central theme here but the author's own experience in Mallorca and the journey within herself as she writes about women, about her memories and experiences. That is where we see the heart of Birgitta Stenberg (it is an autobiography after all)
When it comes to the topic of sex, I feel that somene who did an excellent work handling that topic is Janet Mock and her autobiography "Redifining Realness" In that book, she goes into the fact that transwomen are often fetischized by straight, cis-gendered men. Because of this her friends persuaded her that the only way to get money really quickly for her gender-affirming surgery would be to prostitute herself. Her writing style is honest and authentic. You really felt for her experience and putting myself in the perspective of a transwoman, struggling so hard to find acceptance in a country where being trans is not the norm deeply moved me. There was a backstory behind Janet's decision, there were clear and written examples, things that Stenberg did not include in her book at all.. It is a shame but the format feels spontanous. Alla vilda feels more like a memoir than an autobiography as the book itself is episodic whilst in "Redifining Realness" we get a birth- gender affirming surgery scenario
Something Stenberg does right however is that she is very attentive and observant to her friends as well as how women are treated in Spain. She writes with power in her voice (Page 24)
"Men å andra sidan kunde jag inte ge mig. Alla dessa stentrista gamla litteraturhistoriker, misogyna och pryda sedlighetsfanatiker som för femtio eller hundra år sedan beslutat vad som var fint och stort och framförallt rätt att läsa. Som sorterat bort det de kallat oanständigt, osunt, obstinat mot äktenskapet och kyrkan, okvinnligt eller kvinnligt, båda var lika illa. Litteraturbedömare som hyllade krigsdikter och manliga hjältar. Jag avskydde deras världsbild med tigande kvinnor och orerande män och speciellt maktlösheten hos alla oss studenter gentemot deras sätt att styra våra tankar. Jag hatade dessa manliga litteraturvetare för deras småskurenhet och fullständiga brist på förståelse för författare som var kvinnor, negrer, kineser, vad som helst som inte passade in i deras trånga europeiska synfält."
English translation
"But on the other hand, I couldn't give in. All those stony old literary historians, misogynists and decorous morality fanatics who, fifty or a hundred years ago, decided what was fine and great and, above all, right to read. Who sorted out what they called indecent, unhealthy , obstinately against marriage and church, unfeminine or feminine, both were equally bad. Reviewers of literature who celebrated war poems and male heroes. I loathed their world view of silent women and speechless men and especially the powerlessness of all of us students against their way of controlling our thoughts. I hated these male literary scholars for their pettiness and complete lack of understanding of writers who were women, Negroes, Chinese, anything that did not fit into their narrow European field of vision."
It's a wholesome story about a young woman finding herself in the 1950ies but not something that gave me anything meaningful. The book had the potential to be better but it just did not do it for me. Stenberg traveling around Mallorca meeting lots of different travelers felt like a fun journey and it was touching how when she returned to Sweden, she was still able to remember things that deeply impacted her when she sat together with one of her friends, Mette and had a cup of tea, but again, the book had potential to be better.
I really respect the fact that she is proud of her sexual orientation but it does not feel like any of the sex scenes has any depth to it. They are randomly pulled in to several scenes but it feels pornographical instead of deeply-psychological. it is very clear that sex is a topic that Stenberg cares wholeheartedly about, but the topic of sex certaintly do not define her brilliance as an authour. The mention of her few sex scenes I feel could have been written in a way that serve as more emotional and in-depth to the reader, but instead the descriptions makes sex and the concept of sex feel more rushed and come in as out-of-nowhere. Yet again, it is not sex that is the central theme here but the author's own experience in Mallorca and the journey within herself as she writes about women, about her memories and experiences. That is where we see the heart of Birgitta Stenberg (it is an autobiography after all)
When it comes to the topic of sex, I feel that somene who did an excellent work handling that topic is Janet Mock and her autobiography "Redifining Realness" In that book, she goes into the fact that transwomen are often fetischized by straight, cis-gendered men. Because of this her friends persuaded her that the only way to get money really quickly for her gender-affirming surgery would be to prostitute herself. Her writing style is honest and authentic. You really felt for her experience and putting myself in the perspective of a transwoman, struggling so hard to find acceptance in a country where being trans is not the norm deeply moved me. There was a backstory behind Janet's decision, there were clear and written examples, things that Stenberg did not include in her book at all.. It is a shame but the format feels spontanous. Alla vilda feels more like a memoir than an autobiography as the book itself is episodic whilst in "Redifining Realness" we get a birth- gender affirming surgery scenario
Something Stenberg does right however is that she is very attentive and observant to her friends as well as how women are treated in Spain. She writes with power in her voice (Page 24)
"Men å andra sidan kunde jag inte ge mig. Alla dessa stentrista gamla litteraturhistoriker, misogyna och pryda sedlighetsfanatiker som för femtio eller hundra år sedan beslutat vad som var fint och stort och framförallt rätt att läsa. Som sorterat bort det de kallat oanständigt, osunt, obstinat mot äktenskapet och kyrkan, okvinnligt eller kvinnligt, båda var lika illa. Litteraturbedömare som hyllade krigsdikter och manliga hjältar. Jag avskydde deras världsbild med tigande kvinnor och orerande män och speciellt maktlösheten hos alla oss studenter gentemot deras sätt att styra våra tankar. Jag hatade dessa manliga litteraturvetare för deras småskurenhet och fullständiga brist på förståelse för författare som var kvinnor, negrer, kineser, vad som helst som inte passade in i deras trånga europeiska synfält."
