Sophie's World

Sophie's World ( Original Norwegian title: Sophie verde ) is a novel by Jostein Gaarder on the history of philosophy. Built in 1991, this unique work of the Norwegian educator and writer was indeed intended as a philosophical introduction for older children, but also has many adult readers found. By 2011, the book was translated into 59 languages ​​, which is sold over 40 million times. The German version of Gabriele Haefs has been available since 1993. Jostein Gaarder of 1997 and his wife Siri Dannevig the Sophie Prize, an award annually, international environment and development prize, donated.

Content

The fourteen- year-old Sophie Amundsen receives one day a mysterious letter in which she is asked who she was. Inspired by these, she begins to think about themselves and their relationship to the world. Over the following weeks, she regularly gets new letters with further questions and brainteasers. It turns out that an older man named Alberto Knox is the author of these letters. He wants Sofie undergo in this way a philosophy course. Each letter is devoted to an important epoch of philosophy or a well-known thinkers.

Sofie begins in the course of the book to make their supposedly safe place in the world in question, especially occur unexplained incidents that indicate that Sophie's World that is not that they always had in mind. Finally, she learns that she and her surroundings are only part of a book that is written by a stationed in Lebanon UN - major named Albert Knag. This written the book for his daughter Hilde and want to give it to her for her birthday. Sofie begins to think about themselves and their lives, from which they now know that it is not necessarily real. Alberto will soon also personally contacted her; from then on are the Philosophy hours, the contents are always some great thinkers, which are discussed in chronological order, rather than in his home.

Now the Major increasingly mixed into the action and Alberto begins to think of a counter-strategy, with which he and Sophie want to turn to outwit the Major. On the day of celebration of her 15th birthday the two apparently succeeds to escape from history. Whether they can really escape their existence as fictional characters, leaves open the book.

Awards in Germany

• Lynx of the Month September 1993
• German Youth Literature Award 1994
• Prize of the German Record Critics' Award 1995

Expenditure

• " Sophie's World - novel about the history of philosophy ", from the Norwegian by Gabriele Haefs, Munich and Vienna in 1993, Carl Hanser Verlag, ISBN 978-3-446-17347-7. the same: Audiobook ISBN 3-89940-255-3.

Marketing

In 1999 the book by the Norwegian director Erik Gustavson was filmed. The film Sophie's World is one of the amphibians films, that is, it was filmed both a feature film version as well as a television series version.

Sophie's World also served as a template for an audio book, a CD- ROM, a board game and a musical.