It can be such a shame to find out that some children's writer actually didn't like children. This hardly affects the quality of the works, but it still feels like you were deceived. But Astrid Lindgren was as wise, kind and humane in life as in her books
Her correspondence with a twelve-year-old girl, published under the title “I keep your letters under the mattress,” is another proof of this. Sarah Jungkrantz was a difficult teenager with baggage in the form of running away from home, expulsion from school, and treatment in a psychiatric clinic. In her first letter, she addresses Astrid almost with a claim that she should get her a role in the film based on her book. And otherwise this long letter is quite harsh and selfish, but something in it still caught Lindgren (who was 63 years old at that time), and so this correspondence between grandmother and child began for many years. Surprisingly, Lindgren received a huge amount of correspondence, “half of Germany in my mailbox every morning,” in her words. But only Sarah got the lucky ticket and may have kept her afloat, or maybe literally saved her life.
What topics do they discuss: literature, cinema, domestic violence, smoking, the Bible, contraception, choice of profession, appearance, the dark side in a person and much, much more - from everyday issues to metaphysical ones. And Astrid Lindgren’s interest and involvement show through in every line; she suggests solutions to her young interlocutor with extraordinary tact and a complete lack of edification. The girl dumps on her all her eternal teenage problems, which traditionally cause teeth grinding among those closest to her, and Lindgren responds to her: my dear, how similar you and I are, how I understand you. And then, in a few bright words, he puts everything in its place and reconciles it with reality.
In fact, they are very different, Sarah and Astrid, but both leave room for a point of view different from theirs and do not try to convert each other to their faith. Literally, by the way, too: Sarah at some point became a devout Christian, but Lindgren was not a believer. Nevertheless, their dialogue continues in the same vein as before, each remains herself, does not pretend, does not adjust, but at the same time completely accepts her interlocutor.
Sometimes they write each other letter after letter, and sometimes they fall silent for several years. They never met in person; the letters were published after Astrid Lindgren's death. But Sarah is alive, healthy, beautiful, started a family, and after the book was published she became a celebrity and went to work as a guide at a museum based on Astrid Lindgren’s films, which she really likes. This is the kind of epistolary novel that turns into real life.
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