Astrid Lindgren is dead. So I thought I should share some thoughts, in remembrance. She was a popular Swedish children's author. I grew up with her books. Almost everything I loved in books, I loved in Astrid Lindgrens stories. Growing up I thought she and Roald Dahl were the only once that wrote books for children. All other kinds of children's books didn't seem to affect me. A teacher I had in the child psychology classes in a folk school I went to, told me that Astrid Lindgrens literature was unsuitable for children, because one of her characters called Pippi was actually an Anarchist in her view. I thought this was crazy and a completely wild statement to make. I almost felt hurt in a personal way. Because I felt that; growing up I fell in love with books and a nicer and more sensitive world trough Astrid Lingrens stories. I felt the statement was in every way an attack on me and person. I thought that she obviously said these things because she personally didn't like me, I felt it had more to do with me than it had to do with child psychology and Pippi.
However this was a very strict Christian school and some of the teachers had a very old fashioned way of seeing thing, something I wasn't used to in my home. A few years after this, when I went to high school, I wrote an essay about Lindgrens books. I wanted to defend and show the innocence that I felt represented her work. That was when I found out that she had actually been very criticized by a lot of people. I read old newspaper clippings and different reviews on her. I saw a different point of view and it shocked me. When I read and studied some of her books again, before I wrote the essay, I found things I had never thought about when I read them as a kid.
The thing about Astrid Lindgren is that she wrote literature, that didn't express a typical adult moral. Most other books seemed to have a moral attached to a very sweet and "censured friendly" kind of story. They seemed to be more about wanting to tell kids how they should behave, rather than being supportive of the childlike minds. Astrid Lindgren wrote about things most adults would not talk to kids about. Things like death, suicide, loss and most of all; adults that were'nt perfect. A lot of her adult characters were stupid, bad, grey or unemotional. She took on a defense that few other children's authors seemed to do. I thought maybe adults that have a lot of restrictions in themselves and treat their kids according to these restrictions, would feel embarrassed by the sincerity to Lindgrens books. They would maybe see themselves in those stupid adult characters...
My favorite book of Lindgren was probably Brothers Of Lionhearts. It brings out the melancholic and sad side of dying and it's not seen trough the eyes of a strict adult, that feel like pushing on the buttons of morality in every tragic moment. It's mature in a childish way. Lindgren probably give children more respect and dignity trough her books, than a lot of adults do to their own kids. She tells us that it isn't people that are stupid, it's their actions and the immaturity of adults, is a lot more tragic than the immaturity of children...
If Pippi actually were a true Anarchist, I would have to say that we shouldn't have a lot to fear, in these kind of people. Pippi is not an adult and there are most definitely something wrong with her, but she's not a criminal. Her childish ways makes you think of hippies and punks that have thrown away the hash and rebelliousness to get high on soda water and candy. It makes you want to become an Anarchist too, at least a child again. So why not bring out the inner Pippi in ourselves now and then and remember Lindgren's world...
