Heidi 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 and Heidi: How She Used What She Learned. It is a novel about the events in the life of a 3-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.

Plot

In the town of Domleschg lived two brothers. The older wasted the family fortune on drinking and gambling, while the younger ran away to serve in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies's Army in Naples. Years later the younger brother returns with a son, Tobias. After Tobias serves an apprenticeship to Mels, father and son move to Dörfli ('small village' in Swiss German) in the municipality of Maienfeld. The villagers spread rumors about the father's life in Naples. The man becomes known as The Alm-Uncle, as he lives in seclusion on the mountain Alm. Two village girls, sisters Dete and Adelheid, befriend Tobias. Adelheid and Tobias marry and have a daughter, also named Adelheid but affectionately nicknamed Heidi. Soon after, Tobias is killed in a work accident and Adelheid dies of shock. The Alm-Uncle holds this against God and becomes bitter. Heidi is raised by her maternal grandmother and Dete in Maienfeld. Shortly after the grandmother's death, Dete is offered a job as a maid in the big city, and takes 5-year-old Heidi to live with the Alm-Uncle. He resents Heidi's arrival, but the girl's intelligence and cheerful yet unaffected demeanour soon earn his love. Heidi befriends her new neighbours: young Peter the goatherd, his mother Brigitte, and his blind maternal grandmother. With each season that passes, the mountaintop inhabitants, especially Peter and the grandmother, grow more attached to Heidi, and she to them. However, the grandfather refuses to allow Heidi to attend school, quarrelling with the local pastor and schoolmaster when they try to encourage him to do so, and Heidi is illiterate as a result. Three years later, Dete returns to take Heidi to Frankfurt to be a hired lady's companion to a wealthy girl named Klara Sesemann, who is unable to walk and regarded as an invalid. Klara is charmed by Heidi's simple friendliness and her descriptions of life on the Alm, and delights in all the funny mishaps brought about by Heidi's naïvety and lack of experience with city life, but the Sesemanns' strict housekeeper, Fräulein Rottenmeier, views the household disruptions as wanton misbehaviour, and places the free-spirited Heidi under more and more restraint, forbidding her to talk of the Alps or to cry for home. Soon, Heidi becomes terribly homesick for the Alm, and grows alarmingly pale and thin. Her one diversion is learning to read and write using a collection of Biblical stories, motivated by Klara's grandmother Frau Sesemann who shows her trust and affection, and encourages her to believe in God and to pray. Later Frau Sesemann gifts Heidi the book. Heidi's homesickness leads to episodes of sleepwalking where she goes downstairs and opens the front door, which the household initially takes as the work of ghosts. The family doctor recommends she be sent home before she becomes seriously ill. She gladly returns to the mountains laden with presents for her friends and the book from Frau Sesemann, but finds one of her greatest pleasures is 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

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. As of 2010, only the Brooks, Edwardes and Hall translations are still in print. The preface of the 1924 English translation was written by Adeline Zachert.

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). The two stories share many similarities in plotline and imagery. 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.

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. Although the original book describes Heidi as having dark, curly hair, she is usually portrayed as blonde. Versions of the story include:

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. 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. 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.

Heidiland

Heidiland, named after the Heidi books, is an important tourist area in Switzerland, popular especially with Japanese and Korean tourists. Maienfeld is the center of what is called Heidiland; one of the villages, formerly called Oberrofels, is actually renamed "Heididorf". Heidiland is located in an area called Bündner Herrschaft; it is criticized as being a "laughable, infantile cliché" and "a more vivid example of hyperreality".

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

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

The book has been criticised for black-and-white character portrayals and an idealization of pastoral life. 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.