English translation
"But on the other hand, I couldn't give in. All those stony old literary historians, misogynists and decorous morality fanatics who, fifty or a hundred years ago, decided what was fine and great and, above all, right to read. Who sorted out what they called indecent, unhealthy , obstinately against marriage and church, unfeminine or feminine, both were equally bad. Reviewers of literature who celebrated war poems and male heroes. I loathed their world view of silent women and speechless men and especially the powerlessness of all of us students against their way of controlling our thoughts. I hated these male literary scholars for their pettiness and complete lack of understanding of writers who were women, Negroes, Chinese, anything that did not fit into their narrow European field of vision."
It's a wholesome story about a young woman finding herself in the 1950ies but not something that gave me anything meaningful. The book had the potential to be better but it just did not do it for me. Stenberg traveling around Mallorca meeting lots of different travelers felt like a fun journey and it was touching how when she returned to Sweden, she was still able to remember things that deeply impacted her when she sat together with one of her friends, Mette and had a cup of tea, but again, the book had potential to be better.
December 16, 2020
Bu kitaba büyük beklentiler ile başladım. Beklentimi büyüten de sadece kitabın arkasındaki ufacık tanıtım yazısıydı. Kitap Goodreads’te Türkçe kapağıyla tanımlanmış ile değil, o nedenle kendi dilindeki açıklama ve yorumları okumadan kitaba başladım.
Nasıl sıkılığımı anlatamam. Kitabı bu kadar yavaş okumuş olmamdan da belli olduğu üzere, kitap 190 sayfaydı ama bana 490 sayfa gibi geldi.
Kitap boyunca Birgitta’nın çılgın yıllarını mı okuduk, dişi Bukowski mi okuduk ben sürekli gidip geldim. Ne bu kızın ilişkileri ne sürekli neyi yiyip neyi içtikleri, kimin kiminle dalaştığı hiçbir konuyu çok merak ederek okumadım. Evet muhtelif ülkelerde muhtelif insanlarla şöyle böyle yaşamışsın. Yaşadığın yerlerde yaşamış olmak isterdim ama “çılgın yılların” beni pek kendine çekmedi.
Hele ki kitabın sonunda Birgitta dahil, kitapta hakkında öyle veya böyle bir şeyler okuduğumuz insanların yaşlılık hallerinden bahsedilmesi ya da kimin nasıl öldüğünün bize anlatılması beni o kadar sıktı ki, adeta kitabın son sayfaları bir huzureviydi. Kendilerine çılgın diye hitap eden bu gençlerin o yaşlı halleri beni benden aldı.
Kitabın baya eski bir baskısını okudum – eğer birileri yanılarak bu kitabın yeni baskısını yaptıysa, güvenin bana, kitaptan uzak durun.
Nasıl sıkılığımı anlatamam. Kitabı bu kadar yavaş okumuş olmamdan da belli olduğu üzere, kitap 190 sayfaydı ama bana 490 sayfa gibi geldi.
Kitap boyunca Birgitta’nın çılgın yıllarını mı okuduk, dişi Bukowski mi okuduk ben sürekli gidip geldim. Ne bu kızın ilişkileri ne sürekli neyi yiyip neyi içtikleri, kimin kiminle dalaştığı hiçbir konuyu çok merak ederek okumadım. Evet muhtelif ülkelerde muhtelif insanlarla şöyle böyle yaşamışsın. Yaşadığın yerlerde yaşamış olmak isterdim ama “çılgın yılların” beni pek kendine çekmedi.
Hele ki kitabın sonunda Birgitta dahil, kitapta hakkında öyle veya böyle bir şeyler okuduğumuz insanların yaşlılık hallerinden bahsedilmesi ya da kimin nasıl öldüğünün bize anlatılması beni o kadar sıktı ki, adeta kitabın son sayfaları bir huzureviydi. Kendilerine çılgın diye hitap eden bu gençlerin o yaşlı halleri beni benden aldı.
Kitabın baya eski bir baskısını okudum – eğer birileri yanılarak bu kitabın yeni baskısını yaptıysa, güvenin bana, kitaptan uzak durun.
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October 27, 2021Läst i littkurs // Nej, den här boken tyckte jag inte om. Vet inte om det är för att vi inte läste de andra(?) böckerna hon skrivit först. Det går väl att läsa fristående men det kändes som att något saknades. Det var en massa karaktärer jag inte kände att jag hade koll på och huvudpersonen själv var så osympatisk att jag hade svårt för allt.
July 25, 2019
I want to read again!
February 1, 2024
Bitvis underhållande och ganska fin. Mycket irrar omkring och jag blandar ihop en massa namn på oviktiga karaktärer. Riktningslös som mallisbohemerna!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews