Kati (book series)

Kati is a series of novels by the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren . The story is told by Kati, a young woman who first travels to America, then to Italy and Paris.

people

Kati

Kati is 21 and works as a shorthand typist in an office in Stockholm. Since Kati lost her parents at the age of six, she has lived with her aunt.

Eve

Eva is Kati's best friend. When she was 20, she moved from Aamaal to Stockholm. There she works together with Kati in an office. At the age of 22, Eva traveled to Italy with Kati and later to Paris. Eva is blonde, lithe, very talkative and quick-witted. She falls in love quickly, but just as quickly loses interest.

Aunt Wilhelmina

Kati grows up with her aunt Wilhelmina. She has a very ambivalent relationship with Wilhelmina. On the one hand she loves her idolatrously, on the other hand she wishes to be independent of her. Aunt Wilhelmina, who Kati simply calls aunt, still sees Kati as the small, dear, helpless child who came to her after the death of her parents. That's why she takes care of everything for Kati, even when she has long since grown up. Kati's aunt is a bit old-fashioned and very religious. At first glance she looks very strict, but is very kind. Therefore, she takes her promise to take care of Kati, which she gave Kati's mother on her deathbed, very seriously. When Wilhelmina learns that Kati wants to go to America, she wants to travel with them, also to protect Kati. She later stays there to marry her childhood sweetheart Andrew. She also stays in contact with Kati from America and supports her. For example, she contributes money for Kati's trip to Italy.

Jan

Jan is a young, promising architect, but he doesn't have a lot of money. He started dating Kati when she was 19 years old. Later he tells Kati about his trips to America, which is why Kati would like to travel there herself. While Jan loves Kati, Kati is not sure of her feelings.

Lennart Sundman

Lennart is a lawyer from Stockholm. Lennart grew up near the Kamholmsfjord, after which he moved to the west coast with his parents. As an only child he loves animals, especially dogs. His father dies during his youth and so Lennart only has his mother. He is very dark with Mediterranean brown skin. Lennart is described as intelligent, calm, sincere, and affectionate. He laughs a lot, but at the same time has a melancholy and childish trait. Kati met Lennart on a trip to Italy. The two fall in love and want to get married in Paris.

Peter Bjökman

Peter Bjökman is a wealthy businessman who sells printing machines. Peter is tall and can dance well. Peter's father only loved one woman, his mother. However, this constantly betrayed him. When she died, Peter's father mourned himself almost to death. Peter doesn't want to have the same experiences and doesn't want to commit to one woman. So he doesn't think much of a wedding and he looks for variety in women. However, that changes when he meets Eva.

Andrew

Andrew is a childhood sweetheart of Kati's aunt Wilhelmina. When the two meet again in America, Andrew Wilhelmina proposes marriage. Wilhelmina then decides to stay in America.

Plot of the novels

Kati in America is set in 1945. At that time there was still racial segregation in America , which also plays a major role in Lindgren's novel Kati in America . In Kati, Italy , Kati is a year older, so this book is set in 1946. Kati begins in Paris seven months after these events .

Kati in America

When Kati's friend Jan tells her about his trips to America, Kati really wants to go there too. Since Aunt Wilhelmina, with whom Kati has lived since her parents' death, does not want to let Kati travel alone, the two set off together.

Kati meets Mr Bates in New York. He lost his cook and housemaid on the same day and needs someone to cook for his twelve guests in the evening. Wilhelmina helps out. Kati met Bob through Mr Bates' daughter Marion, with whom she went on road trips from now on. Wilhelmina doesn't think much of Bob, but she is forced to take part in the road trip.

When Kati sees how dark-skinned people are treated in America, she is shocked. There are seating arrangements in buses, dark-skinned people live in poor areas, they are also more likely to be poor, have poor access to work and education, are not allowed to go to restaurants or concerts for whites, etc. A cab driver tells her that “a good Negro only is a negro who lies a meter and a half underground ”. Some of their new friends also believe that the white race should retain their supremacy, that they would never shake hands with dark-skinned people, let alone go out to dinner with them. Kati tries to stand up for these people, but encounters resistance in society and among her friends. In addition, Kati is confronted with the racist attitudes of her aunt, who believes she is losing to a Chinese girl trafficker in Chinatown, but is not afraid of an ordinary girl trafficker with white skin.

After Kati also got to know Bob's family, Bob and Kati's paths part. While Wilhelmina is happy not to have to see Bob anymore, Kati misses him at first. Later, however, she enjoyed further trips to the Mississippi and New Orleans. There she meets the guide John Hammond, with whom she goes dancing in the evening.

In Chicago, Kati and Wilhelmina meet Kati's uncle Elof, who emigrated to America at the age of 22. He invites the two to his home. There Wilhelmina meets Andrew, whom she knows from before. The two fall in love and want to get married. Wilhelmina stays in America. In New York, Kati meets Bob for the last time before starting her journey home to Sweden. After their arrival, Jan is waiting for them at the airport.

