Introduction

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= Heidi =
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Introduction
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'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 5-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
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Aunt Dete hurrying away after leaving Heidi with her grandfather

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
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* Heidi: A joyful and free-spirited young girl who is orphaned as a
toddler. At the beginning of the story, she is five years old. Heidi
loves her grandfather (uncle Alp) and the beauty and fresh air of the
mountains. Only Fräulein Rottenmeier calls her by her given name
"Adelheid", in some translations "Adelaide".
* Grandfather: Heidi's paternal grandfather, a cantankerous loner who
lives in a hut high in the mountains. By people other than Heidi, he
is called (in some translations) "Uncle Alp".
* Adelheid: Heidi's mother, she died from fever soon after her husband
Tobias died. It is spelled "Adelaide" in some translations.
* Tobias: Heidi's father who was killed by a beam falling on his head
when Heidi was a baby.
* Dete: Heidi's selfish and insensitive aunt, the sister of Adelheid.
Heidi lived with her after her parents died. Dete is related to
Grandfather (her and her sister Adelheid's great grandmother and
Grandfather's grandmother were sisters). It is spelled "Deta" or
"Detie" in some translations.
* Peter: A goat herder who lives with his mother and grandmother in a
hut up the mountain located between the village Dörfli and the hut
where Heidi's grandfather lives. He is eleven years old at the
beginning of the story. He is sullen, pessimistic, and fond of Heidi
to the point of being insanely jealous of anyone around her more than
him.
* Brigitte: Peter's mother and spelled "Brigitta" or "Bridget" in some
translations.
* Grannie: Peter's blind grandmother, Heidi gets attached to her.
* Klara Sesemann: A frail girl who cannot walk. Her mother died when
she was young. Her father is often away on business trips. She lives
in a big household with servants in Frankfurt and is twelve years old
when the 8-year-old Heidi comes to live with her. It is spelled
"Clara" in some translations.
* Herr Sesemann: Klara's father, a successful businessman who travels
often. In some translations he is called "Mr Sesemann".
* Frau Sesemann: By Klara and Heidi called "Grandmamma", she is Herr
Sesemann's mother and Klara's grandmother. She is a kind woman and
successfully encourages Heidi to learn reading. In some translations
she is called "Mrs Sesemann".
* Doctor Classen: Friend of Herr Sesemann.
* Fräulein Rottenmeier: The strict and arrogant housekeeper at Herr
Sesemann's home who antagonizes Heidi. In some translations she is
called "Miss Rottenmeier".
* Sebastian: A manservant in the Sesemann household who is kind if
dandified.
* Tinette: A maidservant in the Sesemann household who is scornful and
contemptuous.

Translations
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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''
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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.

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.

Versions of the story include:
* 'Heidi', a 1937 motion picture by 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century
Studios) which starred Shirley Temple in the title role.
* 'Heidi', a 1952 film in Swiss German and German, directed by Luigi
Comencini, starring Elsbeth Sigmund (filmed on location in
Switzerland), and followed by a sequel, 'Heidi and Peter', in 1955,
directed by Franz Schnyder, also starring Ms. Sigmund.
* , a 1956 Austrian film, directed by Hermann Kugelstadt.
* 'A Gift for Heidi' (1958), by George Templeton.
* , a 1958 Indian Hindi-language family drama film adaptation by A. R.
Kardar, starring Baby Naaz in the role of Poornima (Heidi).
* 'Heidi' (1959), music by Clay Warnick, adapted by William Friedberg
with Neil Simon.
* 'Heidi', a six-part 1959 BBC TV series starring Sara O'Connor in the
title role, with Mark Dignam as her grandfather and Lesley Judd as
Klara.
* 'Heidi', a 1965 Austrian film, directed by Werner Jacobs.
* 'Heidi', a 1968 television film which starred Jennifer Edwards with
Maximilian Schell and Michael Redgrave. This was the version that
became notorious for interrupting an American football game that was
broadcast the same day (November 17) on NBC. The game between the
Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets was cut off a few minutes before
the end of the game when it looked as if the Jets were going to win,
but after the cutoff, the Raiders made a comeback and beat the Jets
with TV viewers on the east coast missing the conclusion. TV channels
displayed the final score (Oakland winning 43-32) during the film,
further enraging football fans. This incident led to a policy of not
ending coverage of any sports games until after their conclusion. The
game has gone down in professional football lore as "The Heidi Game"
or "Heidi Bowl".
* 'Heidi' (Disneyland Storyteller Record), a 1968 old time radio-style
adaptation of the story by Disneyland Records, with music by Camarata,
recorded in London and starring Brenda Dunnich, John Witty and
introducing (to American audiences) Ysanne Churchman as Heidi.
* 'Heidi, Girl of the Alps', a 1974 Japanese anime series directed by
Isao Takahata for Zuiyo Eizo (later, Nippon Animation), dubbed into
various languages. It was compiled into an English-dubbed film
entitled 'The Story of Heidi'.
* 'Heidi', a 1974 BBC adaptation starring Emma Blake.
* 'Heidi', a 1978 26-episode Swiss/German television series, starring
Katia Polletin as the protagonist, which was dubbed into various
languages, including English.
* 'The New Adventures of Heidi' (1978), directed by Ralph Senensky.
* (2 record set). Story read by actress Irène Vidy, Heidi theme song
sung by Tony Schmitt. Milan Entertainment, a product of Activ-Records,
Altendorf, Schwyz Switzerland, 1980 (SLP 77).
* 'Heidi's Song', a 1982 American animated film produced by
Hanna-Barbera.
* 'Climb a Tall Mountain', a Christian film from 1987 that uses the
story's characters to illustrate a message about the importance of
love and forgiveness.
* 'Courage Mountain', a 1990 American adventure drama film and serves
as a sequel to Johanna Spyri's novel 'Heidi', directed by Christopher
Leitch.
* 'Heidi', a 1992 video-art project directed by Paul McCarthy and Mike
Kelley as a collaboration project.
* 'Heidi', a two-part American television miniseries from 1993,
starring Noley Thornton as Heidi. Co-stars included Jane Seymour as
Miss Rottenmeier, Jason Robards as Grandfather and Lexi Randall as
Klara.
* 'Heidi', a 1995 animated film.
* 'Heidi', a 2005 animated film.
* 'Heidi', a 2005 British live-action film directed by Paul Marcus,
starring Irish child actress Emma Bolger in the title role, alongside
Max Von Sydow and Diana Rigg.
* 'Heidi', a 2007 Swiss-French-Spanish-Czech television series set in
modern times, starring Élodie Bollée as a teenage Heidi.
* 'Heidi 4 Paws', a comedic 2008 adaptation featuring talking dogs
with the voice of Angela Lansbury.
* 'Heidi', a CGI remake of the 1974 anime series developed in 2015,
made by Studio 100 Animation, the makers of 'Maya the Bee'.
* 'Heidi', a 2015 Swiss live-action film directed by Alain Gsponer.
* 'Heidi, bienvenida a casa', a 2017 telenovela from Argentina
* 'Heidi (2024)', a 2024 US American Christian film, directed by Lynn
Moody
Two new separate upcoming German-language television productions were
announced in 2025 in the context of the upcoming 200th birthday of
Johanna Spyri in 2027.

