Selma Lagerlöf

About Selma Lagerlöf

Selma Lagerlöf was a towering figure in Swedish literature and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1909. As a writer, her contributions spanned genres, known for epic works like *The Saga of Gösta Berling* and the beloved children's novel *The Wonderful Adventures of Nils*. Her profound cultural impact across languages and time is reflected in her high Historical Popularity Index (HPI) rank of #611 among approximately 15,000 historical figures.

Despite this considerable historical standing, Lagerlöf currently experiences significant underattention online, exhibiting an Attention Gap of -3x relative to her importance. In 2025, her annualized Wikipedia pageviews totaled 108K. For contrast, Stefan Zweig, a contemporary writer with a very similar importance ranking (#633), garners more than three times the digital interest at 341K views. This suggests that while her historical influence is well-established, her presence in the modern digital sphere is lagging.

Interestingly, the recent data shows a positive trend in current interest: her 2025 Momentum, comparing Q1 to Q3, shows a substantial increase of +36%, even as the year-over-year change remains flat at -0.3%.