Astrid Lindgren - Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus

A good thing about this blog is that I get to revisit some of my old favourites and it has been quite a while since I read this one. The first time I read them I was about 12 and had just seen the newer two films that were made in the 1990's: Kalle Blomkvist - Mästerdetektiven lever farligt (Kalle Blomkvist - the Master Detective Lives Dangerously) (1996) and Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus (Kalle Blomkvist and Rasmus) (1997). I have talked about the Kalle Blomkvist books in a couple of other entries to this blog (here and here).

Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus is the third and last of the books about the Master Detective Blomkvist, first published in 1953. Now you might wonder why I did not start with the first book Mästerdetektiven Blomkvist (Master Detective Blomkvist) (1946) or even the second one, Mästerdetektiven Blomkvist lever farligt (1951). To be honest, I got a strong urge to reread it because of the Phryne Fisher book Flying to High. Parts of the plot in that book is similar to the one in Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus. While the first two books deal with a jewel theft and a murder, this one deals with a kidnapping.

Eva-Lotta and Rasmus
(Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus, 1997)

The plot surrounds, as usual, Kalle, Anders and Eva-Lotta. This time, however, they share the spotlight with five year old Rasmus Rasmusson. His father makes tin, but he is not a tinsmith. He is a professor. A professor who does not have a beard, but who drives a motorcycle. He has invented a special type of metal that is said to revolutionize the war industry. Engineer Peters wants that metal and therefore abducts both Rasmus and his father. Kalle, Anders and Eva-Lotta witness the kidnapping and Eva-Lotta climbs into the kidnappers's car so Rasmus will not feel lonely.

Kalle, Eva-Lotta and Rasmus
(Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus, 1997)

I enjoy this kidnapping plot more than I did the one in Flying too High. Even though this is the one mainly aimed towards children (I remember who thrillingly wonderful all the Kalle Blomkvist books were when I was 12.) this is both much darker and more intense. Neither is it as straightforward as the kidnapping plot in Flying to High. One, or more, of Kalle, Anders and Eva-Lotta actually manages to flee multiple times both with and without Rasmus and this is really the main suspence of the book. Are their plan to escape the island where they are trapped before they get captured... again? And they do get captured from time to time.

Battle of the Roses,
(Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus, 1997)

When Kalle, Anders and Eva-Lotta is not out fighting kidnappers, they play a game they call War of the Roses. The three of them being knights of the White Rose (Anders being their leader) and Sixten (the other leader), Benke and Jonte being knights of the Red Rose. Part of me actually wish the plot was just them playing, because it seems so exciting. They fight over this stone figure they call Stormumriken and steal them from each other. However, they also need to give each other clues as to where they have hidden it. These clues are always pretty clever, like when the White Rose have hidden it inside a globe in Sixten's house and says that the red leader needs to go home and look in the bowells of the earth. Rasmus desperately wants to become a White Rose and the others uses that to get him where they need. Rasmus is to little to understand the seriousness of the kidnapping and tends to say a little too much to the kidnappers.

Eva-Lotta with her parents in the older version of
Mästerdetektiven Blomkvist lever farligt, 1957

I think I need to say a couple of words about Eva-Lotta even though I have talked about her before. Eva-Lotta Lisander is the daughter of a baker and, as she say herself, only feminine on Mondays. The rest of the week she is just as fierce a warrior as the boys. I have talked about the masculinizing of female characters in a lot of posts before and EvaLotta definitely is among the girls who are just as feminine as she is masculine. Simply because she is not reduced to her gender. Neither is she a stereotypical "tomboy" nor a "girliegirl". She is a person!

Den frejdiga Eva-Lotta som var en så tapper krigare hade sina ögonblick av kvinnlig svaghet - det hjälpte inte att ledaren försökte få henne att förstå att sådant inte gick an i rosorna krig. Anders och Kalle blev alltid lika häpna och förbryllade över Eva-Lottas beteende, så fort hon kom i närheten av små barn. (The bold Eva-Lotta who was such a fierce warrior had her moments of female weakness - it did not help that the leader tried to get her see that it did not work in the War of the Roses. Anders and Kalle were always surprised and puzzled by Eva-Lotta's behaviour while in close proximity with small children.)

~ Astrid Lindgren, Kalle Blomkvist och Rasmus

 I like the quote above from when the White Roses first encounters Rasmus. Even though it talks about motherly feelings as a "female weakness", it is rather ironic and Anders and Kalle's reactions (being surprised and puzled) towards Eva-Lotta's behaviour show how equal they see her.

One thing bothers me a little about Eva-Lotta with the newer films from the 1990's is the fact that they do not seem to get the ambiguity of her character in relation to gender roles. The original illustrations in the books and also the films from the 1940's and 50's (The first Kalle Blomkvist book was actually the first of Astrid Lindgren's books to be made into film in 1947.) does this better in giving her a dress even when she is out playing war with the boys. The films of the 1990's however make her into a boy and gives her boyish clothes in scenes where she is out playing. In those films she only wears a dress when she is supposed to emphasize her female side (like she says herself, she does every Monday).

Last and not least, the White Roses have a code language called Rövarspråket (The Robber's Language), which apparentely was made up by Astrid Lindgren's husband and his friends when they were children. It is quite simple. You double the consonants and put an O in between. For example: Kalle becomes Kokalollole. This language really comes in handy when the White Roses need to tell the others secrets, often in front of the bad men that they are up against. The books (and the films) made the language popular and last christmas someone uploaded a video of a man singing O helga natt (O Holy Night) that I would like to finish this entry with:

Pictures from the second film from 1997 was found here and the one from the older film Mästerdetektiven Blomkvist lever farligt from 1957 was found here.  The cover of Kalle Blomkvist and Rasmus did I borrow from here

Phryne and the Astrid girls

First of all I want to apologise becauce this entry will be really long, but I have had lots of thoughts about this, so I hope you will stick with me until the end.

The Honorable Phryne Fisher was first of the entries in my My Heroines series. She is the latest in a long line of female fictional character that I have looked up to for inspiration, strength or just comfort.

As a Swede watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, I have found myself thinking back to some of my other heroines from the past. Mainly the girls that Astrid Lindgren has written about. For example Madicken, Ronja rövardotter (Ronja, the robber's daughter), Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking) and, maybe the most obvious in relation to Phryne's profession: Eva-Lotta Lisander from the books about Mästerdetektiven Kalle Blomkvist (Kalle Blomkvist, the master detective).
 

Pippi Långstrump

If you have never encountered "the Astrid girls" before I can strongly recommend you to read the books and/or see the Swedish films about them. (I do not give much about the other adaptations of them besides the anime version of Ronja.) The best part is that they are all just as enjoyable for adults as they are for children.

My nerdiness for Phryne got me to reread both of the Madicken books and Ronja rövardotter. It also got me thinking about an article by Swedish writer and journalist Margareta Strömstedt in which she analyses the gender roles in Astrid Lindgren's authorship that I read awhile ago: "Du och ja, Alfred" - Om kärlekens kärna och om manligt och kvinnligt hos Astrid Lindgren (1996). She states that: "Det är svårt att få någon riktig ordning på könsrollerna i Astrid Lindgrens böcker." ("There is no real order to the gender roles in books by Astrid Lindgren"). A conclusion, I find to be true based on both Strömstedt's argumentations in the article mentioned above and on my own memories of both the female and male characters in Astrid Lindgren's "universe".
 

Ronja rövardotter

Madicken is often described as a boy and compared to her father on several occasions throughout both books (Her little sister Lisabet is compared to their mother.). She still however plays with dolls and loves to dress up from time to time.

Pippi has been discussed as a boy disguised as a girl by commentators, but they kind of miss the point. Even though she is outspoken, physically strong and care-free, she still harbour traditionally "female" characteristics. She is caring and motherly towards others and becomes like an extra mother to Tommy and Annika who's parents willingly leave their children in her care.

Eva-Lotta and Rasmus

Eva-Lotta is only a girl on Mondays. The rest of the week, she calls herself a boy being a knight of the White Roses together with Kalle and Anders. They play "war" (The war of the Roses) with the Red Roses Sixten, Benke and Jonte trying to get hold of the stone they call Stormumriken. Despite acting like a boy most of the time, she still loves puppies and babies and she is very brave revealing murderers and letting herself get kidnapped just so the little boy Rasmus will not be so scared.