Kati in Italy

Jan wants to marry Kati. However, this has its doubts. It bothers her that Jan keeps trying to make her different from who she is. When she was funny he thought she was too silly, but at the same time she couldn't be too serious. She asks Jan for a year to think about it. When Jan agrees, she asks her best friend Eva if she will move in with her. Eva and Kati soon get to know their new neighbor Albert, with whom they spend a lot of time.

When Kati and Eva win 3000 crowns, they decide to travel to Italy, much to Jan's displeasure. A little later they are on the train to Italy. In Italy they experience a lot of adventures, for example they unintentionally storm the 70th birthday party of a Dane or take an adventurous ride in a taxi.

In Venice, Kati meets Lennart Sundman from Stockholm. She is immediately fascinated by the good-looking, Mediterranean-looking man. The two go on a wonderful gondola ride. However, the two get lost in the crowd on the piazza and never find each other again.

Although Kati thinks she has lost Lennart forever, she believes that he is her true love. She writes Jan in a letter that she is separating from him. Kati and Eva travel to Florence. While looking at engagement rings in a jewelry store, Kati suddenly meets Lennart again. The two spend a lot of time together and Lennart drives Kati around in her car. While Kati is sure of her feelings for Lennart, she wonders if he will reciprocate them. Lennart does not report to Rome as promised. Instead, Kati receives a lovely letter from Jan. In it he explains that he hopes that she has found someone else who will make her happier than he ever could. Nevertheless, he hoped that she would think of the time together with warmth. Kati does, but she also longs more and more for Lennart.

When Eva doesn't want to go out one evening because of a headache, Kati spends the evening with another traveler. In a bar she discovers Eva and Lennart, who are sitting there together and laughing. Horrified and deeply disappointed, Kati runs out. The next day, Kati and Eva go to Naples. There, Kati speaks to Eva about meeting Lennart. Eva tells her that Lennart called when Kati was gone and she didn't want to let him go because of Kati. She met with him and persuaded him to change his travel plans.

Suddenly Lennart stands in front of the two. Kati and Lennart spend time together. Quite surprisingly, Lennart asks Kati if she would like to marry him. He bought her the engagement rings that she looked at in Florence. Kati agrees.

Kati in Paris

Seven months after Lennart's marriage proposal, Kati and Lennart travel to Paris to get married there. They get married in a small chapel. After their wedding, Eva, Lennart and Kati travel a little through Paris and take a closer look at the city.

In Café Flore they meet the Swede Peter Björkmann. He is particularly interested in Eva. However, Eva would first like to do something with Henri Bertrand, a student from the next room in the hotel. Over dinner together, Eva and Peter tell each other that they are both looking for a change and do not want to get married. Both are happy that they think alike. Eva talks about Henri Bertrand, while Peter says that he is currently interested in Eva, but that would pass. In the evening Eva dances with Peter and is thrilled. However, she often ignores him afterwards.

Back in Stockholm, Lennart and Kati move into their own apartment, which is directly across from Eva's apartment. Eva cries when she returns to her apartment alone. But she is often invited by Kati and Lennart. Later, Peter also comes to visit more often. He tells Kati that although he always needs a change, it is different with Eva, because she always offers him this change and he is therefore still in love with her. He would even want to marry her.

Meanwhile, Lennart and Kati have to fight for the first time with minor disputes. Kati suddenly meets Jan in town. The two meet in a café and Jan shows Kati his engagement ring. When Lennart finds out about the meeting, he leaves the apartment in anger, but comes back later and the two make up.

Soon after, Peter confesses his love to Eva, but she rejects him. Peter initially decides not to stop by Lennart and Kati because he could meet Eva there. A few months later, Eva is very different: she cries a lot and is often alone in her apartment.

Meanwhile, Kati becomes pregnant and prepares for the birth. Some time later, Peter stands in front of Lennart and Kati's door. He says he missed them and walks in. Shortly afterwards Eva also comes into the apartment. When she sees Peter, she turns pale as a sheet. The two talk to each other and Eva admits that she may also be in love with Peter. The two want to try it together. Soon after, Kati had her first son.

background

In 1949 Bonnier's publisher asked Astrid Lindgren if she could write a series of travel stories for Damernas värld magazine. When Lindgren had written the stories, the publisher wanted to publish the stories in book form. The stories, originally intended for adult readers, have been rewritten into a series of three girls' novels. There were only minor changes here. A critical passage about Catholic customs, some interactions between Kati and her aunt, as well as some descriptions of the landscapes in southern France have been deleted.

The Swedish editions appeared in 1950 ( Kati in America ), 1952 ( Kati in Italy ) and 1953 ( Kati in Paris ). Else von Hollander-Lossow translated the editions into German, which appeared on the German market for the first time between 1952 and 1954. The Swedish editions were illustrated by Margit Uppenberg under her pseudonym Gobi ( Kati i Amerika and Kati på Kaptensgatan ) and by Maivor Persson Malm ( Kati i Paris ). Eva Kausche-Kongsbak designed the dust jacket for the first German editions . Werner Labbé illustrated later editions .

