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i’m not doing the statue justice

September 16, 2010

… but still. There he is.

Hjalmar Söderberg. In addition, a tree:

from → annat
7 Comments leave one →
  1. falk permalink
    September 16, 2010 8:17 pm

    I like the photo of Sdöerberg’s statue. It is more effective for being in black and white. Is it in Hummlegården?
    Seeing it reminded me that when I lived in Stockholm I always enjoyed seeing the little lady who stands on the corner by Dramaten. She has real impact there, just standing on the pavement.

  2. falk permalink
    September 16, 2010 8:19 pm

    sorry, -’Söderberg’s’ !!!

  3. zooey permalink*
    September 16, 2010 8:32 pm

    Yes, it is in Humlegården. It’s a new addition actually — there was no statue of Söderberg anywhere in Stockholm before (though there is a street named after him in a suburb) and some folks have fought many years to have one in Humlegården. (Söderberg grew up and lived in the close vicinity of Humlegården.) The statue was inaugurated a few days ago.

    I was slightly annoyed that his head happened to get lost in that dark part of the tree behind him. (Ideally the sun should have shone on that part…) On the other hand, the 2 dachshunds were kind of nice. Unfortunately they didn’t put him in a very nice corner of the park. (At least not from the perspective of wanting a nice background for photos… but even without that aspect in mind, it wasn’t the best place.)

    Söderberg used to be my favourite writer when I was a teenager. He was also incredibly witty, a staunch atheist and very opposed to the nazis. (Died in Copenhagen in 1941.)

    Perhaps you’ve read Söderberg, Falk — ? — but I assume most people outside of Sweden have never heard of him. (That’s a pity. Of course. In my opinion.)

  4. zooey permalink*
    September 16, 2010 8:36 pm

    And, by the way, that lady — the actress — on the corner at Dramaten is actually standing on my street! (That statue is a brilliant piece.)

  5. falk permalink
    September 17, 2010 12:50 am

    In truth I have not read Soderberg, there is very little available now in english. Most of my reading when I was trying to learn swedish was the picture books for children available in Mörby bibliotek – Findus and Pettson and lots of others. I read a lot of Astrid Lindgren, Emil books , Bröderna Lejonhjärta, Ronja Rövarsdotter etc. I like the Lindgren books illustrated by Ilon Wikland.
    I remember reading, ‘“Den långa, långa resan”, Ilon Wikland’s own story of her escape from
    Estonia.
    I particularily loved Gammaldags Jul by Harald Wiberg, and managed to buy a copy recently. My three year old grand-daughter loves it too!
    On my bookshelf I have a charming old swedish reading scheme, ‘Vill du Läsa?’, illustrated by Elsa Beskow, published in 1935. maybe your grand-parents used it to learn to read!

  6. zooey permalink*
    September 17, 2010 12:21 pm

    My parents probably read it, but not my grandparents — well, at least my dad may have used it, my mum, although Swedish-speaking, wasn’t born in Sweden. My grandparents were adults in 1935! I think I read that book as well, and all other Beskow books! I was very surprised to find that outside Sweden, Beskow’s books are marketed mostly by anthroposophist and/or waldorf publishers and retailers. That is most certainly not the case in Sweden! (Though I’m totally unaware of these books’ popularity among children today.)

    Astrid Lindgren is great, I like Emil and Ronja and Madicken. The Emil movies / tv-series are great too.

    English translations of Söderberg’s works are still sold in Swedish bookshops, but perhaps more difficult to get by outside Sweden. See for example:
    http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=0385722672
    http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=0714530611
    http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=1870041577
    http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=1870041836

  7. falk permalink
    September 17, 2010 2:24 pm

    thanks for the links. I may well buy one when next I visit my friends in Stockholm.

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