Eight children, a truck, Hitler's occupation and the rest of the life of the kindest writer Anne-Katharina Westly

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Among the five main Scandinavian storytellers - Lindgren, Andersen, Westley, Janssen, Lagerlöf - Westley stands alone. Each of her books changed the view of small and large readers on people who were usually made fun of. And the most famous of them is a series of stories about a family with eight children fed by my father's truck.

There are no people to be despised; there are different circumstances

In the children's entertainment literature of the mid-twentieth century, social themes were not often raised. The writers preferred to take ordinary girls and boys - so that the reader could easily associate himself with the main characters. In the socialist camp, the issue of social alienation of children of the wrong nationality or the wrong state of health was dealt with by the Hungarian Maria Halashi. In the Western world, this was done by Anne-Katharina Westly.

Mom at work, dad at the farm - is this funny or are these challenges and situations slightly different than those faced in more traditional families? A large family and its life - is it indecent or a reason to think about what solutions can be in conditions that will be more difficult for a large family than for an ordinary one? Village life and origins, poverty, unemployment are not a reason for edification, this is an unusual experience that is interesting to read about, getting used to and understanding that even people who are very different from us are still, by and large, the same as us.

Those who, in childhood, did not worry about eight children and their dachshund, nicknamed the Samovar Pipe, lost a lot. Children all over the world enjoy Westly's books and have been translated into sixteen languages.

How celebrities grow up

The pharmacist Menz Shuleriud and his wife, school teacher Ogot, the son of Menz and the daughter of Anne-Katarina were born under some special stars. Everyone is used to the fact that the children of celebrities themselves also become celebrities, but from ordinary families only one child usually achieves fame (and even then not always). Menz and Anne-Katarina both became famous, and both became writers. Since the father had little interest in the humanities, it remains to be assumed that the love of the word was invested in the children by the mother.

If you start the biography of Anna-Katarina as if it were a children's fairy tale, then one day, in 1920, a girl was born in the cold and beautiful country of Norway. She went to school, played with other children, and made up stories easily. The girl grew up as a girl, first graduated from high school, then the College of Art in Lillehammer (the same one about which the series was filmed), and then moved with her mother to the capital to enter the University of Oslo. The father had already died by that time.

Anna-Katarina was always strongly influenced by her older brother. He loved theater - and Anne-Katarina loved too. When I was at university, I also participated in amateur performances as an actress. He worked on radio - and Anna-Katarina accepted the offer to try herself on radio with enthusiasm. On the radio, she conducted children's programs.

But at first it was a difficult period for Norway. When the future writer just became a university student, the country was occupied by Nazi troops. Germany invaded Norway under the slogan that it was going to protect its Aryan brethren from the aggression of Great Britain and France. The Norwegians did not appreciate such kindness and resisted desperately. Alas, they lost the best weapons on the very first day of the war, and less than a month later, the country was captured.

This month was enough for the Norwegian government, including the royal family, to evacuate Oslo and form a government in exile. It led the resistance, which was now purely volunteer - and very active. Some Norwegians took up arms, others supplied the partisans with everything they needed, others committed acts of civil disobedience in cities, including bringing students into the streets. Perhaps Anne-Katarina and Menz were also active in the Resistance. The atmosphere was tense anyway, although it is almost impossible to believe it when reading the serene stories for children from Anna-Katarina.

From storyteller to writer

In 1946, Menz invited her sister to Norwegian radio, and in 1951, the authorities, appreciating her talent as a storyteller, invited Anna-Katarina to tell her stories in a separate program. Many of her stories later grew out of these stories. In 1963, Anne-Katarina became an actress in the popular comedy television series for children.

The first book of the writer, published at that time, was absolutely "baby". The series that followed about the girl Aurora from the building "C", whose mother works, and whose father sits with the children at home (but actually also works remotely) made more noise: she challenged stereotypes about how a happy family should look like. and in a new way she presented the question of careerist moms and home dads, whom it was customary to condemn a little.

The family of Anna-Katarina herself was just that. She was still an unknown dreamer, an aspiring radio host, just the younger sister of Menz Shuleriud, when she was met by the artist Johan Westli, a guy three years her junior. They merried. Anne-Katarina gave birth to a son named Yu, just Yu (or Yo, as you wish), and nine years later, another one, Hakon. As a presenter, she spent a lot of time at work. Johan painted well at home, so who the children will be with, the question did not arise.

When Anne-Katarina wrote her first book, Johan drew illustrations for her. And then to the second and to the third. He drew illustrations for every book of his wife until his death - and there were fifty-six of these books! A large family with a grandmother, a dachshund and a truck is familiar to many Russian readers precisely from his illustrations. For the series of books itself, Anne-Katarina received several literary awards, and for her contribution to the country's culture - the Royal Order of St. Olaf.

In the seventies, the story of dad, mom, eight children and a truck was filmed, filming two television series. In both Anna-Katarina played the role of that same fearful and fearless, naive and resourceful grandmother, and, probably, the best performer of this role could not be found.

Anna-Katarina lived a long, happy life, and for almost fifty years - with her dearly beloved husband. He died at seventy, her seventy-three. Perhaps the grief made the writer a little more caustic. In the early 2000s, she published a book of social satire for adults.

Yu Westly became a theater and television director, Hakon became a clarinetist with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. They have always adored their mother's books.

In 2006, the writer was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which developed to the point of loss of speech. Unfortunately, many in her family suffered from this disease. Like the grandmother from the book, Anne-Katarina spent the last years of her life in a nursing home. Children and grandchildren visited her regularly. In 2008, the Norwegians' favorite storyteller passed away.

Luckily Westly never got hit like Astrid Lindgren accusations of promoting suicide, disrespect for fathers and other sins.