ABSTRACT
In the world literature there is a fine example in which you can identify archetypal moments between a grandfather and a grandchild, as well as the dependence of the encounter of intersubjective processes, archetypal constellations and patterns of expectation. It is a story that a few years after the first publication became an international success and has been translated into 50 languages and made into a film. In countries such as Switzerland, Japan or Turkey this story is one of the most important works of children’s literature. We are talking about the Heidi books or the two books Heidi’s Years of Learning and Travel and Heidi Makes Use of What She Has Learned by Swiss author Johanna Spyri (1827-1901) from the years 1880 and 1881. About 50 million copies have been sold since the first publication of the book. Spyri wrote the story at a time that big social changes and political upheaval was taking place in Switzerland. Rural areas were overrun by industrialization and many classes were impoverished. This led to a rural exodus, an emigration wave, alcoholism and unemployment. This atmosphere built created the background. I think the story from the nineteenth century is well known and will mention only a few basics here (Spyri, 2007 [1899]). Heidi is a 5-year-old orphan girl who is brought to her reclusive grandfather in the village of Maienfeld in the canton of Graubünden, in the Alps. Heidi’s parents both died early, and she was raised by her aunt in town. For several reasons the child is too troublesome for her. She hardly takes care of the girl because she has to work in a factory; in the evenings she is tired and so the child is left to her own devices. Eventually, she decides that she cannot carry on like this. She remembers her grandfather, and since he is related to the girl he should also be respon sible for her. The 70-year-old Alpöhi (Swiss for grandfather) lives alone in his
mountain chalet. The problem, however, is that he is known in the village as a difficult and unfriendly person. When the villagers hear that the little girl will come to this fellow they are horrified. They argue that he has a very bad reputation; no one wants to have anything to do with him. Everyone avoids him when he comes to the village once each year to exchange his cheese for other food. The Alpöhi was formerly an aggressive, impulsive bully. He was supposed to take over the family farm as he was the firstborn, but he did not take this responsibility seriously; he gambled away the farm and engaged in brawls and binge drinking and got into bad company. When the farm had to be sold, his father and his mother died of grief. The Alpöhi sought his fortune in Italy since he had lost his reputation and money. It was said that he had served as a soldier in Naples and killed people. After a few years he came back with a teenage boy – Heidi’s father – but no one wanted to have anything more to do with him. That annoyed him very much and he retired, stubborn and grim, to the Alps, where he lived secluded and did goat herding. His son learned a skill, married a woman who gave birth to Heidi, but he was then killed by a falling beam. Soon after, the woman died from grief. The small, emotionally neglected girl has to go to this Alpöhi now. It is understandable that the villagers react in horror, but the aunt says the Alpöhi must take care of the child – it is his responsibility. The villagers argue further that one should be afraid of him. He looks scary with his thick grey eyebrows and his beard. He doesn’t talk with anyone and he lives in discord with God and the people. They are afraid for the little girl. Everyone thinks the grim grandfather could mistreat her, neglect her even more than she already has been. Let us recall the innate, unsaturated archetypal patterns of expectation, namely that the environment should meet the expectations of attachment (Bisagni, 2009). Unsaturated means that there is no experience of love, loyalty or empathy. The girl’s archetypal expectations of loyalty, her need to be heard, seen and understood, were not yet saturated. She was indeed rather pushed around. Her grandfather showed narcissistic-impulsive behaviour in previous years, which suggests that his emotional attachment needs were insufficiently satisfied by his parents. But the archetypal expectation patterns are always there, even if they are unsaturated. The following occurs in the story:
Heidi was at the top first. She went straight up to the old man, put out her hand and said: ‘Good evening, Grandfather’ – ‘So, so what is the
meaning of this?’ he asked gruffly, as he gave the child an abrupt shake of the hand, and gazed long and scrutinising at her from under his bushy eyebrows. Heidi stared steadily back at him in return with unflinching gaze for the grandfather, with his long beard and the thick grey eyebrows that grew together over his nose and looked just like a brush, was such a remarkable appearance, that Heidi was unable to take her eyes off him.