Ronja lives her life in a robber's castle and spends all day out in the forest far away from any gender norms. She grows up with her parents Mattis and Lovis and the father's gang of robbers. The male robbers are the breadwinners and her mother is a housewife, but that still does not mean that Lovis is weak. Quite the contrary! Lovis might spend her days cooking and cleaning, but she does never take any of the robbers's shit. Both she and Ronja stands up for themselves and what they believe in when Mattis behaves like a pig and, for example kidnaps the enemy robber chief Borka's son Birk whom Ronja has befriended in secret.

 "Röva kan du göra, pengar och saker och vad skräp du vill, men människor, kan du inte röva, för då vill jag inte vara din dotter mer" ("You can steal. Money and things and whatever trash you want. But you cannot steal humans because then I do not want to be your daughter anymore")

~ Ronja rövardotter

There is a great deal of humanism in both the Astrid girls and Phryne. A willingness to put their own need aside for someone who is wunerable is often present in all of them for example. It is clear in Ronja's reaction to Mattis kidnapping Birk. Astrid gives us an important message in the quote above. Humans are something totally different than money and things. There is no defense for robbing anyone of their freedom.

In Madicken the humanistic approach is strong in Madicken's sense of justice and empathy for everyone. She does have prejudices towards her much poorer classmate Mia and Mia at the same time also has prejudices towards Madicken because Madicken comes from a wealthy family. This makes Mia acting as sort of an antagonist towards Madicken. They even get into a physical fight ending with Madicken getting a bloody nose. Both girls have to deal with their prejudice before they can become friends. I think this is a really great message and one that we need to address more than we do today. You cannot really blame people for being prejudiced. Everyone will always have some prejudice against others. I would even say it is perfectly normal to have them. It is how we deal with our prejudices when we face something that contradicts them that is most important. Are we letting them blind us or do we let the new facts challenge our view of the world and other people?

Madicken and Lisabet

Pippi already from the beginning stands up for the weaker, using her physical strength to throw up bullies in trees because, as she says herself: "Den som är väldigt stark måste också vara väldigt snäll. ("One who is very strong, also needs to be very kind."). She could easily use her strength to gain power, but instead she is very restricted in when or how she uses it. She is first and foremost loving, caring and kind. (Like with so many of the Astrid Lindgren characters, things just happen around her!)

 "I can't help you if you won't tell me the truth."

~ Phryne Fisher

Like the Astrid girls, Phryne's sense of humanity is shown in her compassionate nature. Not least for women exposed to different kinds of hardship. When Dot gets fired and questioned by the police, Phryne provides her with a home and a new job. She also takes the teenage girl Jane in under her wings and becomes a "guardian angel" for her. When a teenage girl is found murdered, she teaches Jane and her friends self-defense. (I love Phryne's facial expression in the picture bellow from when an old lady shows up at Wardlow claiming to be Jane's aunt. She clearly senses Jane's fear of the woman and her vulnerability is mirrored in Phryne's facial expression.) 
 

Phryne with Jane

One other aspect of Margareta Strömstedt's article described above that I find especially intriguing is that Strömstedt thinks Astrid Lindgren sort of "plays around" with the ideal woman that originated among the bourgeoisies in late 18th century Europe. The gender roles were, among the bourgeois, considered static traits. The woman was expected to fit into a family constellation in which the man was the sole breadwinner. The man was the one seen in society outside of the house. He was the one who built society, and he built it around himself. The female sphere was much more intimate; at home where the man could relax. The traits a good woman was supposed to have, were the ones that fittet the bourgeois male the most. She was supposed to be physically attractive, timid and fragile, wherefore she was in desperate need of male guidance. She was the man's subordinate in just about every aspect of life and was supposed to love him submissively. This is the type of woman Lindgren portrays (rather ironically) in Madicken's mother.

When you think about it, it is quite strange that these ideals spread so widely in society when experience from other social classes contradict the notion of women being weaker and less valuable to society than the men. A farmer's wife would never survive with the traits of the burgeois woman. In fact, the whole farm would probably collapse if she would just sit around playing piano and/or being bedridden because of a headache all day. In the farmers's world, in which Astrid grew up and in which she found her main inspiration, the woman was theoretically subordinated to the man, but practically his equal. She needed the same trait as the man. She needed to be practial, have strength and endurance. Lindgren herself was never an outspoken feminist, but she knew about the strength of women and was never late to tell people off for having prejudices against them. (For one thing, she became rather upset and declined contributing to an anthology of the diocese in Linköping during the 1960's because they were openly against female priests.)

