A Study Guide for Selma Lagerlof's "The Outlaws"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Selma Lagerlof's "The Outlaws," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Jul 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535838771

Book preview

12

The Outlaws

Selma Lagerlöf

1894

Introduction

Renowned as the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist and short-story writer. The short story The Outlaws, originally published in 1894, concerns the fate of a peasant named Berg who flees into the forest after killing a monk. There, Berg joins forces with a young fisherman, Tord, and the two help one another survive in the wilderness, while Berg continues to escape capture by the villagers who wish to see him punished for his crime. Berg learns that Tord, who lives in exile and is believed to be a thief, took the blame for a crime his father committed. As the story progresses, Tord learns of Berg's adulterous history with a woman named Unn. He also discovers that the monk slain by Berg had publicly accused Unn and Berg, in front of Berg's wife, of having an affair.

After Berg finishes this account, he grows alarmed that Tord seems to have no moral compass; he does not condemn Berg for his actions. Berg then undertakes to teach Tord about the nature of God, morality, and justice. Tord later hears voices in a storm that compel him to seek justice for Berg's sin. Throughout the story, Lagerlöf explores the nature of justice, friendship, and betrayal. Like many of her works, The Outlaws employs supernatural elements and conveys a sense of moral ambiguity and complexity. Religiosity, spiritualism, and mysticism are interwoven into the fabric of the story, yet Lagerlöf avoids any overt moralizing or preachiness.

The Outlaws was originally published as De fagelfrie in Swedish in 1894 as part of the short-story collection Osynliga länkar. This collection was translated by Pauline Bancroft Floch in 1899 and published by Little, Brown as Invisible Links. A 1907 translation of The Outlaws by Grace Isabel Colbron was published in 1927 in the collection The World's One Hundred Best Short Stories, Part Eight: Men, edited by Grant Overton. A reprint of this volume was reissued in 2005.

Author Biography

Born on November 20, 1858, in Östra Emterwik in the province of Värmland in Sweden, Lagerlöf was the fourth of five children. Her father, Erik Lagerlöf, was a retired army lieutenant and