This is an opinion piece in Dagens Nyheter. The author is responsible for the opinions in the article.
What exactly is a classic? Can it be injured? These are questions I’ve been thinking about over the last few weeks during the debate over reinterpretations of classic children’s books. In recent years, several sequels and new editions of well-known children’s books have been published. For example, novels and scripts about Pippi Longstocking were provided with new illustrations, partly by the talented cartoonist Fabian Göranson, partly by an anonymous and presumably highly artificial intelligence. In addition to Elsa Beskow’s “Tomtebobarnen”, “Hatstugan” (1930) has also been published in a new and very readable version, “Förskolan Hattstugan på utflykt” (2025) by Katarina Kuick and Charlotte Ramel.
The debate erupted after Margareta Sörenson cut up Kristina Sigunsdotter and Maria Löfgren’s “Sagor om tomtebobarnen,” a collection of new stories about Beskow’s classic and well-known children (Expressen 5/1). A few days later, author and illustrator Anna-Clara Tidholm described some of the reinterpretations as “violations of cultural heritage” (Expressen, 9/1). Professor Elina Druker later described that such works risk becoming a “systematic dilution of children’s literature” (Expressen, 26/1).
I was the one First to applaud the criticism. What’s provocative is that Rabén & Sjögren didn’t hire a real illustrator when they published Lindgren’s “Pippi celebrates Christmas” (1945) under the new, audience-friendly title “Pippi Saves Christmas.” But is it really just as teasing that Bonnier Carlsen hired two established children’s book authors to make “Tomtebobarnen”? As publisher Ulrika Caperius writes (Expressen, 2/2), Beskow’s book ends with a call: “You can find out what else they have in store for you, you have a fairy tale that can never end!”
The question is also whether any of these works actually violate cultural heritage. Critic and literary scholar Frank Kermode has written about the importance of change to the survival of the classic: “We must choose to give them the blessing of change, because it will save them from their only possible fate – that of becoming trash in the end.” The classic is characterized by the fact that it withstands adaptations, that it can be both reinterpreted and distorted without losing its place in the canon. Just look at a classic like Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). It’s clear that the book’s countless interpretations – a personal favorite being the porn musical Alice in Wonderland: An X-rated Musical Fantasy (1976) – have only served to cement its position in the canon.
From this perspective, the reinterpretations can be viewed more as evidence of the original’s classic status. Since it has been 70 years since Beskow’s death, her work is now in the public domain and can be freely used, modified and defaced. Maybe it’s just a matter of sitting back and waiting for “Tomtebobarnen: A Musical Forbidden for Children.”
Read more from DN’s children’s book coverage
