Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Hille, Harald

Description

1. xi, 221 pages : illustrations; 22 cm

Summary

1. "Using old letters, records, and stories passed down through her family, Pleijel imagines the lives of her great-grandfather, Albert Berg (1832-1916), and his younger sister, Helena Berg Petre (1834-1880), who were born into a prominent musical family. Albert was born deaf, dashing his father's hopes of a musical career for him. He was sent to Stockholm's Manilla School for the Deaf, where he learned sign language. He later studied art and became a painter of seascapes. His interest in improving the lives of deaf people led him to become an advocate for the Deaf community and to cofound the Stockholm Deaf Association. Helena showed early musical talent and, trained by her father, was a gifted singer. She lived in Paris for a time and enjoyed popular success. She fell in love with a musician but was plunged into despair when he died from cholera. Her father persuaded her to give up singing and marry a cold industrialist, who was one of the wealthiest men in Sweden, in order to provide financial support for the family. Helena struggled in the loveless marriage and battled depression throughout her life. Despite their disparate lives, Albert and Helena faced similar struggles with communication, autonomy, and self-determination. Albert's story traces the development of his own sense of identity as well as the development of Swedish Deaf culture, while Helena's life reflects the silencing and oppression endured by women. In Sister and Brother, Pleijel's literary treatment of their lives sheds light on the cultural and social norms that shaped the experiences of deaf people and women in the 19th century."--Publisher's description.

Uniform title

1. Syster och bror. English

Alternative title

1. Syster och bror.

Subject

1. Families
2. Women musicians
3. Deafness in children
4. Stockholm (Sweden) > Social life and customs > 19th century > Fiction
5. Fiction
6. Biographical fiction
7. Families > Fiction
8. History
9. Historical fiction
10. 1800-1899
11. Manners and customs
12. Sweden > Stockholm
13. Women musicians > Fiction
14. Deafness in children > Fiction
15. Stockholm (Sweden) > History > 19th century > Fiction

Genre/Form

1. Biographical fiction.
2. Historical fiction.
3. Fiction.
4. History.

Call number

1. JFD 18-4809

Note

1. "Originally published as Syster och bror by Norstedts in Stockholm, Sweden; © 2009 by Agneta Pleijel."--ECIP galley.

Author

1. Pleijel, Agneta, 1940- author.

Title

1. Sister and brother : a family story / Agneta Pleijel ; translated by Harald Hille.

Publisher

1. Washington, DC : Gallaudet University Press, 2018.

Copyright date

1. ©2018

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Chronological term

1. 1800-1899

Added author

1. Hille, Harald, translator.

LCCN

1. 2017054761

Other standard identifier

1. 40028178410

ISBN

1. 9781944838201 paperback ; alkaline paper
2. 1944838201 paperback ; alkaline paper

Research call number

1. JFD 18-4809