Varmland, SWEDEN – One of Sweden’s greatest writers, Selma Lagerlof, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in this historic province in a landscape that was on the edge of civilization and wilderness.
In Lagerlof’s time, in the late 1800s, Varmland was a thriving region for theatre and the arts because of the monied landed gentry who made their money through the booming iron trade there.
Today, Varmland, about 250 kilometres from Stockholm, is one of Sweden’s most scenic provinces with a history rich in Icelandic culture and kilometres of hiking trails and fishing spots in picturesque lakes.
Lagerlof was not only the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1909, she became the first female elected member of the Swedish Academy.
In Varmland, visitors can go to Marbacka, a restored manor home where Lagerlof grew up.
The original building was constructed in 1793 and inherited by Lagerlof’s family in 1801. But Lagerlof’s brother, who took over the running of the estate went bankrupt and the mansion were sold off in 1889.
Two years later, Lagerlof’s first book Gösta Berling’s Saga was published and set in her beloved Varmland depicting a world of snow and supernatural elements. Using the proceeds of her writings, Lagerlof managed to buy back the mansion in 1907.
By then, she had published her most famous work, the children’s novel The Wonderful Adventures of Nils featuring a title character who takes off with the wild geese he had been tormenting on his family’s farm.
After winning the Nobel Prize, Lagerlof used the proceeds to buy back the remainder of the estate and lived there, along with her own geese, for the rest of her life until she died on March 16, 1940, 71 years ago today.
Visitors to Marbacka, the home she loved, can visit the house that has been preserved exactly as it was on the day she died. The drawing room, kitchen and library, where she wrote, remain the same but what has changed and thrives today is Langerlof’s beloved garden where she planted fruit trees and flowers.
