Heidi

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Heidi (Template:IPAc-en; Template:IPA) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (Template:Langx) and Heidi: How She Used What She Learned<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (Template:Langx)<ref>Helen Bennett Dole, translator of the 1899 edition</ref> by Friedrich Andreas Perthes of Gotha.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is a novel about the events in the life of a 5-year-old girl in her paternal grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book "for children and those who love children" (as quoted from its subtitle).

Heidi is one of the best-selling books ever written and is among the best-known works of Swiss literature.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1880 first edition title page

Plot

Aunt Dete hurrying away after leaving Heidi with her grandfather

Following his service in the army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in Naples, the younger of two Swiss brothers moves to Dörfli ('small village' in Swiss German) in the municipality of Maienfeld with his son Tobias. The villagers are distrustful of newcomers, spreading rumors about the father's life in Naples, and the man becomes known as the Alm-Uncle, as he lives in seclusion on the mountain alm. Tobias marries a village girl called Adelheid and have a daughter, also named Adelheid but affectionately nicknamed Heidi, but tragically both parents are killed soon after. The Alm-Uncle holds this against God and becomes bitter, rarely coming down the mountain from then on.

Heidi is raised by her maternal grandmother and aunt Dete in Maienfeld following the deaths of her parents. Shortly after her grandmother passes, Dete takes 5-year-old Heidi to live with the Alm-Uncle so she can take advantage of a job offer. Though he is at first resentful of Dete leaving the child with him out of nowhere, Heidi's intelligence and cheerful yet unaffected demeanour soon win her grandfather over. Heidi goes on to befriend her new neighbours: young Peter the goatherd, his mother Brigitte, and his blind maternal grandmother called Granny. Time passes and the mountaintop inhabitants, especially Peter and Granny, grow more attached to Heidi, and she to them. However, due to his past treatment from the townsfolk, the Alm-Uncle refuses to allow Heidi to attend school.

Three years later, Dete returns to forcefully take Heidi to Frankfurt to be a hired lady's companion to the wealthy invalid girl Klara Sesemann, who is unable to walk. The friendly Klara is charmed by Heidi and her descriptions of life on the Alm, and delights in all the funny mishaps brought about by Heidi's naïvety with city life, but the Sesemanns' strict housekeeper, Fräulein Rottenmeier, places the free-spirited Heidi under more and more restraint, adding to Heidi's homesickness for the Alm. Her one diversion is learning to read and write using a collection of Biblical stories, guided by Klara's kindly grandmother Frau Sesemann.

Heidi's homesickness leads to episodes of sleepwalking, which the household initially takes as the work of ghosts. The family doctor recommends she be sent home before she becomes seriously ill and Heidi is jubilant to learn she is being sent home to her beloved Alm.

Heidi returns to the Alm the next day bringing presents for her friends and the book from Frau Sesemann. Everyone is overjoyed to have her back, most of all her grandfather and Peter's Granny, and she puts her new ability to read to work in reading hymns to Peter's blind grandmother, who can no longer do so for herself. Her faith in God speaks to something in the Alm-Uncle. One day Heidi reads to him "The Prodigal Son" from a book Frau Sesemann gave her. That night Alm-Uncle prays for the first time in years. He accompanies Heidi to church, and that winter takes accommodation in the village so that she can attend school.

Heidi and Klara continue to keep in touch and exchange letters. A visit by the doctor to Heidi leads him to recommend that Klara visit Heidi, believing that the mountain environment and the wholesome companionship will do her good. Klara makes the journey the next season and spends a wonderful summer with Heidi, becoming stronger on goat's milk and fresh mountain air. Peter, jealous of Heidi's and Klara's friendship, pushes her empty wheelchair down the mountain. He is soon wracked with guilt about what he did and ultimately confesses to it. Without her wheelchair, Klara has no choice but to learn to walk; she attempts to do so and is gradually successful. Her grandmother and father are overcome with joy to see Klara walking again. The Sesemann family promises to provide permanent care for Heidi, if there ever comes a time when her grandfather is no longer able to do so.

Characters

  • Heidi: A joyful and free-spirited young girl who is orphaned as a toddler. At the beginning of the story, she is five years old. Heidi loves her grandfather (uncle Alm) and the beauty and fresh air of the mountains. Only Fräulein Rottenmeier calls her by her given name "Adelheid", in some translations "Adelaide".
  • Grandfather: Heidi's paternal grandfather, a cantankerous loner who lives in a hut high in the mountains. By people other than Heidi, he is called "Uncle Alm" and, in some translations, "Uncle Alp".
  • Adelheid: Heidi's mother, she died from fever soon after her husband Tobias died. It is spelled "Adelaide" in some translations.
  • Tobias: Heidi's father who was killed by a beam falling on his head when Heidi was a baby.
  • Dete: Heidi's selfish and insensitive aunt, the sister of Adelheid. Heidi lived with her after her parents died. Dete is related to Grandfather (her and her sister Adelheid's great grandmother and Grandfather's grandmother were sisters). It is spelled "Deta" or "Detie" in some translations.
  • Peter: A goat herder who lives with his mother and grandmother in a hut up the mountain located between the village of Dörfli and the hut where Heidi's grandfather lives. He is eleven years old at the beginning of the story. He is sullen, pessimistic, and fond of Heidi to the point of being insanely jealous of anyone around her more than him.
  • Brigitte: Peter's mother and spelled "Brigitta" or "Bridget" in some translations.
  • Grannie: Peter's blind grandmother, Heidi gets attached to her.
  • Klara Sesemann: A frail girl who cannot walk. Her mother died when she was young. Her father is often away on business trips. She lives in a big household with servants in Frankfurt and is twelve years old when the 8-year-old Heidi comes to live with her. It is spelled "Clara" in some translations.
  • Herr Sesemann: Klara's father, a successful businessman who travels often. In some translations he is called "Mr Sesemann".
  • Frau Sesemann: By Klara and Heidi called "Grandmamma", she is Herr Sesemann's mother and Klara's grandmother. She is a kind woman and successfully encourages Heidi to learn reading. In some translations she is called "Mrs Sesemann".
  • Doctor Classen: Friend of Herr Sesemann.
  • Fräulein Rottenmeier: The strict and arrogant housekeeper at Herr Sesemann's home who antagonizes Heidi. In some translations she is called "Miss Rottenmeier".
  • Sebastian: A manservant in the Sesemann household who is kind if dandified.
  • Tinette: A maidservant in the Sesemann household who is scornful and contemptuous.

Translations

Thirteen English translations were done between 1882 and 1959, by British and American translators: Louise Brooks, Helen B. Dole, H.A. Melcon, Helene S. White, Marian Edwardes, Elisabeth P. Stork, Mabel Abbott, Philip Schuyler Allen, Shirley Watkins, M. Rosenbaum, Eileen Hall, and Joy Law.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> As of 2010, only the Brooks, Edwardes and Hall translations are still in print.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The preface of the 1924 English translation was written by Adeline Zachert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Basis for Heidi

In April 2010, a Swiss scholar named Peter Otto Büttner, uncovered a book written in 1830 by German author Hermann Adam von Kamp entitled Adelaide: The Girl from the Alps (German: Adelaide, das Mädchen vom Alpengebirge).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The two stories share many similarities in plotline and imagery.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Spyri's biographer Regine Schindler said it was entirely possible that Spyri may have been familiar with the story, as she grew up in a literate household with many books.Template:Cn

Adaptations

Film and television

About 25 film or television productions of the original story have been made. The Heidi films were popular far and wide, becoming a huge hit, and the Japanese animated series became iconic in several countries around the world. The only incarnation of the Japanese-produced animated TV series to reach the English language was a dubbed feature-length compilation film using the most pivotal episodes of the television series, released on video in the United States in 1985.

Versions of the story include:

Two new separate upcoming German-language television productions were announced in 2025 in the context of the upcoming 200th birthday of Johanna Spyri in 2027.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Theatre

A stage musical adaptation of Heidi with book and lyrics by Francois Toerien, music by Mynie Grové and additional lyrics by Esther von Waltsleben, premiered in South Africa at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival in 2016. Directed by Toerien with musical direction by Dawid Boverhoff, the production starred Tobie Cronjé (Rottenmeier), Dawid Minnaar (Sesemann), Albert Maritz (Grandfather), Ilse Klink (Aunt Dete), Karli Heine (Heidi), Lynelle Kenned (Klara), Dean Balie (Peter), Jill Middlekop and Marlo Minnaar. Puppets for the production were created by Hansie Visagie.<ref>Template:Usurped. Kosie House of Theatre. Retrieved on October 22, 2016.</ref>

A stage musical adaptation of Heidi of the Mountain (music and lyrics by Claude Watt, book by Claude and Margaret Watt) was performed in Sidney, BC, Canada by Mountain Dream Productions, premiering in 2007 at the Charlie White Theatre, and has been performed again several times since then.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The 2007 production starred Claude Watt (Grandfather), Margaret Watt (Rottenmeier), Rianne Craig (Heidi) and Katrina Brindle (Klara).

