The Emperor of Portugallia

Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, brings to life one of her most tender and haunting tales of love, madness, and the power of imagination. “The Emperor of Portugallia” tells the story of Jan Andersson, a humble Swedish peasant whose beloved daughter, Katrina, leaves home to seek her fortune. Unable to bear her absence, Jan retreats into a beautiful delusion—believing himself to be the Emperor of Portugallia, ruler of a realm where love and hope never die. Blending realism with dreamlike lyricism, Lagerlöf portrays a soul overwhelmed by love yet sustained by fantasy. A heartbreaking and poetic exploration of devotion, loss, and the fragile boundary between reality and dream.