Customer Reviews

The Treasure

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

`The Treasure` aka `Herr Arne's Hoard` (1904), is a novella-length fable, or fairy-tale, by Nobel-Prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. It is set in Bohuslaen on the West coast of Sweden in the middle of the 16th Century. The plot is at first read unusual but once you understand what Selma is up to it is pretty cool. In fairy-tales (and literature), female antagonism is an often-repeated storyline: the virgin/whore, angel/monster. There is a tradition of the pure, silent, virginal young girl on one side, and the powerful, sexual, wicked woman on the other. For example Bram Stoker's `Dracula` compares sexually powerful Lucy with her three suitors, to monogamous and virtuous Mina who thinks only of her fiancé. Lucy ends up dead, staked through the heart, while Mina lives. It is a similar comparison in `The Treasure` between two sisters. The suitor is an exotic prince from distant shores, who has disguised himself and invaded the home and committed a murder. His dual nature is Vampire-ish, both seductive and repulsive, Prince charming and murderer. The ghost of the innocent murdered sister restlessly walks the earth seeking justice, while the living sister is seduced by the promise of wealth and power. The antagonism between the sisters is at the stories heart, and the heart is where the story finds its literal resolution, at the end of a steel blade - the only conclusion possible so that both sisters may find peace.

Lagerlöf has busted some myths and written an anti-fairy-tale. The leading male character, rather than saving the damsel in distress, turns out to be a villain in disguise. The leading female character, rather than being passive, takes an active role in shaping the plot by going after the bad guys. Finally, the antagonism between virgin/whore is resolved, not by one winning out over the other, but by both dieing to save the another. It is ultimately a story about the love of two sisters, the love of woman for woman. Lagerlöf herself was a lesbian and early feminist.