Poquette has a bachelor's degree in English and specializes in writing about literature. In the following essay, Poquette discusses the problem of categorization in Lagerlöf's works.

Lagerlöf's tales have been enjoyed by countless readers, but not many can say with conviction exactly what kind of stories they are reading. Since the publication of her first book, Gösta Berling's Saga (1891), Lagerlöf's unusual prose has defied conventional literary norms. In an age when Europeans were writing gritty, realistic stories, Lagerlöf's works were more idealistic and romantic. Readers would be mistaken, however, if they labeled her as merely a romantic writer. As Walter Berendsohn notes in his Selma Lagerlöf: Her Life and Work: "The critics have found it difficult to assign her a place in the course of Swedish literary development." Likewise, in her Selma Lagerlöf...