Tomten (poem)

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Tomten ("The Wichtelmann") is a poem by Viktor Rydberg . It was published in Ny Illustrerad Tidning in 1881 and tells of the experiences of the title character on a winter night. The Swedish word tomte describes a small white-bearded goblin with a red cap, cf. Nit . The poem and the illustrations by Jenny Nyström (when first published) helped shape the image of Swedish Santa Claus.

content

Tomten is an 11 stanzas long, philosophical poem. In a more idyllic way, Rydberg poses the question of the meaning of human life. The poem is about a tomte , his actions and reflections. Originally the poem was not directly related to Christmas, but over time Nyström's illustrations helped transform the story of Tomte into a story of Santa Claus. Santa Claus is also called jul tomten in Swedish .

history

History of origin

The poem was written on February 19, 1881, while Rydberg was living in Gothenburg and working as a journalist for the Göteborgs Handels- und Schifffahrtsmagazin ( Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning - GHT). It was created in collaboration with the editor of the newspaper Sven Adolf Hedlund . During a tour of Slottsskogen , Rydberg suddenly asked Hedlund to stop and wrote the poem on a piece of paper on Hedlund's back.

Then the poem was published in the Ny Illustrerad Tidning . Rydberg was already known as the author of Christmas texts , including the story of Lille Viggs äfventyr from 1871. At that time, the then 17-year-old artist Jenny Nyström (who worked for the New Illustrated Magazine from 1880–88) was called in as an illustrator. Rydberg asked Nyström to draw Tomten a little more human than her characters in the story of Lille Viggs Äfventyr . Nyström complied with the request. Her father Daniel Nyström served as a model for the main character of the poem. Daniel Nyström was a teacher at the Carlgrenska School at Stigbergstorget in Majorna . His daughter Jenny also grew up in Majorna.

The images for Rydberg's poem were an important part of Jenny Nyström's influential career as a painter and illustrator of Christmas motifs. For example, her pictures of Santa Claus later adorned millions of Swedish Christmas cards.

Later publications

A short film, Tomten , was made by filmmaker Gösta Roosling in 1941 . In the film, Hilda Borgström reads the full poem.

Lotta Engberg's Christmas album Jul hos mig (2009) ends with a final, hidden bonus track in which Sven Wollter (one of her duet partners on the album) reads the poem.

The poem is also available as an audio book in Sweden and will be read by Torgny Lindgren .

The poem was published by Lyyli Wartiovaara-Kallioniemi in Julens önskesångbok ("Christmas wish song book", 1997) under the heading "Traditional Christmas carols".

Inspiration for the Astrid Lindgren books

Rydberg's poem soon became one of the most famous Swedish Christmas texts and was reprinted over and over again. In 1960 Rabén & Sjögren published a new version with illustrations by Harald Wiberg . This variant had previously appeared in the Christmas edition of the children's magazine Klumpe Dumpe from 1957. Foreign publishers discovered the book with the beautiful pictures and got in touch with Rabén & Sjögren . However, they did not want Viktor Rydberg's metaphysical text, so editor Astrid Lindgren undertook to write a new prose text on Wiberg's illustrations. The result came out in the same year in Germany, where Tomte Tummetott quickly became popular and repeatedly reissued. The following year, The Tomten appeared in the United States, followed by translations into a variety of other languages. The animation film Tomte Tummetott and the Fox from 2007 is based on the German version .

However, a Swedish version of Astrid Lindgren's book did not appear until 2012 - 52 years after the first German edition. That year the German publisher found Lindgren's original typeface in his archives and brought the typeface back to Sweden. The 2012 book, published under the title Tomten är vaken , features new illustrations by Kitty Crowther .

See also

Web links

Wikisource: Tomten  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The n is the Swedish definite article .
  2. ↑ a b c Törnqvist, Lena: Tomten är vaken - en bakgrundshistoria. . 2012. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014.
  3. ^ Eva Sahlström: Jultomten, gårdstomten och tomtenissarna. .
  4. ↑ a b c El-Mochantaf, Christer: Tomten's origin affirmed: Göteborgare. .
  5. ↑ a b Kalmarlandsmuseum.se: Biografiska uppgifter .
  6. ↑ Svenskfilmdatabas.se: Tomten (1941) .
  7. ↑ Smdb.kb.se: Jul hos mig / Lotta Engberg .
  8. ^ Rydberg, Viktor & Lindgren, Torgny: Tomten . Ed .: Pan Hörböcker. Stockholm 2003, ISBN 91-7313-059-1 (Swedish).
  9. ↑ artiovaara-Kallioniemi, Lyyli & Rydberg, Viktor: Tomten . 1997 (Swedish).
  10. ↑ Publishing group Oetinger: Tomte Tummetott and the fox . Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
  11. ↑ Lindgren, Astrid & Crowther Kitty: Tomten är vaken . Ed .: Rabén & Sjögren. Stockholm 2012, ISBN 978-91-29-68093-5 (Swedish).