Jerusalem - Background information

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Please post any information about February's book, Jerusalem by the Nobel Prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf here.

Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was the first woman ever to receive the Noble Prize in Literature, in 1909, for the following reasons:
"In appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writing."
She later also became the first female member of the Swedish academy.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

In the introduction to the version I am reading, the author states that Selma Lagerlöf's writing was characterized by its idealism, naivete and simplicity of character types. He went on to state that she takes delight in analyzing the motives and emotions of the normal mind.

The novel begins with the history of a wealthy and powerful farming family, the Ingmarssons and develops to include the whole spectrum of parish life.
The romance portrays the religious revival of the community brought about by a practical mystic from Chicago.

The book is founded upon the historic event of a religious pilgramage from Dalecarlie, Sweden to Jerusalem in the 19th century.

[Hedi]

I have done a little historical background search with regards to the times of the book in order to understand it better.
Interestingly, it was not possible for anyone to leave the state church until 1860 and total religious freedom was not possible until 1950.
However, there were other religious movements starting in the 18th century, but leaving the state church was considered a threat against the country and was punished with banishment from the country until the mid 1800s.
As mentioned in the book there were missionary groups, awakening groups which spread over the country. Many villages lost their original setup due to changes in the land division so that many did not have to go to the same church anymore and instead searched for their own beliefs.

Another social topic of the time mentioned is alcoholism . At that time the annual consumption of pure alcohol per person was approx. 5 times higher than today and was at 40 liter per person , incl. children and women. So if you consider them as no drinkers or hardly drinking, this will easily lead to a liter of pure alcohol per week for some men.
Therefore, sobriety movements,often in connection with these religious movements, emerged. Certain societies required full sobriety in exchange for different social events and the possibility for similarly oriented people to meet. Men and women had often the same rights there, the members were educated in meeting, organizational and debating techniques, important for the later democracy.

[Hedi]

Most of the Swedish emigrants to America in the first half of the 19th century were religious refugees. (I forgot to mention that.)

[Hedi]

The population of the whole of Sweden was between approx. 4 and 5 million in the time frame covered by this book, which corresponds more or less/ is even less than the size of Greater London at the same time.
I think this might be important to know when comparing some of the to us more familiar English literature with this book and social background.
Until 1860 you needed a passport to travel from one province to the other or use the post coaches and inns (inside Sweden), I.e. that most people never ever got out of their communities. Even if this had changed before the events in the book, I think this might make us understand some events and characters in the novel in a better way.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Thank you for that information, Hedi. It does put things in perspective.

[Deborah, Moderator]

In case you want to continue

https://www.amazon.com/Holy-City-Jeru...

[Abigail]

Very interesting information! Makes me wish I had the time to read the book this month, which, with house guests arriving tomorrow for a week, I fear I shall not.

[Hedi]

Interesting that the English translation for the second part is “holy city” as my Swedish version calls it “i der heliga landet”, i.e. in the holy land.

[Hedi]

... i det heliga landet...

Language issues again :-(

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Abigail, you can comment any time you get around to reading the book. I find there are always some books that pushed out of the way by other books I feel like reading first.
Hope you have a good time with your visitors.

[Abigail]

Thank you, Rosemarie!

[Hedi]

For some background on Selma Lagerlöf:

She was born and grew up in Marbacka in the Sunne community, North of Karlstad, between Oslo and Stockholm, but still quite remote from any large town. The Sunne community has today ca. 4000-5000 inhabitants.

The impressions given in the novel are coming from her travels to the MiddleEast and her home region. So I assume that the part we are reading is based on her home. Marbacka was a larger farm.

[Hedi]

Selma’s father was an alcoholic and the farm was lost in the end, they had to sell everything.
Selma herself became a teacher. In the 1870s unmarried women were not dependent on a guardian anymore due to the vast amount of women in the country, who were not all able to start families. So the laws were changed. This opened some perspectives for Selma who never got married.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Thanks for the info, Hedi. That helps to explain parts of the book dealing with Ingmar Farm.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

There have been some Swedish film versions of the book, for those of you who speak Swedish. 🇸🇪

[Hedi]

Reading on in part 2, I have searched a little more, even if it is only Wikipedia.
The Gordons who were mentioned in part 1 were in real life Anna and Horatio Spafford. Anna survived the shipwreck of the Ville du Havre. Their four children died. Horacio was a lawyer and Presbyterian priest.

[Hedi]

They decided to move to Jerusalem with some families in 1881. Later on a visit home to Chicago they get to know a Swede living there namedOlaf Henrik Larson ( our Hellgum). You can find more about that under American colony, Jerusalem on Wikipedia (if you can believe all that is written there - I am always a little sceptic, but it does not seem to be far off in this case).

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Thank you for the extra information,Hedi. It is interesting to see how fact and fiction mingle in certain novels.