Phryne Fisher

I find these ideals interesting also when it comes to Phryne. She is often considered to behave in an "un-womanly" fashion (Just ask her aunt Prudence!). She drives fast cars, climbs buildings, knows about sports like football, tennis and boxing and she handles a gun just like a man. Besides that, she is also sexually liberated, having sex just because she likes it with whomever she is attracted to at the moment. Phryne is a rather wealthy woman and belongs to the upper classes of society. However, this has not always been the case and she grew up in poverty with an alcoholic father (Much like Madicken's neighbour, the 15-year-old boy Abbe.). The differences in the expectations of woman in the different social classes in which she has found herself might actually be a clue to her personality. Not that I know much (or really anything) about the ideal of women in lower social classes in early 20th century Australia, but I can imagine it being similar to the Swedish famer's women and not so much to the ideal bourgeois woman.

Phryne's character is more similar to the Swedish farmer's women than the bourgeois's as described by Margareta Strömstedt. The money and title she has inheritade do not limit her freedom. Instead, the seem to provide her with the opportunity to pursue all her dreams. She certainly has the spirit of an Astrid girl: witty, adventurous, headstrong, kind, empathetic, somewhat quirky and totally loveable. I can definitely see her dreaming of becoming a pirate like Pippi or watch out to not fall into the river by the river (Because where else can you do that?!) like Ronja. Jumping across Helvetesgapet (The gap of hell) together with Jack Robinson, like Ronja does with Birk is probably also something she would love to try. (Even though I am not so sure Jack would be as willing to accompany her as Birk is...)

There is however one Astrid girl that I think she is a little more similar to than the others. The collage at the begining of this entry might give you an indication... Of course I am thinking about Madicken! (I have already written an entire post about her. If you want to know more, you can find the link above or here). They are almost contemporary (The Madicken books are set during the First World War and Miss Fisher in 1928-29) and both wear frilly dresses, but is so much more than that.

"Den ungen har aldrig haft förstånd att vara rädd" ("That child has never had sense enough to be scared")

~ Kajsa Engström, about Madicken

Both can also be somewhat reckless. For example do they both seem to have a fondness for climbing buildings, walking on roof-tops and flying. However, Phryne knows what a parachute is and never mixes it with an umbrella like Madicken does. The latter jumps of the roof of the woodshed ending up with a concussion because Abbe has told her they do jump out of airplanes with umbrellas in the war. Planes actually play a rather large part of both girls's lives. Phryne does fly them for real though. Madicken mainly hears about them from Abbe who dreams about being a pilot, but she also visits an airshow. She and her father are invited by the pilot to fly with him, but she gives away the chance, letting Abbe fly instead. Madicken also walks across the rooftop of the school house since Mia dares her to do it.

Phryne and Madicken also have one little sister each. Unfortunately, Phyrne's little sister Jane is kidnapped and killed while they are still children, a destiny Lisabet escapes. Unless you count that time when she and Madicken plays the biblical story of Joseph and Madicken sells Lisabet into slavery... Or when the crazy man Lindkvist takes her...

They both also have maids who are a huge part of their lives and who also become more like family members to them. In Phryne's case it is the strictly Catholic girl Dorothy (Dot) Williams and Madicken has Alva who really is like a third parent to her and Lisabet. (When Madicken gets into trouble that Alva thinks will limit her freedom, Alva keeps them secret from Madicken's parents.)

Social and moral issues are topics both girls deal with quite a lot. Madicken's father Jonas is the editor of the local newspaper and by the neghbour Farbror Nilsson called the Gentry Socialist. He wants to raise his daughters to be empathetic and show kindness and understanding towards all people, not just the rich. Madicken's mother Kajsa at first does not seem to stand behind her husband's ideals in this and she does not like the fact that Madicken spends so much time at the Nilssons. As said above, she is a somewhat ironic portrayal of a stereotypical bourgeois woman. During the course of the second book (Madicken och Junibackens Pims) she, however shows a different side of herself. She invites Alva to the Mayor's ball and she also stands totally firm in her invitation to Mia and her little sister Mattis helping them get rid of their lice together with Madicken (and Lisabet who does not really have any lice, but joins in anyway).

