THE BROTHERS LIONHEART

Author: Astrid Lindgren
Year: 1973
Publisher: Rabén & Sjögren
Language: Swedish

The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Astrid Lindgren's enduring masterpiece, "Bröderna Lejonhjärta" ("The Brothers Lionheart.") This tale emerged nearly two decades after her inaugural foray into the realm of high fantasy with the timeless classic, "Mio, My Son." While the latter multiple times as a child, I regrettably never embarked upon the journey through the pages of the former. The outline of the story was well-known to me, of course, yet the actual text remained a stranger. As 2023 dawned as "the year I finally read...", it felt apt to commemorate this momentous anniversary by immersing myself in its paper and ink, at long last.

Legend has it that Astrid Lindgren's inspiration for writing the tale of two brothers bound by death and the afterlife was kindled during a visit to a cemetery. There, she encountered a tombstone, bearing tribute to three brothers who departed from this world in the same year and now rested together in eternity.

The relationship between Jonatan and Karl Lejon, aged thirteen and ten, respectively, constitutes the core of this narrative. Jonatan, endowed with intellect, charisma, and a radiant personality, basks in the affection of all who know him, both at home and at school. In stark contrast, Karl is sickly, shackled to a bedridden existence, distorted by ailment, and burdened with a self-perception of inadequacy. He is also the narrator of the story.

Karl is fully aware of his impending death and in an endeavour to console his ailing brother, Jonatan tells him of the afterworld, which he calls Nangijala. Tragedy strikes when Jonatan shortly thereafter succumbs to an accidental fire in a valiant attempt to rescue his younger sibling. Karl is completely destroyed by the loss of his brother and finds solace only in the thought of an expeditious passage to Nangijala where he believes that they will be reunited. It is in this enchanted realm that their adventures commence. Nangijala, a realm teeming with wonder, yet veiled in shadows far more sinister than the brothers could have ever imagined.

There are two accepted interpretations of this tale. One posits that the Lejon boys, bestowed with the epithet "Lionheart" for their valour and courage in the afterlife, are indeed transported to a tangible realm postmortem. The other, perhaps more in alignment with Lindgren's own intent as revealed in interviews, suggests that the entire narrative unfolds as a product of Karl's fevered longing for Jonatan, an imaginary manifestation of his yearning.

As a child, one reason I never managed to get past the first chapters lay in the profound bond shared by Jonatan and Karl. Jonatan's unwavering devotion to his ailing sibling and his tragic demise left a lump in my throat, rendering me incapable of progressing further. As an adult, I embarked on this literary voyage once more, only to find the lump returning, a testament to Lindgren's remarkable craftsmanship. She possessed the rare gift of identifying the precise spot at which to linger, sometimes with one simple sentence, to punch a hole in one’s armour, granting the emotions unbridled freedom. Writing primarily for children, she was unconstrained by the burdens of pretension, while being confined to a restricted vocabulary to forge a supremely honest, direct, and compelling story of good and evil, courage and cowardice, and loyalty and betrayal.

I do not claim to be an expert in the domains of either fantasy or children's literature, yet I am unequivocal in my conviction: "Bröderna Lejonhjärta" stands as an indomitable masterpiece, an opus transcending the bounds of time and age.