Christmas when I was little
Christmas when I was little (original title: En jul när jag var liten ) is a book anthology published in 1992 by Harriet Alfons in Sweden and containing Christmas stories by authors such as Astrid Lindgren , Margareta Strömstedt , Bengt Anderberg and Viveca Lärn . The anthology was later translated into Danish and German. Only some of the stories made it into the German and Danish language editions. Additional stories were replaced with works by other authors.
content
In the book, well-known authors such as Astrid Lindgren , Margareta Strömstedt , Bengt Anderberg and Viveca Lärn report on the Christmas experiences from their childhood. The stories tell of good and bad times, the cohesion of families and the longing for the children to wait for Christmas Eve.
Original artwork
The original Swedish version of the book was published in 1992 by Rabén & Sjögren under the title En jul när jag var liten (German: A Christmas when I was a child ) . It was edited by Harriet Alfons and Margot Henriksson. A few authors had already published their stories. Selma Lagerlöf wrote her story Julklappsboken as early as 1933. Bengt Anderberg's story När farmor kokade rödkål ( When grandmother cooked red cabbage ) was published in Vi magazine as early as 1974 . Almost all of the stories were written in Swedish. Exclusively Leon Garfield's Det förbjudna barnet was written in English and first appeared in 1984 in the short story collection The Faber Book of Christmas Stories under the title Forbidden child . This story was translated by the editor Harriet Alfons. The cover of the Swedish edition shows the picture Kerstis slädfärd by Carl Larsson .
Individual contributions
The following are the individual contributions to the anthology in the order of the index:
| Swedish original | Title translation | author | illustrator |
|---|---|---|---|
| In July in Småland for length sen | A Christmas in Småland a long time ago | Astrid Lindgren | Ilon Wikland |
| När farmor kokade rödkål | When grandmother cooked red cabbage | Bengt Anderberg | Sven Nordqvist |
| Fylle-Svenssons och det underbara ögonblicket | Schnaps – Svenssonos and the wonderful moment | Margareta Strömstedt | Eva Eriksson |
| Min osynliga jul | My invisible being | Viveca noise | Pija Linden Tree |
| Överraskningen | (Surprises) | Rebecca Alsberg | Charlotte Ramel |
| Barnkammargranen | (Kindergarten Christmas tree) | Carl Zetterström | Carl Zetterström |
| Drömmen om en hund | (The dream of a dog) | Inger Sandberg | Leave Sandberg |
| Jesusbarnets födelsedag | (The birthday of Jesus) | Gun-Britt Sundström | Elsa Beskow and Aina Stenberg-MasOlle |
| Det förbjudna barnet | (The forbidden child) | Leon Garfield | Jens Ahlbom |
| Jul i Moskva | (Christmas in Moscow) | Maria Nikolayeva | Marianne Enqvist |
| En julklapp till pappa | (A Christmas present for dad) | Karin Stjernholm Ræder | Karin Stjernholm Ræder |
| Nar jag var liten | (When I was a child) | Ingrid Sjöstrand | Cecilia Torudd |
| ... gå vi till paradis med sång | (... we go to paradise with singing) | Helga Henschen | Helga Henschen |
| Julfrid | (Christmas Peace) | Stig Claesson | Stig Claesson |
| July in New York | (Christmas in New York) | Bjorn Berg | Bjorn Berg |
| Två hästar och en vagn | (Two horses and a carriage) | Berit Spong | Ann-Madeleine Gelotte |
| Julen | (Christmas) | Tove Jansson | Tove Jansson |
| Juleljus | (Christmas lights) | Alf Henrikson | Fibben Hald |
| Julklappsboken | (Christmas book) | Selma Lagerlöf | Marit Törnqvist |
| Till sist | (At last) | Eva von Zweigbergk | Birger Lundquist |
- Remarks
- ↑ If the story has not been translated into German, only the literal translation of the title is given in brackets.
Book edition
- En jul när jag var liten (1992), Rabén & Sjögren, Swedish original edition
German language edition
In 1996 the German-language edition was published under the title Christmas when I was little at the Oetinger Verlag in Hamburg . It differs considerably from the Swedish original edition from 1992. Only four stories by the authors Astrid Lindgren , Margareta Strömstedt , Bengt Anderberg and Viveca Lärn were taken from the original edition and translated into German. The other stories have been replaced by works by other authors. Erich Kästner's story A child has sorrow was previously published by Atrium Verlag in the book When I was a little boy . The rest of the stories were rewritten for the German version of the book. Peter Knorr illustrated the book. The stories are about 10 pages long on average.
The book was released as a DAISY audio book for the visually impaired and is 246 minutes long.
