In 1923, Selma Lagerlöf completed the reconstruction of her family home, Mårbacka. She had repurchased the original house in 1907. It had been sold following her father’s death in 1885 in order to pay off his debts. Selma was able to buy the original, then rebuild it on the proceeds of her writing. Books like Gösta Berling’s saga (1891), Jerusalem (1901-02) and The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906-07) not only entertained her readers, they also financed the building we toured today.
Back in 2021, we visited Mårbacka only to find the house and related buildings shut up tight. It was during the plague and no-one was there. We were welcome to tour the grounds, but that was it. Today we went inside.
There are no photos allowed inside, we were emphatically informed by our tour guide, a physics student who appeared to believe that because he came from Värmland, he knew all about Selma. Like everyone from Värmland. The no photos diktat means I can’t include any in this post, although I could take them everywhere else. Like this one that accurately depicts my school days.
I was the one getting caned mercilessly by the teacher.
This picture featured in a display about Swedish education. It was in a big barn next to another that holds various old items of transportation that Selma wrote of in her books. This barn also included an art display by local artists. There were some excellent pieces, including one that Jason was sorely tempted to buy. But didn’t.
In the art barn, we met Josefina, an outspoken sculptor who used to be someone big in finance. We had a wonderful laugh with her. She likes cows that lick their own noses and, she claimed, had met a man who could do the same.
She also thought that Jason was, firstly, our son and, secondly, Mirinda’s younger brother. I could only wonder what that made me. Jason thought older brother but I couldn’t see how that could happen.
She was a bit eccentric to say the least. Fortunately, I love eccentric. We all got on really well.
But, back at the main house, we went from room to room, viewing the many bits and pieces that Selma had repurchased after the sale. For instance, there was a pair of rocking chairs that she spotted in a neighbouring farmhouse. She recognized them, smiled, pulled out her purse and bought them back. Presumably the local farmer made a tidy profit on them.
My favourite thing in the house was the group of family portraits in the drawing room. They were painted reproductions of originals. The artist had used the same model and, subsequently, each person has the same, distinctive nose. I thought it was a family trait but, no, just a lazy painter.
Most interesting was the fact that the Aga stove was invented in Sweden by the blind, Nobel prize winning physicist, Gustaf Dalén. He gave Selma the original, working model. She was very proud of it and would often pop into the kitchen just to check it out.
Obviously, she didn’t cook; she employed a woman to do that. Actually, she managed to surround herself with women.
Should I address the elephant in the room? Was Selma a lesbian? Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t, however, the reason she never married was because, in her time, the moment a woman was hitched, she lost all rights and reverted to only having the rights of a child. (A pathetic man rule.)
I don’t blame her for never marrying. Also, it was illegal in Sweden at the time to be a lesbian. So there was that. According to the guide book, Selma was very careful to destroy a lot of her private correspondence before her death.
In these more enlightened times, we don’t care. Or, at least, I don’t. Her writing is enough for me. And the fact that she paid above the normal wages for workers on her farm and gave people pensions after they retired and paid health care. She was also very active in the women’s suffrage movement in Sweden.
Then, in an amazing instance of sacrifice, she donated her gold Nobel Prize to aid Finland in the Winter War, something I wrote about in April. She clearly thought people were way more important than possessions. Fortunately (for us tourists) a group bought back her Nobel Prize, and we saw it today.
The above photo shows Jason, Mirinda, Nils and his goose. We discovered that Selma wrote the Wonderful Adventures as a geography book for kids, in order for them to learn about the various places in Sweden in a whimsical and magical way. I’ve never read it. I guess I’ll have to now.
Speaking of reading, I spent quite a chunk of time reading Herr Arnes penningar, the book upon which the play is based that we are seeing on Friday. Like the other Selma books I’ve read, it is amazing, delightful and often surreal. I’m really looking forward to seeing it.
We managed to spend quite a while at Mårbacka, wearing ourselves out. We feel we have to teach Jason about our way of travel which is, basically, one tourist site a day with lots of napping and eating in between and during. I think he’s enjoying it. Though, possibly, not as much as he enjoyed meeting this furry girl when we returned to our log cabin.
We weren’t long home before Nicoline and Birgitta turned up and we all popped off, into Sunne, for dinner where the ladies had fish and the gentlemen had elk. There was a lot of laughter, Gary teasing and the antics of a delightfully incompetent waitress. It was a fun dinner.
Tomorrow they are cooking for us at their accommodation, which Nicoline described in less than glowing terms. The accommodation; not the cooking.
It’s not often I get sent selfies with animals – I think this could be a trend worth exploring – and then, today, I received two. Or, rather, Mirinda received one from the Italians and Jason sent me a few of him and the cat.
Anyway, I think it’s quite amusing that both animals appear less than impressed.
What a full day we had. Not like us at all.
