This is my first experience with Lagerlöf and I’m not disappointed. ( )

Selma Lagerlof's The Lowenskold Ring is a ghost story of death and revenge following the theft of a ring from the coffin of General Lowenskold -- brief, but intriguing. ( )

This is a new edition of Linda Schenck's 1991 translation of
Nobel Prize winner Lagerlöf's book (the first of a trilogy, her last work of prose fiction). I seldom say this, but I think I enjoyed the introduction, translator's afterword, and translator's addendum to the afterword, as much as I enjoyed the book. I usually read all introductions after I have read the book for I don't like to be told how I should enjoy a book and what I should take away from it before I experience it. This book was no different.

The Lowensköld Ring is a deceptively simple tale that attempts to put folk tale from oral tradition onto paper. It tells the tale of a ring, once given to General Lowensköld by the king, but stolen from the General's tomb, and follows it through a succession of owners who suffer terrible consequences for having it in their possession. It's a tale of murder and ghosts, not unlike The Turn of the Screw, as the translator, Linda Schenck, points out. It also can be read, Ms. Schenck mentions later in the afterword, as metafiction, for when the narrator inserts herself into the story, it's clear Lagerlöf is commenting on more than just the tale, but also herself as a writer and her "variable status in the predominantly male literary establishment." This latter bit jives nicely with a well-done introduction, less for the book, than for its intriguing author.

Linda Schenck, also talks about translation itself, quoting others who feel that translation should not be definitive, but ephemeral and argue for frequent re-translation to update work for contemporary audiences. What I take away from this is that a translation carries with it the baggage of its current culture, so thus a 1928 English tradition may not now best serve this 1925 work.

Like I said, the additional material is an interesting as the short novel itself. Note: This book was original published in English in the 1920s under the title The General's Ring. ( )

I think this book would have been more interesting as an audio book, as I couldn't quite make myself believe in this ghost story. The right reader might have more easily convinced me.
The consequences for the country folk who handled the ring were in almost all instances tragic. If there was a moral to the story it was hard to discern since all the characters in the story suffered in one way or another even when it appeared they were trying to do the honorable thing. Maybe this is where the true horror of the story occurred; the ring would leave no one untouched. ( )

In 1909 Selma Lagerlöf was the first woman ever to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (back in the days when the Academy wasn’t shy about awarding it’s own members), but in most of the world I suppose she’s considered obscure at best. Here in Sweden, however, she’s very much a part of the living canon. Everybody reads at least a few of her works in school, she’s featured on our 20 kronor bill and a writer like John Ajvide Lindqvist mentions her as a big influence.

It’s easy to see why. Lagerlöf’s writing is a link between popular storytelling traditions (like fairytales, ballads and ghost stories), gothic sentiments and early psychological realism. It’s old fashioned in a way, for it’s times too, but very readable and likeable.

This book, the first in a trilogy, is a very straight ghost story that seems made to be told in front of a big old open fire. From the opening, where a farming couple go to a country graveyard at night to make sure nobody steals the demi-godlike general Löwensköld’s precious ring from his family grave (re-opened to bury a dead child in it) – and then almost to their surprise stealing it themselves, this story hooks you. What follows is a tale straight as an arrow, about a curse, a ghost and injustices suffered, which perhaps isn’t that unique. But it’s effective, it’s gripping and there are enough tension and unexpected twists to keep me eagerly turning pages. And the final, bitter turn of events prompts me towards the following parts. ( )