The sons of Ingemar (Ingemars-sönerna) - Selma Lagerlöf

Art. no. 216584019 24 Apr 2025

Ingemars-sönerna (1901; The Sons of Ingmar) is a short story by Selma Lagerlöf that serves as an introduction to her larger work Jerusalem. The story depicts the life of Ingmar Ingmarsson and his family in the village in Dalomland, where issues of faith, guilt, and reconciliation are interwoven with the harsh realities of agricultural life.

The Sons of Ingemar follows Ingmar Ingmarsson, a man wrestling with his own inner conflicts and the moral responsibility he feels towards his family. His life is characterized by religious doubts, and the novel highlights the complex choices he is forced to make as his sons seek their own paths. Through Lagerlöf's rich and dramatic language, the existential questions of faith and guilt are illuminated, and the story provides a foretaste of the deeper social and religious themes later explored in Jerusalem.