Astrid Lindgren as chief editor
What today's scholars of children's fiction usually call "the modern Swedish children's book" emerged after the Second World War when many of the great authors of children's and adolescent's fiction first appeared, amongst them Astrid Lindgren, Lennart Hellsing and Tove Jansson. Rabén & Sjögren was at this point a young publishing house that had started its business in 1942 and that early on profiled itself by publishing quality books for children and adolescents. The fact that the publishing house strengthened this profile was most certainly dependant upon Astrid Lindgren and her double role as the publishing house's most prominent author and its chief editor of children's books. Astrid Lindgren worked at Rabén & Sjögren from 1946 until 1970 and was during this time responsible for the publishing of their children's books. The author Astrid Lindgren is well-known, but few are aware of her role as an editor at Rabén & Sjögren during almost 25 years. Astrid Lindgren's position as one of the greatest Swedish authors of children's books combined with her position as chief editor of that day's largest publisher of children's books is unique and very important. This project aims to research Astrid Lindgren's role as chief editor, to show how children's books were viewed at this time and to chart the contemporary market for children's books. Moreover, it will compile remaining letters since they are of interest both to future authors and for people with a general interest in Astrid Lindgren and her time.
Helene Ehriander, Linneaeus University
The most rewarding part of my research has been that my original ideas, the hypothesis that I had formulated, proved to be valid. The work that I have done so far has strengthened the observations that I based my application on.
Interesting and unexpected results of my research are the similarities that I have discovered between Astrid Lindgren in her role as editor and her colleague Ursula Nordstrom. Nordstrom worked as an editor at Harper Books in New York and she was, just as Astrid Lindgren, an advocate for children's literature. Many of her statements resemble those of Astrid Lindgren's. Ursula Nordstrom didn't write fiction and she was never well known outside the publishing world, but her views on children's literature, on what could be defined as "good" literature for children and young adults and how a book for children should be put together are remarkably similar to the views of Astrid Lindgren. These similarities opens an interesting area of questions on how Astrid Lindgren's views depended on the times in which she lived and how her personality influenced the development of children's literature in Sweden from the 1940s and onwards.
During the period that Astrid Lindgren worked as an editor there was a vivid debate about the conditions under which authors worked. With the help of material from the Adam Helm's collection, I have been able to follow this debate. Interestingly enough Astrid Lindgren, who was both an editor and an author, readily took the author's side even if this meant opposing the publisher's position. She never goes directly against the publisher's interests, but the material shows that she can see both sides and in doing so, the greater picture.
Astrid Lindgren wanted to improve the conditions for authors of books for children and young adults and Sveriges Ungdomsförfattarförening (Sweden's organisations for Young Adult authors), which was formed in 1947 as a direct result of this debate, was aware of her efforts. The organisation recognised both that Astrid Lindgren and the publishing company Rabén & Sjögren were striving to improve the conditions for authors. Astrid Lindgren contributed to Rabén & Sjögren creating a generous scholarship for authors; where half of the money was earmarked for authors of books for children and young adults. Astrid Lindgren shows great wisdom and insight when she uses the position that she had in the publishing world to try to improve the life of her fellow authors. She met colleagues on a daily basis and knew about their need for better contracts that could ensure a financial stability, without which it is hard to write. She was able to find a balance between being an author and an editor and tried to give other authors the best financial deal she could, so that they would get a fair share of the publishing company's profit. This is not something she does out of personal greed. At this time, Astrid Lindgren is a well known author and she has a sizeable income.
Reading the correspondence between Astrid Lindgren and the authors she worked with, it has repeat ably struck me how patient and understanding she was. In the letters I have found many examples of how kind, diplomatic and thoroughly genuine she was as a person. Humour is also a very important factor in the letters. As an editor Astrid Lindgren was able to do a lot of things that she couldn't have done otherwise. She met a lot of people in her line of work and visited many literary and reading promoting events.
In my understanding her role as editor has contributed to the views that Swedes have of Astrid Lindgren. None of the authors she worked with shows any signs of having been treated unfairly or badly by her. Even is she was a highly successful author herself, there's no evidence of any unjust competition. Her role as an editor with good judgement, a keen eye and a frank voice has, in my view, contributed to the way we see Astrid Lindgren today as a "national icon", which is something that I will explore further in a forthcoming study.
In survey after survey about who are the most important and influential Swedes, Astrid Lindgren and a few token kings and regents are always chosen. At the millennium there were a number of different events that named Astrid Lindgren the most important Swede for a thousand years. Even if this says a lot about our short memory, it also gives a signal of how popular Astrid Lindgren has been and still is, and how she has become a "national icon" of great importance. This is interesting since her popularity has also been controversial, as she during her life was outspoken on a great many subjects and sometimes changed her mind. When Astrid Lindgren passed away, her popularity continued. Not just because of her literary accomplishments or the fact that a lot of people feel that they have a personal relationship to her books, but because of the respect and even adoration that Astrid Lindgren as a person has inspired. What were the factors that created the "national icon" of Astrid Lindgren? Why is she even now today a symbol for Sweden and one of the symbols that is most loved and respected? This is something that I try to answer with the help of both the correspondence and the questionnaires that I have created, which has been distributed by Lund University "Folklivsarkiv" and Nordiska Museet.