Phryne weaves together a family of friends from different social brackets: a strict Catholic girl, a Police Constable, her butler, two communist taxi drivers, a lesbian doctor, her noble aunt, a teenage girl she picks up from the street and last but certainly not least a Detective Inspector of the Melbourne police. Just like Madicken, she shows us that social classes do not matter so much. We can all live peacefully together and like each other. We just need to be openminded, understanding and first and foremost kind.

Contrary to Madicken, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is directed towards adults. This makes the social issues in the series about her much heavier. Like Madicken, it deals with poverty, but it also cleverly uses the 1920's to deal with topics like abortion, racism, homophobia, worker's rights etc. Topics that are still being discussed today.

Jack Robinson

As I have already discussed, both girls care a lot about other people and do not hesitate to stand up for the weaker ones. They have very big hearts and there are also one person (each) that those hearts beat for a little extra. In Madicken's case it is of course Abbe, but because she is only seven (and he is 15), he treats her more like a little sister and  from time to time Madicken seems to be quite scared that he will understand that she has a cruch on him.

Phryne has Detective Inspector Jack Robinson and it is quite obvious that he loves her back. Maybe a little too much, which makes him both scared, worried and even sad. Like when he believes Phryne to have killed herself in a car crash.

"And to the one as yet unsung hero, who has saved me over and over again"

~ Phryne Fisher

Jack really deserves his own entry in this blog, because I really like him as a character and also his relationship with Phryne. Therefore I will not go into him further here. I just have to include the fact that while Phryne is like a typical Astrid girl, Jack is quite like the typical Astrid boy.

Astrid Lindgren did not write boys the same way as she did girls! While the girls are real super heros from page one, the boys need to become heros going through hardship. There are a few exceptions to this (like her probably most famous boy, Emil i Lönneberga), but I will go into it here. This entry is way too long anyway.

The boys are often lonely after they have been abandoned in some way (mostly by one or both parents). This derives from a deep sorrow in Astrid Lindgren's own mind. Her (married) boss made her pregnant when she was just 18. This forced Lindgren to run away from her beloved home town Vimmerby and give birth in secret in Copenhagen where the only hospital in Scandinavia that allowed unmarried women to give birth in total discretion at the time (1926) was. Unlike many of the other single mothers who came there, Lindgren wanted nothing more than to be able to care for her son herself, but she was young and poor and had to leave him in a foster family in Copenhagen for three years. When he finally arrived in Sweden and they could live together, they were both quite miserable, especially him. This expericence is behind Lindgren's portrayal of lonely boys. The boys in her authorship is brooding, somewhat shy and introvert, but they rises to challenges. Given time, they become the super heros the Astrid girls are from the begining. Kind of like Jack! Jack does at first seem quite boring, aloof and brooding, but facing challenges he proves himself to be as worthy as superhero as Phryne.

"Det finns saker som man måste göra, även om det är farligt. Annars är man ingen människa utan bara en liten lort." ("There are things you have to do even though they are dangerous. Otherwise you are not a human being, only a piece of dirt.")

~ Jonatan Lejonhjärta, The Brothers Lionheart

I know this entry became very long and I'm glad you stuck with me until the end. This is some thoughts I have had since I started watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries a couple of months ago. The Miss Fisher-series is not so well known over here and the show is basically only spread through "mouth to mouth". No one talks about it and only the first two seasons have been shown on TV and can be found on Swedish Netflix. This is sad because I really think Miss Fisher would appeal to a Swedish audience if they knew her better. She shares many values with us, which her similarities to the Astrid girls show in a way.

I also would like to think that Phryne herself would like to come investigate murder cases in Sweden. The late 1920's was in Swedish history in fact rather interesting. I wrote more about that and the very excentric criminologist Harry Söderman who was Astrid Lindgren's boss on my Tumblr blog awhile back. He was a remarkable person and kind of someone I think Phryne (and Jack) would like to befriend.