Nordic Love and Literature: Selma Lagerlöf
In 1909, something remarkable happened in the world of high culture: for the first time. a woman won the Nobel Prize in Literature. And…it was won by a lesbian!
This groundbreaking author was Selma Lagerlöf of Sweden, a woman who not only dared to love another woman when it was still illegal in Sweden, but through her imaginative literature dared to challenge the prevailing taste for realism favored by none other than the revered August Strindberg.
Born to Louise Wallroth Lagerlöf and her husband Erik Gustav Lagerlöf in November 1858 in Värmland, Sweden, Selma Lagerlöf’s early life as one of six children was rather unsettled. The family moved around quite a bit, and young Selma’s birth defect of a damaged hip left her slightly lame, resulting in her being home schooled and raised in part by her grandmother. (She later overcame the hip problem as an adult and generally walked normally.) Moreover, her father was an alcoholic, further adding to the family’s instability.
By all accounts, young Selma was fascinated by the fairytales, Swedish fantasies, and folklore her grandmother told her. This early introduction to the fantastical certainly informed Lagerlöf’s writings, including her acclaimed debut novel, Gösta Berling’s Saga, published in 1891, about the wondrous adventures of a defrocked minister and various pensioners in an old manor house. Her later works, including the much-admired children’s book The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, published in 1902, employ Lagerlöf’s signature elements of fantasy, history, and folklore. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils was internationally praised, and translated into over 30 languages. It remains a favorite today.
Oddly, despite Lagerlöf’s imaginative and whimsical turns of mind in her literary life, she was perceived to have a stern, spinsterish nature. Various sources and documents from the time actually called her a “Snow Queen.” What these sources didn’t understand was that this was the public face of Selma Lagerlöf, while beneath that stern visage was a romantic soul who daringly, though necessarily discreetly, engaged in deeply loving relationships with other women: in particular, Jewish-Swedish author and translator Sophie Elkan, and Valborg Olander, who managed areas of Lagerlöf’s literary career.
It wasn’t until 1993, with the publication of her letters to Elkan, that we learned of the romantic nature of Lagerlöf’s relationships. The long period between Lagerlöf’s death in 1940 and the letters’ publication was at Lagerlöf’s request in her will, due to the fact that same sex relationships were illegal in Sweden in her lifetime and the lifetime of her lovers.
Lagerlöf met Sophie Elkan in 1894. Lagerlöf acknowledged that Elkan, a respected member of Swedish intellectual and literary circles, had an influence on her writing. The two would have lively discussions about Lagerlöf’s writing, with Elkan sharply critiquing the work.
Nonetheless, the love between the two women was deep and passionate, as we learned from Lagerlöf’s letters. In one, she calls Elka “very beautiful.” The women travelled extensively together, including trips to Italy, Egypt, and Jerusalem. In 1901, the ancient city became the setting for Lagerlöf’s novel of the same name, a book she dedicated to Elkan. Their relationship lasted until Elkan’s death in 1921.
In 1900, though, Lagerlöf met suffragette, women’s rights activist, teacher, and author Valborg Olander, and once again the so-called “Snow Queen” melted. Still involved with Elkan, Lagerlöf nevertheless became romantically involved with Olander. Their letters, published in 2006, reveal not only the intensity of their relationship but Olander’s influence as a manager of Lagerlöf’s literary career.
This love triangle continued, with Elkan understandably jealous of Lagerlöf’s romantic and literary relationship with Olander. But Lagerlöf would not give up either woman, and neither woman bowed out of the triangle.
The “Snow Queen” was clearly anything but icy!
After Elkan’s death, Lagerlöf and Olander continued their relationship, by all accounts exclusively, until Lagerlöf died in 1940. Olander lived until 1943.
Today, Selma Lagerlöf is revered in Sweden for her literary brilliance. Over the years, she was awarded several prestigious literary honors, including the Gold Medal of the Swedish Academy, and in 1914 she was accepted into the academy as a member, an honor never before accorded a woman. In 1991, her image was depicted on the 20-kronor banknote, the first woman, and certainly the first lesbian, ever depicted on Swedish currency.
Oh, and by the way, same sex relationships are no longer illegal in Sweden. ▼
Ann Aptaker is the author of short stories and the Lambda & Goldie award winning Cantor Gold series. Her latest book, A Crime of Secrets, was released July 4, 2023.