 Statue of the main characters, Karl Oskar and Kristina, inKarlshamn | |
| Author | Vilhelm Moberg |
|---|---|
| Original title | Utvandrarna |
| Translator | Gustaf Lannestock |
| Language | Swedish |
| Genre | Historic drama |
| Publisher | Bonniers (Swedish edition) |
Publication date | 1949, 1952, 1956, 1959 |
| Publication place | Sweden |
Published in English | 1951, 1954, 1961, 1961 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 1780 (in total, Swedish edition) |
The Emigrants is a series of four novels bySwedish authorVilhelm Moberg:
Written in the mid-20th century, they explore the largeSwedish emigration to the United States that started about a century earlier. Many of the first immigrants settled in theMidwest, including theMinnesota Territory:
All of the books have been translated into English, in addition to numerous other languages. The novels are generally considered to be among the best works ofSwedish literature.
The first novel describes conditions inSweden that caused people to become emigrants and make the long and strenuous journey. A party of assorted people living in the province ofSmåland, Sweden, is explored as they decide to emigrate to theUnited States in 1850. (Later novels deal with their journey and settling in theMinnesota Territory.) They are among the first significant wave ofSwedish emigration to the United States.
The novel focuses primarily on Karl Oskar Nilsson and his wife, Kristina Johansdotter, a young married couple who live with their four small children (Anna, Johan, Lill-Märta, and Harald) and Karl Oskar's parents and his rebellious younger brother Robert. The family lives on a small farm atKorpamoen, where the soil is thin and rocky and so growing crops extremely difficult. Robert works for a neighbouring farm family, which mistreats him. He and with his friend Arvid first come across accounts of going to America. When he talks with Karl Oskar about the idea, his brother says that he too is intrigued by pamphlets that state that farmers' conditions inNorth America are much better. Also, they will be able tohomestead to acquire land. Kristina, however, adamantly opposes emigrating since she does not want to leave her homeland or to risk the lives of her children during the journey.
In the winter of 1849, the family has very little food. To celebrate the christening of their youngest child, Harald, Kristina prepares a large bowl of barley porridge and puts it into the basement to cool. Although she is told to wait, their eldest child, four-year-old Anna, helps herself to so much porridge that she becomes ill. Her parents send for Beata, a healing woman, but she says that Anna's stomach has burst and that she cannot be saved. After Anna dies, Kristina agrees to leave with her husband for America.
As they prepare to emigrate, the young Nilssons are joined by Kristina's uncle and aunt, Danjel and Inga-Lena Andreasson, and their four children. Danjel is the pastor of a localconventicle of theRadical Pietistic Åkianer sect. He has suffered severe persecution by the establishedstate-controlledChurch of Sweden. Andreasson seeksreligious freedom in the United States. His family is joined by Ulrika of Västergöhl, a formerprostitute and member of the conventicle who wants to start a new life with herillegitimate teenage daughter, Elin. Andreasson is paying for the passage of Ulrika and Elin and for Robert's friend Arvid, who worked for him as afarmhand. The last member of the party is Jonas Petter, a friend of Karl Oskar, who is fleeing an unhappy marriage.
The party sets off by wagon for the Swedish port city ofKarlshamn, on theBaltic Sea, where they board thebrigCharlotta, bound forNew York City.
By 2013, the four novels in total had sold nearly two million copies in Sweden and been translated into more than 20 languages.[1]
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the series was adapted for other forms of representation: three films, and television series, and musical theatre.
Two Swedish movies based on the books, directed byJan Troell and starringMax Von Sydow andLiv Ullmann as Karl Oskar and Kristina, were released in the 1970s:
The American television seriesThe New Land (1974) starred Scott Thomas,Bonnie Bedelia, andKurt Russell, and was broadcast byABC. The series was loosely based on the 1971 and 1972 film adaptations. 13 episodes were produced, but only 6 aired.
The SwedishmusicalKristina från Duvemåla (1995) was based on the novels. It was created by formerABBA membersBjörn Ulvaeus andBenny Andersson. It was successful in Sweden and abroad.[citation needed]
Another Swedish film adaptation, titled simplyThe Emigrants (2021), starredGustaf Skarsgård, Lisa Carlehed andTove Lo. Its screenplay was written by Siv Rajendram Eliassen and Anna Bache-Wiig, and the film was directed by Erik Poppe.[4] It was released on digital platforms in August 2023.[5]