Can I read Nature, Work, and Transcendence: Christian intertexts in Selma Lagerlöf’s Nils Holgersson’s Marvelous Journey through Sweden and the modern Swedish Welfare state on EtoBox?

Nature, Work, and Transcendence: Christian intertexts in Selma Lagerlöf’s Nils Holgersson’s Marvelous Journey through Sweden and the modern Swedish Welfare state by Thomas Mohnike is a Arts and Humanities article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Nature, Work, and Transcendence: Christian intertexts in Selma Lagerlöf’s Nils Holgersson’s Marvelous Journey through Sweden and the modern Swedish Welfare state about?

## Abstract This article analyzes the function of Christian intertexts in Selma Lagerlöf’sNils Holgersson’s Marvelous Journey Through Sweden(1906/7). The intertexts structure the story both narratively and ethically. For the most part, however, they are not explicitly used as Christian. The intention of the book is not to transmit these stories, but to translate them into the new, national discourse. They were stripped of their original religious context and placed in the service of what might be called a national religion. In this process, the loss of the Christian framework did not mean the abolition of central ethical elements that were significant for Protestant practice. In particular, the pietistic heritage of a work ethic, the necessity of learning and education in order to become a true Christian – or, in its secular version, a true human citizen of the world with respect for others, taking responsibility for one’s own life and that of others, being humble and industrious – are central to the propagated morality of Nils Holgersson’s travelling school. Moreover, the transition from vertically to horizontally ordered space in the course of nationalizing the organization of th

Who reads Nature, Work, and Transcendence: Christian intertexts in Selma Lagerlöf’s Nils Holgersson’s Marvelous Journey through Sweden and the modern Swedish Welfare state?

Author

Thomas Mohnike

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Published

2022

Language

EN

Field

Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)