The Sounds of the Woods and Mountains: Human Voice, Nature Sounds, and Music in Astrid Lindgren’s Ronja Rövardotter and Maria Parr’s Tonje Glimmerdal

Abstract

The article takes the form of a comparative analysis of the soundscapes in two classic Nordic novels: Astrid Lindgren’s Ronja Rövardotter (1981; Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter) and Maria Parr’s Tonje Glimmerdal (2009; Astrid the Unstoppable). The aim of the analysis is to explore the role sound plays in the novels’ place-making, and how place is conceptualized. Drawing on theory of place and topoi (Bakhtin; Cresswell; Curtius) and inspired by Henri Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis, I analyze cyclical and linear sounds. As the study shows, we find spatial rhythms in both novels, and in both there is an interplay between the human voice, nature sounds, and music, but the sounds are orchestrated in very different ways. Overall, the soundscape in Lindgren’s novel is more cacophonic, while it comes across as harmonious in Parr’s. Furthermore, based on the analysis and academic discussions on the novels as pastorals, I argue that Lindgren constructs a more literary and static place or topos while the place-making in Parr’s novel is more dynamic and in line with current concepts of place (e.g. Cresswell)