Pippi Longstocking

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Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren

INTRODUCTION
PRINCIPAL WORKS
CRITICISM
FURTHER READING

Swedish author of juvenile fiction, picture books, and screenplays.

The following entry presents criticism on Lindgren's juvenile novel Pippi Långstrump (1945; Pippi Longstocking) through 2004.

INTRODUCTION

Swedish children's author Lindgren is most commonly associated with Pippi Longstocking, one of the most iconic and enduring characters in twentieth-century children's literature. The strongest girl in the world, Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrel-mint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking (or, Pippi-lotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump in Swedish) is an orphaned girl of enormous wealth who lives by herself with her menagerie of animals in a middle-class Swedish town in a cottage called Villa Villekula. With her friends from next door, Tommy and Annika, Pippi embarks on a series of adventures over the course of three novellas by Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Långstrump går ombord (1946; Pippi Goes on Boa rd), and Pippi Långstrump i Söderhavet (1948; Pippi in the South Seas). Quickly becoming an international cultural icon—particularly in her native Sweden—Pippi spawned a cottage industry including more than ten picture books, a television series, a ballet, countless pieces of merchandise, and a series of movies, several of which had screenplays authored by Lindgren herself. While some have faulted Pippi's antiauthoritarian tendencies for possibly inspiring bad behavior from her young readers, a majority of critics have lauded the character for her infectious free spirit and candor.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Lindgren was born on November 14, 1907, in Vimmerby, Småland, Sweden, to Samuel and Hanna Ericsson. The Ericsson family tended a farm and orchard called Nås in southeast Sweden. A constant flow of workers and service people representing a unique cross-section of rural Swedish culture passed through the gates of the family farm, offering the young Lindgren a host of inspirations for her later books. However, despite the encouragement of friends and family who recognized her innate gifts for storytelling, she initially had few aspirations to write. Instead, Lindgren stayed close to home until an unexpected pregnancy in 1926, at which point she emigrated to the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, where she delivered a son named Lars. Shortly thereafter, she returned to Sweden, settling in Stockholm where she became a secretary at the Royal Automobile Club and struggled as a single, unmarried parent. She married Sture Lindgren, a co-worker, in 1931, with whom she had a second child, a daughter, Karin. Around this time, Lindgren began authoring stories for a Swedish magazine called Countryside Christmas. Her first book, 5 automobilturer i Sverige (1939; Twenty-Five Automobile Tours in Sweden), was written in conjunction with the Royal Automo-bile Club. The creation of her most famous character, Pippi Longstocking, occurred in 1941. When Lindgren's daughter Karin became ill with pneumonia, she and her mother began creating a series of original bedtime stories to pass the time. At one point, Karin requested a tale about a character named "Pippi Långstrump" (or "Longstocking" in English), and her mother replied accordingly, crafting an energetic story of a little girl with wild red pigtails. The stories of Pippi became an ongoing mother-daughter adventure, with Lindgren continually adding to the growing legend of Pippi for Karin and her friends. Years later, after Lindgren sprained her ankle, she revisited Pippi as a means of passing the time during her recovery. On Karin's tenth birthday, Lindgren presented her daughter with the first rough manuscript of Pippi Longstocking as a gift. Lindgren submitted the manuscript to a writing contest sponsored by the Swedish publisher Rabén & Sjögren in 1945, winning first prize. When the book was released later that same year, it became an immediate best-seller in Sweden and was subsequently published internationally to great acclaim. In 1946 Lindgren began working as an editor for Rabén & Sjögren, a position she would hold in varying capacities until 1970. Sadly, her husband, Sture, passed away in 1952 at the height of her literary fame. Lindgren eventually became a noted activist for a variety of social and political causes in Sweden. In her later years, in addition to her growing body of children's stories, Lindgren became involved with charities concerned with children's welfare and animal rights, particularly the treatment of animals on Swedish farms. Her efforts to help raise the standard of treatment for these animals earned her the Albert Schweitzer Award from the Animal Welfare Institute. She was further honored as the second recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for lifetime achievement in 1958 and became the inspiration for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which began in 2003 and is credited as the "world's largest children's and youth literature award," with the winner receiving five million lek. On January 28, 2002, Lindgren passed away at the age of 94 as the result of a viral infection. She is remembered with a statue in Stockholm's Tenerlunden Park, as well as an amusement park in her native Vimmerby, Sweden.

