’Life Has Become a Sickness That Only Death Can Heal’: Representations of Death in Astrid Lindgren’s Mio’s Kingdom and The Brothers Lionheart

Abstract: Astrid Lindgren is one of Sweden’s most beloved writers of all time and many of her works include many hard topics, such as for example death. It has not always been as common to include such difficult topics in children's literature as it is today. The change in the sociopolitical attitude during the late 1960s brought in a new level of awareness and aspects of reality in children’s literature which is thought to be noticeable in works by Lindgren. This thesis aspires to explain kinds of representations of death prevalent in Mio's Kingdom and The Brothers Lionheart, and what these representations make visible in relation to the theoretical background based on what literary representation is and how it is constructed mostly by culture.Despite the fact that both books share similar representations of death and those feelings associated with it, the overall perception is that The Brothers Lionheart depicts death as a salvation, something to find hope in and not to be scared of to a greater extent than Mio’s Kingdom does, where death is portrayed as dark and inescapable. Furthermore, this thesis concludes that Lindgren has incorporated the standards of social realism into both of these stories and that they originate from personal experiences.