Individual contributions
The following are the individual contributions to the anthology in the order of the index:
| German version | Swedish original | author | illustrator |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Christmas in Småland a long time ago | In July in Småland for length sen | Astrid Lindgren | Peter Knorr |
| When grandmother cooked red cabbage | När farmor kokade rödkål | Bengt Anderberg | |
| Schnaps – Svenssonos and the wonderful moment | Fylle-Svenssons och det underbara ögonblicket | Margareta Strömstedt | |
| My invisible being | Min osynliga jul | Viveca noise | |
| My child is in grief | - | Erich Kaestner | |
| The Grulich nativity scene | - | Otfried Preussler | |
| Reminder of christmas | - | Joan Aiken | |
| The ride into the Orient | - | Jo Pestum | |
| Merry Christmas... | - | Renate Welsh | |
| Christmas 1946 | - | Wolf Spillner | |
| In my days | - | Wilhelm Topsch | |
| One sleeve was missing | - | Christine Nöstlinger | |
| He has been wrong for fifty years | - | David Henry Wilson | |
| The fallen Christmas tree | - | Tormod Haugen | |
| The year of the thumb | - | Marjaleena Lembcke | |
| The Christkindl | - | Karin Gündisch | |
| Christmas lives in the fly closet | - | Carmen Blazejewski | |
| The fur jacket | - | Bettina Obrecht |
Eleven articles in the German edition are from German-speaking authors, seven stories by the following authors have been translated into German:
- Astrid Lindgren (Translator from Swedish: Anna-Liese Kornitzky )
- Joan Aiken (Translator from English: Irmela Brender )
- Margareta Strömstedt (Translator from Swedish: Anna-Liese Kornitzky)
- David Henry Wilson (Translator from English: Irmela Brender)
- Bengt Anderberg (Translator from Swedish: Anna-Liese Kornitzky)
- Tormod Haugen (Translator from Norwegian: Lothar Schneider)
- Viveca Lärn (Translator from Swedish: Anna-Liese Kornitzky)
Book edition
- Angelika Kutsch (Ed.): Christmas when I was little . Pictures by Peter Knorr . Oetinger, Hamburg 1996. ISBN 3-7891-4006-6
Audio book
- Christmas when I was little . Readings. Playing time: 246 minutes. DAISY audio book , 2012
more publishments
In addition to being published in Germany, the stories have also been translated into Danish. The book was published in Denmark in 1993 under the title Jul da jeg var lille (literally: Christmas when I was little). As in the German edition, the Danish edition published the stories of Astrid Lindgren , Margareta Strömstedt , Bengt Anderberg and Viveca Lärn . In addition, the stories by Rebecca Alsberg , Alf Henrikson and Selma Lagerlöf have been translated from the original edition . Works by Rachel Rachlin, Godfred Hartmann, Svend Otto S., Cecil Bødker , Frederik Dessau, Niels Birger Wamberg , Klaus Rifbjerg , Knud Erik Pedersen, Jane Aamund, Mette Winge and Flemming Quist Møller have been published for the omitted stories . The book was also published as an audio book in Denmark.
Book edition
- Jul da jeg var lille (1993), Gyldendal, Danish publication
reception
In his brief reference to this anthology, Ulrich Karger draws the conclusion that both children and adults should find “great pleasure” in the stories illustrated by Peter Knorr . He recommends Christmas when I was little for reading to children from the age of five and as independent reading for children from the age of ten. The Kinderschutz-Zentrum Graz recommends the book for children of all ages.
Peter Seul, leading pastor of the Catholic parish community Kaarst - Büttgen , noted in a local gazette guest article from 2017 that the Christmas stories in the book are partly set in times of poverty, deprivation and war. Although no “prosperous Christmas” is described, almost all authors would report “about the quiet and the homely atmosphere of the family and the tense expectation when the presents were given”. Like Seul, Thomas Meurer took up this idea in his award-winning sermon in 2002. Afterwards, these stories show that it doesn't take much material to have a nice Christmas when families get closer together.
Maren Schneider names Christmas when I was little as one of her favorite books because it tells of a time "that is hard to imagine today: meter-high snow, ice crystals on the window panes".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Boktips inför julen .
- ↑ Reading in the lights .
- ↑ Christmas when I was little .
- ↑ Complete offer of the BIT center audio, MAXI print and braille publications .
- ↑ The wood is above all an idea .
- ↑ Jul da jed var lille .
- ↑ Ulrich Karger : Angelika Kutsch (Ed.): Christmas when I was little ., Brief reference to the book, online at buechernachlese.de
- ↑ Kinderschutz-Zentrum Graz: Christmas when I was little ., Brief reference to the book in Kinderschutz plus 05/07, PDF file, p. 9 of 23 pages, online at kinderschutz-zentrum.at
- ↑ Peter Seul: “We should think about what Christmas really means!” ., Guest article from December 22, 2017 in Stadtkurier Neuss, online at stadt-kurier.de
- ↑ Thomas Meurer : Sermon in the Christmas mass . of December 24, 2002 in the KvG school community, online at predigtpreis.de
- ↑ Maren Schneider: Mindful through Advent : Staying calm and relaxed in the run-up to Christmas , ISBN 9783426455579 , OW Barth, 2019 limited preview in the Google book search