PLOT AND MAJOR CHARACTERS

Wearing mismatched stockings, perpendicular red ponytails, freckles, over-sized black shoes, and a selfmade patchwork skirt, Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking is a fiercely independent and equally eccentric adolescent girl. The daughter of a missing sea-captain, whom Pippi is convinced has become a king of a cannibal tribe in the South Seas, and "an angel in heaven" as Pippi calls her mother, Lindgren's protagonist was deposited on the shores of a village in Sweden by her father's shipmates after a wave swept him away. Sitting on an untold fortune of gold coins left to her by her father, Pippi has no worldly material concerns, leaving her free of any dependence upon adult figures. Even school has no hold on her, for Pippi refuses to go and, as the strongest girl in the world, no adult can force her. As such, she is the embodiment of the escapist fantasies of childhood, borne of the frustrations of a thousand children forced to do as their parents and teachers demand, despite their contrary wishes and protestations. Even so, Pippi is a role model of sorts, as she gives freely from her hoard of money, enjoys hard work, cares for her animals at Villa Villekula, and is free of the social restrictions that drive the actions of nearly every other figure in the village. A. Harriette Andreadis has suggested that Pippi is the center of her own universe, one in which she lives "imbued with her own logic, generosity, and humanity, a world in which she determines justice and the moral order, a world in which the conventions of adult middle-class life are exposed as stupid." These commentaries on the mundanity and silly customs of adult life are not maliciously carried out, however, as Pippi bears no ill will towards adults, though she has little patience or understanding of their quirks. The rest of the characters in the Pippi books can be separated into two camps: her allies and her adversaries. Pippi's two primary allies, her neighbors Tommy and Annika, are typical children, in many ways embodying the readers who, unlike Pippi, do not have the freedom to do whatever they want whenever they want. The brother and sister must clean themselves, go to school, and obey the will of adults. However, they are free to accompany Pippi on her merry adventures, which, like the reader, they do with relish. Meanwhile, grownups—Pippi's primary adversaries—essentially function as stereotypes of adulthood meant to serve in contrast to the free-spirited Pippi while simultaneously offering situational humor for our heroine to inadvertently take advantage. Vivi Edström has suggested that, "Pippi plays many parts. They vary with her relationship to social patterns in the small town, but they also take the form of experimenting with traditional types—the slapstick figure in films, the Chaplinesque comedian, the gallant gentleman, and the fine lady."

