May 21, 2020
–
Probably the greatest success story in world children’s literature began on the bed of a seven-year-old Swedish girl. “Pippi Longstocking was born the moment I said to my mother: Please tell me more stories,” recalls Astrid Lindgren’s daughter Karin Nyman. Pippi officially turns 75 on Thursday.
At that time she was lying sick in bed and wanted her mother to keep her entertained. Lindgren asked almost desperately what else she could tell her, says Nyman. “And I said: Hmm, tell me about Pippi Longstocking! It was just a name that came to mind. ” This joke idea has become one of the most famous children’s book characters on the planet.
Astrid Lindgren’s books about the adventures of the strongest girl in the world have been translated into 77 languages, almost 66 million copies have been sold worldwide, including around 8.6 million in Germany alone. Millions of children have been inspired by Pippi’s wild stories, be it in Lindgren’s works or the equally famous Pippi films with Inger Nilsson in the lead role. Pippi is still a role model for adolescents all over the world, but has also brought about feminism and respect for children.
All of this was unthinkable on the tenth birthday of Karin Nyman. At that time, on May 21, 1944, she received a very special gift from her mother. “I got the manuscript from Pippi Longstocking when I turned ten,” says Nyman in an interview with the German Press Agency. A year later, in 1945, “Pippi Långstrump” appeared in the Swedish first edition – that’s why Pippi Longstocking’s 75th birthday is officially celebrated this year.
The majority of the anniversary events, which should take place around Karin Nyman’s birthday on Thursday, have to be canceled due to the corona pandemic or are on hold. A central festival in the Stockholm open-air museum Skansen was canceled. The season opening was postponed in the Astrid Lindgren world in Lindgren’s home province of Småland, where Villa Kunterbunt was enlarged especially for this year. Abba icon Björn Ulvaeus has also postponed his planned circus musical “Pippi im Zirkus” in Stockholm by June 2021.
Until all of this can be made up for, fans of Pippilotta Viktualia Rollgardina Peppermint Efraim’s daughter Longstocking still have the indulgence in old stories – and of course the browsing in the old books. Already in the first book, the reader gets to know a hitherto completely atypical and as yet unmatched figure in a children’s book: the red-haired and freckled Pippi Longstocking lives on the edge of a nameless small town in a large house, the Villa Kunterbunt, which she and her monkey Mr. Nilsson and one Mold on the porch shares. Neighborhood children Tommy and Annika quickly become their friends, who Pippi takes with her crazy ideas and her loose mouth on unbelievable adventures – as well as millions of children worldwide in the coming decades.
The first child that Pippi Longstocking was allowed to read in German was Silke Weitendorf. Her stepfather, the Hamburg publisher Friedrich Oetinger, once brought Pippi Langstrumpf to Germany after visiting Astrid Lindgren in Stockholm, and her mother finally brought the manuscript home with her. She still likes the countless creative ideas of Pippi Longstocking to this day, as the 79-year-old says in an interview with dpa – be it trying not to touch the floor while playing with Tommy and Annika or the brushed straps while cleaning in the Villa Kunterbunt.
“This liberal thinking of the Pippi long stocking, the quick wit, the joke – the ambiguous joke often – all of that was described for the first time in a children’s book,” recalls Weitendorf. “I haven’t seen that in any other book, not even in Astrid’s other works.” This is also due to the great success of the Pippi stories, says Weitendorf. “Pippi embodies everything children’s desires and wishes and dreams have. It manifests itself with a lot of fun – and with so many ideas that it is absolutely insane. ”
The publishing house Friedrich Oetinger, which had already published the German first edition at the time, has now launched a series of anniversary products and new publications in time for Pippi’s 75th birthday. In addition, Lindgren’s descendants, together with Save the Children, launched the “Pippi of Today” campaign this year to draw attention to the precarious situation of girls fleeing with Pippi’s help.
Even without festive events, Pippi Longstocking will not be forgotten even after 75 years. And for the Swedes it is still a national pride: even the Swedish-American astronaut Jessica Meir read a Pippi book on the International Space Station before returning to Earth. “If a Swede was in space, it is Pippi!”, She said brightly to the Swedish broadcaster SVT.
In the Astrid Lindgren cosmos on Earth, people are now hoping to be able to bring Pippi to life somewhat despite the corona crisis. How would the girl with the protruding red braids have reacted in this situation? “Pippi always does things the other way around,” says Olle Nyman, who is not only Lindgren’s grandson, but also the boss of the family business. “Maybe we’ll do it that way and just celebrate next year.”
–
