As of: February 2, 2024, 1:20 p.m
By: Jessica Bradley
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As the person responsible for Astrid Lindgren's literary legacy at the Astrid Lindgren Company, Annika Lindgren brings classic works for children into the present day while preserving their essence.
Tradition and modernity in harmony - Together with Astrid's daughter Karin, granddaughter Annika preserves the essence of the stories while replacing outdated expressions with modern terms.
The modernized Kalle Blomquist books were published in Sweden last fall, with the aim of preserving the simplicity and child-friendliness of the language in translations.
She commented on this in an interview with
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The debate about the immutability of texts
Astrid Lindgren's works are revised with the greatest respect and yet the core of a story is never touched.
© stockundpeople/Imago
In today's world, contemporary language is becoming increasingly important and is seen as the right approach to making classic works accessible to new generations.
Annika, who looks after the literary legacy of her famous grandmother Astrid Lindgren, is aware of this challenge.
Nevertheless, there are also voices that emphasize the immutability of texts and argue that they should be preserved as documents of their time.
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Astrid's daughter Karin held this view for a long time and firmly rejected any changes to her mother's works.
She emphasized how intensively Astrid worked on her texts and emphasized that no one had the right to intervene in these works.
Despite these debates, Annika firmly believes that careful modernization can bridge the gap between tradition and modernity in order to keep Astrid's timeless stories alive for today's readers.
Current challenges in revising literary works
The discussion about changes in classical works goes far beyond the deletion of outdated words and also includes political and moral adjustments.
Recently, the revision of Roald Dahl's works caused a stir, in which personal names were changed for reasons of political correctness.
While some found the large number of changes to be too extensive, Annika, who is responsible for Astrid Lindgren's legacy, fundamentally defends such interventions if they contain hurtful elements.
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She points to the removal of the N-word from Pippi Longstocking as an example of how sensitive adaptations can maintain respect for today's readership.
Between the preservation of tradition and awareness of contemporary sensibilities, the debate over changes in literary works remains a contentious matter.
This article was generated using machine assistance and was carefully reviewed by editor Jessica Bradley before publication.