Kati in America is based on Astrid Lindgren's own experience in America. On a trip to New Orleans, Lindgren experienced the racism against dark-skinned people with her own eyes. Whites didn't want to shake hands with blacks. A white taxi driver explained: “A good negro is a negro who is five feet below the ground.” (“En bra neger, det är en neger som ligger fem fot under jorden.”) Astrid Lindgren was shocked. Her protagonist Kati has similar experiences in the book. Lindgren also processed other personal experiences in her book. For example, her protagonist locks herself out on the stove with a pot of potatoes. She climbs the facade on the fifth floor and climbs into the apartment through the kitchen window. Lindgren had seen it herself once. In Kati in Italy and Kati in Paris , she processed experiences from traveling with her husband to Italy and France.

In an exchange of letters with a reader, Astrid Lindgren replied that when she was 19 to 20, she didn't really feel like Kati, but rather struggled with life. It was only later that she found that life was quite comfortable. Kati was more adult in the book than she was. The following quote from the book: “Do not live as if you had 1,000 years ahead of you. Death hovers over you as long as you live, as long as you can. Be good! ”Is Lindgren's own motto in life. Originally it comes from Marcus Aurelius . They mean that you have to be ready for it to suddenly end. In addition, one should not leave behind too much misery, because the world would later have to be handed over to the grandchildren.

Book editions

• Astrid Lindgren, Kati in Amerika (Oetinger) ISBN 3-7891-4137-2 - year of publication of the Swedish original edition 1951
• Astrid Lindgren, Kati in Italien (Oetinger) ISBN 3-7891-4149-6 - the original Swedish edition was published 1952
• Astrid Lindgren, Kati in Paris (Oetinger) ISBN 3-7891-4148-8 - The original Swedish edition was published 1953
• Astrid Lindgren, Kati in America, Italy, Paris. Complete edition (dtv) ISBN 3-4237-0729-1

Reviews

Jörg Bohn believes that at the time of publication, the books were still listed as "exciting, refreshingly unconventional and timelessly modern". However, they are now a bit out of date. Today they would give "on a narrative journey into the past information about the everyday sensitivities of this time". In addition, the painter Eva Kausche-Kongsbak created the dust jackets for the German first editions, so that the Kati volumes “represent an overall coherent and, from this point of view, also quite collectable testimony”.

Fredrik Sonck believes that the series should be viewed as a document of the times and should be read based on Lindgren's language. It also shows how the language is changing. Nowadays the word negro is unpronounceable unless its use is problematized or discussed. In the books, Lindgren criticized words like "nigger", "pickaninnie" and "darkie". However, she does use the word negro many times. This could mean that the connotations of the word had not yet emerged, or that they were so deeply embedded in the word that the people of that time could not identify them.

Jana Mikota thinks that the Kati series only corresponds to "the traditional understanding of girls' literature" to a very limited extent. The reader meets a “young woman who is interested in literature, history and politics”. The girls are quick-witted and can laugh at themselves.

Gabrielle Cromme praises the fact that Lindgren does without "educational use" with the Kati series. Many other girls' novels from this period would try to educate the girls. In the Kati books, zest for life and cosmopolitanism dominate.

Birgitta Theander loves the great joie de vivre that is expressed in the books. According to her, the dialogue is always quick and beautiful. She believes readers can empathize with Kati. Kati's love story is about "forgiveness, madness and bliss" ("den är hänryckning, kval och salighet").

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulla Lundqvist: Nyutgåva: Flickböcker inledde karriären. Astrid Lindgren, who fyller 91 år i dag, was ute i advised me with advice from Kati. Med Astrid's alter ego in America. .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Birgitta Theander: Kati-böckerna - Astrid Lindgren's flickbok trilogy. .
3. ^ Ivo Holmqvist: Astrid Lindgren's view mot America .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Jörg Bohn: books by Astrid Lindgren. Retrieved October 3, 2018 . 
5. ^ Ivo Holmqvist: Atomic bomber, tryckkokare och kyssäkta läppstift. Om den svenska amerikabilden kring 1950. Särskilt hos Astrid Lindgren. .
6. ↑ Lars Lindstrom: Så sänkte Astrid regeringen 1976. Accessed September 12, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Anna Zamolska: Lindgren, Astrid. Retrieved October 3, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Andersen, Jens: Astrid Lindgren. Your life.
9. ↑ Walter Ausweger: The strongest girl in the world turns 70. Retrieved on October 3, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Fredrik Sonck: Impulse: Astrid och rasismen. Astrid Lindgrens bok Kati i Amerika (1948) är interesting främst som tidsdokument, och förtjänar att läsas för det lindgrenska. .
11. ^ Jana Mikota: Astrid Lindgren's books for girls. “But first I want to become something myself !!! Learn a lot, have a job and be self-employed. " Accessed October 3, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Cromme, Gabriele (1996): Astrid Lindgren and the autarky of femininity. Literary representation of women and girls in their complete works. Kovac: Hamburg. Pp. 119, 207