MAJOR THEMES

Pippi Longstocking is one of a series of orphan narratives—including Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Kate Douglas Wiggin's Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Johanna Spyri's Heidi, Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden, and Eleanor H. Porter's Pollyanna—that were immensely popular in the first half of the twentieth century. However, the dissimilarities between Lindgren's red-headed protagonist and her similarly parentless contemporaries are fairly dramatic. Rather than needing an adult to rescue her, Pippi is fearlessly independent. Also, while many of her girlish forebears seek to repair the lives of those figures around her, Pippi's worldview is much more of a laissez-faire approach to life. Instead of seeking fixes, Pippi is more an example of positive thinking whose ultimate outlet is fun and pleasure. For that reason, critics like David L. Russell have identified parallels between Pippi and other paragons of children's literature. For example, Russell has asserted that, "[t]he Pippi Longstockings and the Huckleberry Finns become the juvenile gadflies of our culture, child Don Quixotes, exploring possibilities, dreaming of a better world, a world free from the chains of empty social custom and meaningless convention, a world where each individual can find fulfillment on his or her own terms." Like-minded scholars have argued that it is this embodiment of complete freedom and self-reliance that holds such an appeal to young readers. Ulla Lundqvist has suggested that Pippi "symbolizes children's desire for power, or, more accurately, superiority (over adults)." Additionally, Edström has noted the unique world-view that Pippi presents to her readers, a dramatic break from other orphan narratives, where the perspective is "expansive and creative. There is no notion of established order in her world. All boundaries are there to be tested and exceeded. Of course there are risks but … It is precisely in this risk-taking that she gains her feminist significance. As a newcomer in the small town, she looks upon everything without blinkers and ingrained prejudices. She comes from the open seas—as far from a sequestered girl ideal as is conceivable. The girl figure in earlier children's literature had mostly had quite a hard task in minding her manners, cutting out awkwardness, and attention-seeking." This lack of subterfuge or pretense is considered one of Pippi's strongest characteristics by critics, with Andreadis commenting that Pippi "though aware of her social shortcomings nevertheless retains her won vision of reason and honesty in the world. She has a child's freedom from hypocrisy and social snobbery, and Lindgren lets her have the last word."

CRITICAL RECEPTION

Modern critics have consistently regarded Pippi Longstocking as one of the most child-friendly and popular works of international juvenile literature. However, upon its initial release, the critical reactions were much more polarized. One early critic referred to the book as "totally antisocial rubbish," an opinion borne from the narrative's seeming endorsement of disobedience and backtalk. This controversy became even more heated after the story was read on Swedish radio, expanding both the exposure and influence of Lindgren's creation. John Landquist was typical among these initial dissenting reviewers, characterizing Pippi as "something unpleasant that scratches at the soul." Upon its translation into English, Pippi Longstocking continued to attract a dichotomous blend of reader reactions, as exemplified by its 1951 Booklist review, which suggested that the "exaggerated nonsense of this Swedish tale may appear inane, smarty, or even in poor taste by adults, but children will probably find Pippi's doings excruciatingly funny." In the years since its initial release, critical opinion has come to favor Pippi, which is, perhaps, best reflected by Marcus Crouch's belief—as stated in The Nesbit Tradition: The Children's Novel in England, 1945–1970—that "Pippi embodies all the dreams of small children who weave fantasies about total freedom from adult supervision, enormous physical strength, escape from the conventions of a civilization invented by grownups." This softening of scholarly appraisals has been due, in part, to Lindgren's expanding literary reputation and the growing recognition of the potential values of Pippi's optimistic expression of life. Lindgren biographer Edström has argued that, "[i]f we accept what [Pippi] stands for, we accept laughter; we are more prepared to understand and handle the challenges of life. Humor is meant to help us see the funny side of what surprises us. In that sense, Pippi is as important as ever."

PRINCIPAL WORKS

"Pippi Longstocking" Series

Pippi Långstrump [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (juvenile fiction) 1945; published in English

as Pippi Longstocking, translated by Florence Lamborn; illustrations by Louis S. Glanzman, 1945

* Pippi Långstrump går ombord [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (juvenile fiction) 1946; published in English as Pippi Goes on Board, translated by Florence Lamborn; illustrations by Louis S. Glanzman, 1957
† Pippi Långstrump i Söderhavet [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (juvenile fiction) 1948; published in English as Pippi in the South Seas, translated by Marianne Turner; illustrations by Richard Kennedy, 1957
Boken om Pippi Långstrump [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (juvenile short stories) 1952
‡The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking [illustrations by Michael Chesworth] (juvenile fiction) 1997

