Heidi

Heidi

Author	Johanna Spyri
Country	Switzerland
Language	German
Genre(s)	Children's novel
Publisher
Publication date	1880
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	NA
Followed by	Heidi Grows Up

Heidi is a story focusing on events in the life of the title character, a young orphan, in Switzerland. It was written as a children's book in 1880 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. Two sequels, Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children, were not written by Spyri but by her English translator, Charles Tritten.

The Heidi books are loved by children all over the world, and are the best known works of Swiss literature. [1] The books portray a time in Swiss history which was considered to be innocent and pure.

Plot summary

Aunt Dete hurrying away after leaving Heidi with the Alm-Grandfather.

Heidi is an orphaned girl initially raised by her aunt Dete in Maienfeld, Switzerland. In order to get a job in Frankfurt, Dete brings 5 year-old Heidi to her grandfather, who has been at odds with the villagers for years and lives in seclusion on the alm. This has earned him the nickname Alm-Öhi (Alm-Grandfather - "Öhi" means "grandfather" in the Graubünden dialect). He at first resents Heidi's arrival but the girl manages to penetrate his harsh exterior and subsequently has a delightful stay with him and her best friend, young Peter the goat-herd.

Dete returns 3 years later to bring Heidi to Frankfurt as a companion to a 12-year-old invalid girl named Klara Sesemann. Heidi spends a year with Klara, clashing repeatedly with the Sesemanns' strict housekeeper Miss Rottenmeier, and becoming more and more homesick. Her one diversion is learning to read and write, motivated by her desire to go home and read to Peter's blind grandmother. Heidi's increasingly failing health and several instances of sleepwalking (it is implied that she has inherited a propensity to epilepsy from her mother) prompt Klara's doctor to send her home to her grandfather. Her return prompts the grandfather to descend to the village for the first time in years, marking an end to his seclusion.

Heidi and Klara continue to write to each other. A visit by the doctor to Heidi and her grandfather convinces him to recommend that Klara journey to visit Heidi. Meanwhile, Heidi teaches Peter to read and write. Klara makes the journey the next season and spends a wonderful summer with Heidi. Klara becomes stronger on goat's milk and fresh mountain air. Peter is jealous of Klara and pushes her wheelchair down the mountain to its destruction. Without her wheelchair, Klara attempts to walk and is gradually successful. Klara's Grandmother and Father are amazed and overcome with joy to see Klara walking. Klara's wealthy family promise to provide for Heidi, in case her grandfather will no longer be able to.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

About 20 film or television productions of the original story have been made, including the very popular anime series Heidi, Girl of the Alps, made by the animation studio Zuiyo Eizo (which later became Nippon Animation) in 1974 and directed by Isao Takahata. The Heidi anime was popular all over the world, becoming a huge hit and an iconic animation series in several countries around the world. But the only incarnation of the series to reach the English language was a dub of the 1979 feature-length movie adaptation of the TV series, released on video in the United States in 1985.

Other versions of the story include the 1937 motion picture Heidi, which starred Shirley Temple in the title role and the 1982 animated feature film Heidi's Song. The novel was also the inspiration for a 1990 motion picture Courage Mountain, which was a sequel of sorts to the original book and features a teenage Heidi.

A 1999 BBC Radio 4 radio play of Heidi, with Hollyoaks actress Ciara Janson in the title role, is available as an audio book.

Heidiland

Maienfeld, the main town in Heidiland

Heidiland, named after the Heidi books, is one of the main tourist areas in Switzerland, in particular for the Japanese. Maienfeld is situated near the Liechtenstein border in Kanton Graubünden, it is home to around 40,000 people, and still has the spectacular alpine views of Heidi's day. [2]

The "Heidi Game"

Main article: Heidi Game

On November 17, 1968, NBC cut off a live broadcast of an American Football League game between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders with 65 seconds remaining in favour of a pre-scheduled airing of a new made-for-TV version of Heidi, omitting a stunning comeback by the Raiders and drawing the ire of millions of fans.

"Heidi" Musical

"Heidi" has been adapted as a musical drama by Shaun McKenna (Book/Lyrics), Stephen Keeling (Music), Stefan Mens (Idea and Orchestration) and John Havu (Creative Development). Anja Hauptmann created the German translation. The show was first produced as a large open-air production in Walenstadt, Switzerland in 2005, and is published by Felix-Bloch-Erben and Gallissas Theaterverlag und Mediaagentur, Berlin. The musical returned to Walenstadt in 2006 and a new theater production was performed in Dessau, Germany in 2006-2007.

The plot is an intertwining of Johanna Spyri's first Heidi novel with the life of the author. In a commitment to her dying son Bernhard, Johanna promises to set down her childhood remembrances in a novel. Parallels of action occur between the real world of Johanna and the fictitious world of Heidi with moments where the two worlds collide. The work does not rely on the normal clichés associated with Heidi adaptations but provides insights into the life and times of the author.

A sequel to the above mentioned musical written by the same team, with a German translation by Stefan Huber, premiered on an open-air stage in Walenstadt, Switzerland in the summer of 2007. The work is published by Gallissas Theaterverlag und Mediaagentur, Berlin.

The work follows a similar idea of intertwining the life of Johanna Spyri but this time with the second Heidi novel. An interesting twist in the plot is the figure of Johanna meeting and falling in love with a long time friend in Montreux as she is writing the second novel, which nearly ends in the book having a quite different ending.

"Heidi" First name

"Heidi" is a diminutive (and term of endearment) of Adelheid (or Adelaid), the meaning of which is (loosely) "of noble birth". In the book, Miss Rottenmeier makes a point of calling Heidi herself "Adel(h)eid", deeming it a more appropriate (because less endearing) name.

See also

• 2521 Heidi (an asteroid named after Heidi)

External links

• Heidi, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Heidi, available at Project Gutenberg. (illustrated)
• Heidi, online at Ye Olde Library
• Heidi, human read audio mp3 and m4b files at Free Classic Audio Books
• Heidi (1937) at the Internet Movie Database
• Heidi (1968) at the Internet Movie Database
• Heidi (1978) at the Internet Movie Database
• Heidi (1993) at the Internet Movie Database
• Heidi (1995) at the Internet Movie Database
• Heidi (2001) at the Internet Movie Database
• Heidi (2005) at the Internet Movie Database
• Heidi (2005) at the Internet Movie Database

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