The Emperor of Portugal
The Emperor of Portugal (original title: Kejsarn av Portugallien ) is a novel by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf . The novel was published in 1914 and is about a father's excessive love for his daughter: In order to suppress the unpleasant reality that his daughter has become a prostitute , he invents an illusory world in which his daughter is an empress, but he himself is the " Emperor of Portugal ”is.
action
The novel is set in Värmland in the second half of the 19th century. - The torpare Jan i Skrolycka is an unhappy person who does not take pleasure in anything and is dissatisfied with himself and the world. (A torpare was a small farmer in Sweden who did not own land, but settled on the land of another farmer, to whom he owed daily labor.) He also married his wife Kattrina not out of love, but only to finally have someone to be able to set up one's own household.
One day, Jan's whole life changes: when his daughter Klara Fina Gulleborg, known as Klara Gulla, is born, a deep feeling of happiness and love suddenly flows through him. Klara Gulla grows up to be a smart and beautiful girl. There is a very close, trusting bond between her and her father.
When Klara Gulla was 18 years old, Jan's Mr. Erik i Falla died. Hoferbe becomes his wicked son-in-law Lars Gunnarsson. He asks Jan 200 Reichstaler so that Jan can keep his small property. Jan does not have this sum, which has to be paid by October 1st. With the threat of losing her home, Klara Gulla offers herself to go to town and earn the money. Although Jan notices that Klara Gulla is driven by the longing for the big wide world, he agrees.
Klara Gulla goes to Stockholm . On October 1st, she sent the necessary 200 Reichstaler punctually, but did not return herself. Over time, news and rumors reach Jan and Kattrina, from which it emerges that Klara Gulla has become a prostitute. Jan interprets this news very differently: his daughter has risen to unimagined power and glory and has become empress. He himself is now Emperor John of Portugal. Erik i Falla's widow gives him Erik's old staff and leather cap; Jan receives a couple of tin stars from a relative. Jan interprets this as a sign of Klara Gulla and regards the gifts as emperor's insignia. At the same time as he was promoted to emperor, Jan acquired visionary skills that enable him to do good to many people.
Klara Gulla comes home after a 15-year absence. She has built a new life for herself by running a restaurant on the ferry from Malmö to Lübeck . She now wants to bring her parents to Malmö. But when she sees her father in his “imperial dignity”, she turns away in disgust. She finds accommodation for her father in her home parish and sets off with her mother on the trip to Malmö. Just as the steamer, with which Klara Gulla and Kattrina want to leave their home parish, is leaving the bridge, Jan comes running. He believes that evil forces are trying to kidnap his daughter. He jumps in the water to swim after the ship and drowns.
Klara Gulla tries in vain to have her father's body recovered. After a short time the mother also dies, out of grief because she wanted to leave Jan. When the mother is about to be buried, the father's body is also found. Both are buried together. Now Klara Gulla realizes how much her father loved her.
meaning
Kejsarn av Portugallien , like Gösta Berling and Liljecronas Heim, is one of Selma Lagerlöf's works, in which she ties in with the landscape and memories of her childhood. The novel is set in Selma Lagerlöf's hometown Östra Ämtervik, and many place names known from Gösta Berling (Lövdala, Bro, Svartsjö etc.) and even personal names (Liljecrona) appear again. In contrast to Gösta Berling , Kejsarn av Portugallien does not offer romantic legends and love adventures, but rather a realistic portrayal of the life of little people in particular. Many customs and traditions are brought to life, the poor way of life of the torpare is vividly portrayed.
The novel is partly based on real people and events. A torpare named Jan i Skrolycka, who imagined he was Emperor of Portugal, really existed in Selma Lagerlöf's home community. Selma Lagerlöf's own father is hidden behind the figure of Lieutenant Liljecrona (not to be confused with Liljecrona from Gösta Berling and Liljecronas hem , who is modeled on her paternal grandfather). Lövdala is a cover word for Mårbacka , the estate of Selma Lagerlöf's family, and among the - nameless - girls from Lövdala, Selma Lagerlöf can even be recognized as a young girl.
In terms of content, the novel deals with a complex topic despite its brevity (around 170 pages). First of all, as is so often the case with Selma Lagerlöf, it is about love and its power. Above all, Kejsarn av Portugallien is an intensive study of Jan's psychosis. Ultimately, Selma Lagerlöf reveals a general human behavior here, as every person tends to a certain extent to self-deception and wishful thinking. At the same time, the novel is a treatise on the fourth commandment (“You should honor your father and mother”), which Selma Lagerlöf always plays a major role. Klara Gulla broke the fourth commandment by rejecting her father and by forcing her mother to leave her father. Several subplots are integrated into the main plot of the novel, all of which have something to do with the relationship between children and their parents and in each of which Jan also plays a role.
The fear of losing the home, Selma Lagerlöf's own traumatic childhood experience and already discussed in Nils Holgersson , is an important motif. The same applies to Klara Gulla's longing to leave her close home, a motif known from Nils Holgersson , but also from Jerusalem . Selma Lagerlöf, herself an advocate of women's emancipation, shows understanding for Klara Gulla's wish. The subject of someone who has become an outsider doing good is also a frequent issue at Selma Lagerlöf. In addition to Nils Holgersson, Sven Elversson from Bannlyst should be remembered here.
In a way, Jan i Skrolycka is also a hidden self-portrait of Selma Lagerlöf: Selma Lagerlöf sees parallels between herself and Jan. both in relation to the (literary) change and embellishment of reality as well as in terms of the problematic role as a “public person”.
In terms of language, Selma Lagerlöf in Kejsarn av Portugal shows herself at the height of her art. Her unique episode technique has brought her to perfection here. Each chapter is a small, self-contained narrative with a refined structure, an artistic increase and often a well-placed, surprising punchline. Selma Lagerlöf cleverly changes the narrative perspective when she tells Jan's imperial ideas from his own perspective (and thus prevents him from being ridiculed), but always has Jan's good deeds reproduced by third parties. The language itself is plain, simple, apparently (but only apparently!) Naive.
literature
- Vivi Edström, Selma Lagerlöf , Stockholm 1991
- Göran Hägg, Den svenska litteraturhistorien , Stockholm 1996