"Pippi Longstocking" Picture Books

Känner du Pippi Långstrump? [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (picture book) 1947; published in English as Do You Know Pippi Longstocking?, translated by Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegard, 1999
Sjung med Pippi Långstrump [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (picture book) 1949
Pippi Långstrump har julgransplundring (picture book) 1950; published in English as Pippi Longstocking's After-Christmas Party, translated by Stephen Keeler; illustrations by Michael Chesworth, 1996
Haer kommer Pippi Långstrump [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (picture book) 1957
På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump [photographs by Bo-Eric Gyberg] (picture book) 1971; published in English as Pippi on the Run, 1976
Pippi Goes to School [translated by Frances Lamborn; illustrations by Michael Chesworth] (picture book) 1998
Pippi Goes to the Circus [illustrations by Michael Chesworth] (picture book) 1999
Pippi to the Rescue [illustrations by Michael Chesworth] (picture book) 2000
Pippi Longstocking in the Park [illustrations by Ingrid Vang Nyman] (picture book) 2001

Screenplays

Pippi Långstrump [Pippi Longstocking] (screenplay) 1969
På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump [Pippi on the Run] (screenplay) 1970
Här kommer Pippi Långstrump [Pippi Goes on Board] (screenplay) 1973

*Pippi Långstrump går ombord was also translated as Pippi Goes Aboard by Marianne Turner with illustrations by Richard Kennedy in 1956.

†Pippi in the South Seas was also translated by Gerry Bother with illustrations by Louis S. Glanzman in 1959.

‡Includes Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas.

CRITICISM

Horn Book Magazine (review date September-October 1950)

SOURCE: Review of Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren, translated by Florence Lamborn, illustrated by Louis B. Glanzman. Horn Book Magazine 26, no. 5 (September-October 1950): 376.

[Pippi Longstocking is a]n absurd and rollicking story of Pippi who lives without any grown-ups in a little house at the edge of the village. Not that she lives alone—Mr. Nilsson, the monkey, and Horse live there too; and Tommy and Annika from next door spend as much time with her as possible. And who wouldn't, for with Pippi around you just never can tell what may happen next. The matter-of-fact way in which her absurd adventures are related is one of the chief charms of this story, full of the kind of hilarity that appeals to children.

Booklist (review date 1 February 1951)

SOURCE: Review of Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren, translated by Florence Lamborn, illustrated by Louis B. Glanzman. Booklist 47, no. 11 (1 February 1951): 208.

There were no more dull days for Tommy and Annika after they made the acquaintance of Pippi Longstocking [in Pippi Longstocking ]. Pippi was nine years old, her strength—and her imagination—was prodigious, and, except for her monkey and horse, she lived alone unrestrained by adults. The exaggerated nonsense of this Swedish tale may appear inane, smarty, or even in poor taste by adults, but children will probably find Pippi's doings excruciatingly funny. Grades 4-6.

A. Harriette Andreadis (essay date 1983)

SOURCE: Andreadis, A. Harriette. "The Screening of Pippi Longstocking." In Children's Novels and the Movies, edited by Douglas Street, pp. 151-62. New York, N.Y.: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1983.

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David L. Russell (essay date September 2000)

SOURCE: Russell, David L. "Pippi Longstocking and the Subversive Affirmation of Comedy." Children's Literature in Education 31, no. 3 (September 2000): 167-77.

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Maria Nikolajeva (essay date 2000)

SOURCE: Nikolajeva, Maria. "The Haunting of Time: A Wise Progenitrix or a Seductive Witch?" In From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children's Literature, pp. 112-18. Lanham, Md.: Children's Literature Association and Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2000.

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Maria Nikolajeva (essay date 2002)

SOURCE: Nikolajeva, Maria. "Complexity and Development: Pippi: Round but Static." In The Rhetoric of Character in Children's Literature, pp. 137-40. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2002.

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Karen Coats (essay date 2004)

SOURCE: Coats, Karen. "'I Never Explain Anything': Children's Literature and Sexuation: The Strongest Girl in the World." In Looking Glass and Neverlands: Lacan, Desire, and Subjectivity in Children's Literature, pp. 110-16. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2004.

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Anita Silvey (review date 2004)

SOURCE: Silvey, Anita. Review of Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren, translated by Florence Lamborn, illustrated by Louis B. Glanzman. In 100 Best Books for Children, pp. 106-07. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.

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