Computer games

There have been two Heidi computer games released for mobile devices, with the most recent being Heidi: Mountain Adventures. Both games are based on the Studio 100 TV series of 2015 and are aimed at young children, with educational elements and a series of mini-games.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Heidiland

Maienfeld, the main town in Heidiland

Heidiland, named after the Heidi books, is an important tourist area in Switzerland, popular especially with Japanese and Korean tourists.<ref name="abend"/> Maienfeld is the center of what is called Heidiland; one of the villages, formerly called Oberrofels,<ref name="beattie">Template:Cite book</ref> is actually renamed "Heididorf".<ref name="simonis">Template:Cite book</ref> Heidiland is located in an area called Bündner Herrschaft; it is criticized as being a "laughable, infantile cliché"<ref name="abend">Template:Cite book</ref> and "a more vivid example of hyperreality".<ref name="Solomon">Template:Cite book</ref>

Sequels

Literary

Between 1933 and 1955, French publishing company Flammarion published a new edition of Heidi along with a series of new original sequels. Despite being all published under Johanna Spyri's name, this books were neither written nor endorsed by Spyri, but were adapted from her other works by her French translator, Charles Tritten in the 1930s and 1940s, many years after she died, while the last one was written by Nathalie Gala.<ref>Heidi au pays des Romands; swissinfo.ch</ref><ref>Dans le palais des glaces de la littérature romande; edited by Vittorio Frigerio and Corine Renevey. Amsterdam, 2002. Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Bibliographie französischer Übersetzungen aus dem Deutschen; Bibliographie de traductions françaises d'auteurs de langue allemande; by L. Bihl, K. Epting. Walter de Gruyter, 1987</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The series is composed of a total of 7 books, 2 translated from Spyri's works and 5 original. Only two of them were published in English.

  1. Heidi. La merveilleuse histoire d'une fille de la montagne (1933), translation of the first Heidi volume (Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre).
  2. Heidi grandit (1934), translation of the second Heidi volume (Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat) with the addition of an original ending by Charles Tritten, which announces Heidi's further adventures.
  3. Heidi Grows Up (Heidi jeune fille, 1936) by Charles Tritten, it follows Heidi's teenage years.
  4. Au pays de Heidi (1938) by Charles Tritten, the story is told from the perspective of Heidi's village seen by some of its inhabitants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  5. Heidi's Children (Heidi et ses enfants, 1939) by Charles Tritten, about Heidi's adulthood with Peter and their children.
  6. Heidi grand'mère (1941) by Charles Tritten, about Heidi's later years with her grandchildren.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  7. Le sourire de Heidi (1955) by Nathalie Gala,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a new story set once again during Heidi's younger years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

There are some major differences between the original Heidi and the Tritten sequels. These include:

  • Heidi, the original story by Spyri, shows the simple life of Heidi imbued with a deep love of children and childhood. Spyri mentioned that the work was "for children and those who love children". The sequels portray Heidi in a different manner, as she grows up and gets married.
  • Heidi in the first book, Heidi, is described as having "short, black curly hair", when she is around five to eight years of age. In Heidi Grows Up, when she is fourteen, her hair is long, straight and fair.
  • In some English editions of Heidi the names of the goats are translated into English (Little Swan and Little Bear), while other editions use their original Swiss-German names, Schwanli and Baerli. In Heidi Grows Up only the names Schwanli and Baerli are used.

Film

In 1990, screenwriters Weaver Webb and Fred & Mark Brogger, and director Christopher Leitch, produced Courage Mountain, starring Charlie Sheen and Juliette Caton as Heidi. Billed as a sequel to Spyri's story, the film is anachronistic in that it depicts Heidi as a teenager during World War I, despite the fact that the original novel (where Heidi is only five years old) was published in 1881.

Reception

Heidi on a CHF 50 Swiss commemorative coin, 2001

The book has been criticised for black-and-white character portrayals and an idealization of pastoral life.<ref>Kari Sønsthagen og Torben Weinreich. Leksikon for børnelitteratur. Branner og Korch, 2003. Template:ISBN</ref>Template:Page number

In Japan, since its first Japanese translation in 1906, the book has been influential upon the general, stereotypical image of Switzerland for the Japanese, especially its tourists, many visiting the Heidi's Village park.

See also

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References

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