The novel first published in 1914 has been translated into Persian by Marjan Rezai. Markaz is the publisher of the book.
For poverty-stricken farm laborer Jan, the birth of his daughter Klara gives life a new meaning; his devotion to her develops into an obsession that excludes all else.
We are taken from the miracle of a newborn child and a father’s love of his baby girl into a fantasy world emerging as a result of extreme external pressures, in which Jan creates for himself the role of Emperor of Portugalia.
Yet this seemingly mad world generates surprising insights and support. Described as “perhaps the most private of Selma Lagerlof’s books”, the novel takes us deep into a father-daughter relationship that carries the seeds of tragedy within it almost from the start.
The novel was a success with critics and readers; newspaper reviewers said the novel was at the same level as Lagerlof’s earlier novels “Gosta Berling” saga and the first part of “Jerusalem”.
It has been filmed three times: 1925, 1944 and 1992. An English translation by Velma Swanston Howard was published in 1916.
Lagerlof was a novelist who in 1909 became the first woman and also the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
An illness left her lame for a time, but otherwise, her childhood was happy. She was taught at home, then trained in Stockholm as a teacher, and in 1885 went to Landskrona as schoolmistress.
There she wrote her first novel, “Gosta Berlings” saga, 2 vol. A chronicle of life in the heyday of her native Varmland’s history, an age of prosperous iron foundries and small manors, the book recounts the story of the 12 Cavaliers, led by Gosta Berling, a renegade priest of weak character but irresistible charm. Written in a lyrical style and full of pathos, it showed the influence of Thomas Carlyle and played a part in the Swedish Romantic revival of the 1890s.
Lagerlof ranks among the most naturally gifted of modern storytellers.
Source:Tehran Times