Publication

Stockholm : Rabén & Sjögren, 2003

Author

Lindgren, Astrid

Number of Pages

138

Language

Swedish

Publication Year

2003

Original Language

Swedish

Categories and Tags

Hardcover, Ex. Library Copy

Dewey Subjects

German and Germanic > Literature > Literature in other Germanic languages > Swedish literature > Swedish miscellany

About

Pippi Longstocking (Swedish: Pippi Långstrump) is a Swedish children’s novel by writer Astrid Lindgren, published by Rabén & Sjögren with illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman in 1945. Translations have been published in more than 40 languages, commonly with new illustrations.

The first English language translation was published late in 1950 by The Viking Press in the United States with illustrations by Louis S. Glanzman.

Lindgren told Pippi stories to her daughter Karin in 1941 when the seven-year-old was home sick with pneumonia. She wrote the first manuscript during her injury three years later. After Bonniers rejected it, Lindgren developed the nonsensical aspects further and submitted the revised version to the 1945 children’s book contest sponsored by Rabén & Sjögren, a relatively new publisher.

Pippi won the contest that closed on August 1; Rabén & Sjögren arranged for illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman (her debut in Sweden), and the first edition was published in November.

The book focuses on the experiences of Pippi Långstrump, a nine-year-old pigtailed redhead whose mother died when she was a baby and her father, a sea captain, has seemingly vanished at sea, so she moves into a big house known as Villa Villekulla, located in a little Swedish village, with her pet monkey Mr Nilsson, a suitcase filled with pieces of gold, and her unnamed pet horse. Gifted with superhuman strength and countless other eccentricities, Pippi is soon befriended by two local siblings, Annika and Tommy Settergren, who admire and enjoy her company. Having spent her entire life at sea, Pippi’s limited knowledge of common courtesy and average childhood behaviour adds humour to the story when she attempts to enrol at Tommy and Annika’s school, attends a circus, and attends a coffee party hosted by Mrs Settergren.

Location

bu147x