Marginality of Ingmar Ingmarsson in Selma Lagerlöf’s Jerusalem, Compared to Odin, Loki, Odysseus, and Judas.

Abstract

　This thesis deals with Jerusalem, one of the masterworks of the Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf. I emphasize the following two points. (1) Ingmar Ingmarsson, the protagonist, embodies the Swedish national identity and plays a role that approves Swedish nationalism and German racism, in spite of the pastoral imagery associated with Lagerlöf and the Nordic countries. (2) Ingmar, however, is marginal and has the potential to deviate from the frame of nationalism and racism.

　I first explain that Ingmar being a farmer coincides with the national identity of Sweden as an agricultural country.

　Then, I point out Ingmar’s marginal side. Ingmar is an ugly man with red hair, in contrast to the ‘Aryan’ from Scandinavia with golden hair. Ingmar always travels fast, and loses one of his eyes in the end of the story, while the ‘healthy’ farmer, as a national identity, settles down. Ingmar’s characteristics are reminiscent of Odysseus’ wandering, Odin with only one eye, and Loki and Judas with red hair. For Europeans, these four persons have a common image.

　Last, I consider the meaning of these common characteristics. The above four persons are both destroyers and creators; in other words, are marginal. In contrast to nationalistic, racist authors, Lagerlöf describes a marginal protagonist as having two contrary sides like these four persons. This means that Lagerlöf’s work has the potential to transcend the frame of modern national literature.