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
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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.

Graphic novel
===============
A graphic novel adaptation is set to be released in March 2025 ISBN
1524886408

Heidiland
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Maienfeld, the main town in 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".

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 written 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.

# 'Heidi. La merveilleuse histoire d'une fille de la montagne' (1933),
translation of the first 'Heidi' volume ('Heidis Lehr- und
Wanderjahre').
# 'Heidi grandit' (1934), translation of the second 'Heidi' volume
('Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat') with the addition of an
original ending by Charles Tritten, which announces Heidi's further
adventures.
# 'Heidi Grows Up' ('Heidi jeune fille', 1936) by Charles Tritten, it
follows Heidi's teenage years.
# 'Au pays de Heidi' (1938) by Charles Tritten, the story is told from
the perspective of Heidi's village seen by some of its inhabitants.
# 'Heidi's Children' ('Heidi et ses enfants', 1939) by Charles
Tritten, about Heidi's adulthood with Peter and their children.
# 'Heidi grand'mère' (1941) by Charles Tritten, about Heidi's later
years with her grandchildren.
# 'Le sourire de Heidi' (1955) by Nathalie Gala, a new story set once
again during Heidi's younger years.

There are some major differences between the original 'Heidi' and the
Tritten sequels. These include:

* 'Heidi', the original story by Spyri, shows the simple life of Heidi
imbued with a deep love of children and childhood. Spyri mentioned
that the work was "for children and those who love children". The
sequels portray Heidi in a different manner, as she grows up and gets
married.
* Heidi in the first book, 'Heidi', is described as having "short,
black curly hair", when she is around five to eight years of age. In
'Heidi Grows Up', when she is fourteen, her hair is long, straight and
fair.
* In some English editions of 'Heidi' the names of the goats are
translated into English (Little Swan and Little Bear), while other
editions use their original Swiss-German names, Schwanli and Baerli.
In 'Heidi Grows Up' only the names Schwanli and Baerli are used.

Film
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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
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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.

See also
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* 2521 Heidi (an asteroid named after 'Heidi')
* Alpine people and culture
* Alpine transhumance (the traditional practice of moving grazing
herds in the Alps between winter valleys and summer mountain pastures)
* History of the Alps
* Swiss folklore

External links
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*
*
* (illustrated)
* (in German)
*
* [http://www.heidisland.com 'Heidi's Land'], the official website (in
French) for the 1980s television show with Katia Polletin (Heidi) and
Stefan Arpagaus (Peter)
*
[http://www.eturbonews.com/21441/remembering-heidi-swiss-pride-its-best
'Remembering Heidi: Swiss Pride at its best'] , by Dr. Anton Anderssen
*
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/switzerland/7653092/Swiss-Heidi-may-in-fact-be-German.html
Swiss Heidi may in fact be German]
*
[https://archive.today/20120730120236/http://www.3sat.de/dynamic/sitegen/bin/sitegen.php?tab=2&source=/kulturzeit/themen/143450/index.html
Johanna Spyri's stolen Alps story?] (in German)

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=========
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi