Blackeberg pictures in context

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Låt den rätte komma in
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gkmoberg1
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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by gkmoberg1 » Tue Aug 13, 2019 1:22 am

Be sure to browse the collection by Kristina Alexanderson at flikr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/) . She has many albums, of which the one (for us) to check out is Att besöka en roman : https://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexande ... 6705643693 . The photos taken were taken in late November, 2008.

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PeteMork
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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by PeteMork » Tue Aug 13, 2019 2:09 pm

Great find, GK! It's interesting that they were taken in 2008.
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)

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Siggdalos
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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by Siggdalos » Thu May 26, 2022 6:26 pm

gkmoberg1 wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 1:22 am
Be sure to browse the collection by Kristina Alexanderson at flikr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/) . She has many albums, of which the one (for us) to check out is Att besöka en roman : https://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexande ... 6705643693 . The photos taken were taken in late November, 2008.
That album was, as far as I can tell, created for the website of the same name: Att besöka en roman (To visit a novel), which was created as a school project in 2008 and which contained detailed information and directions for many of LTROI's locations. The site no longer exists, but thankfully it's still available in its entirety through the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20100811022 ... nroman.se/

I've found it to be very useful for fanfic purposes, since I've never set foot in the place and wouldn't have been able to figure out exactly where some of these buildings are just based on the descriptions in the book. Honestly, I'm surprised that the site (as far as I can tell) hasn't been mentioned on this forum before. It's written exclusively in Swedish, but still.

Another gem I found only earlier today is a 1991 inventory of the Blackeberg School and the pool building, available via Stockholmskällan (The Stockholm Source), an archive database managed by the Stockholm Municipality: https://stockholmskallan.stockholm.se/post/11678
Direct link to the PDF: https://stockholmskallan.stockholm.se/P ... skolan.pdf

Keep in mind that these pictures are from a decade after the events in the book. As the inventory document notes, by this point the pool was no longer being used. Still, I think it's very valuable in that it contains the one and only picture I've been able to find of the actual pool. Behold:

Image

Definitely a bit smaller than I imagined. I blame the film for that.

Image

The entrance to the pool building.

Image

The shower room.

Image

The pool building from outside. If I'm not mistaken, the high-rise building visible in the background is the one that Joel in Vertical Village lives in.

Image

A class room in the school itself.

There are more pictures of the school in the document, but there are plenty of other photos available of that building online. Here I only picked out the pictures I thought were the most interesting.
De höll om varandra i tystnad. Oskar blundade och visste: detta var det största. Ljuset från lyktan i portvalvet trängde svagt in genom hans slutna ögonlock, la en hinna av rött för hans ögon. Det största.

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metoo
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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by metoo » Thu May 26, 2022 9:06 pm

Interesting, especially the interior pictures of the pool room and the shower room.

From outside pictures of the gym building and the pool extension, I had understood that there had to be a short flight of stairs between the washing room and the pool room because of different floor levels. The stairs are mentioned in the novel, too. Anyway, I had assumed that the stairs would be in the pool room, but it seems they were in the shower room, as visible in the picture below.

The window would be the one that Oskar looked through onto the other boys:

Image

Han stod en stund vid glasväggen mellan duschrummet och poolen, gjorde med handen ett titthål i kondensimman som täckte glaset, tittade på de andra som hoppade runt i bassängen, jagade varandra, kastade bollar. Och det kom över honom igen. Inte som en i ord formulerad tanke, men som en etterstark känsla:

Jag är ensam. Jag är ... helt ensam.

Sedan fick magistern syn på honom, vinkade åt honom att komma in, hoppa i. Oskar masade sig nedför den korta trappan, gick fram till poolkanten och såg ner i det kemiskt blå vattnet. Han hade inget spritt eller hopp i kroppen, så han klev i från badstegen, ett steg i taget och lät sig omslutas av det ganska kalla vattnet.


He stood for a while by the glass wall between the shower room and the pool, made a peephole in the condensate that covered the glass, looked at the others who was jumping around in the pool, chasing each other, throwing balls. And it came over him again. Not as a word formulated in words, but as a strong feeling:

I'm alone. I'm ... all alone.

Then the master saw him, waved at him to come in, jump in. Oskar huddled down the short stairs, went to the edge of the pool and looked down into the chemically blue water. He had no bound or jump in his body, so he stepped in from the pool ladder, one step at a time and allowed himself to be surrounded by the rather cold water.
Translated by Google, fixed by me.
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Siggdalos
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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by Siggdalos » Fri May 27, 2022 1:06 pm

Realized after posting the above that the images are in much higher resolution than the way I posted them and that I should've zoomed in on the document before taking screengrabs. Oh well, the link's right there if one wants to see them in higher resolution.
metoo wrote:
Thu May 26, 2022 9:06 pm
From outside pictures of the gym building and the pool extension, I had understood that there had to be a short flight of stairs between the washing room and the pool room because of different floor levels.
I somehow didn't realize until you posted this that the school gym and pool were in the same building. My mental image (based on the elementary school I myself went to) was that the gym was closer to or inside the school itself, even though I knew that this is contradicted by the text and by maps of the place.
The book does say that the pool is right next to the gym when Eli is looking at it on November 5, but I guess I assumed this whole time that that was a different gym and not the one the school students used.

Also, for a while, this description of a steel gate and corridor between walls:
The steel gates in the corridor between the brick walls were unlocked. The echo from Oskar's footsteps went ka-ploff ka-ploff as he walked to the door of the swimming pool, pulled it open. A damp warmth wafted over his face and a cloud of vapour billowed out into the cold corridor. He hurried in and shut the door.
... misled me into thinking that the pool was in this building on Vinjegatan, on the other side of the parking lot but still in view of the school: https://goo.gl/maps/TwgUMrwz4zdscoim7

I guess you learn something new every day, as they say.
De höll om varandra i tystnad. Oskar blundade och visste: detta var det största. Ljuset från lyktan i portvalvet trängde svagt in genom hans slutna ögonlock, la en hinna av rött för hans ögon. Det största.

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metoo
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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by metoo » Fri May 27, 2022 3:21 pm

Well, this thread used to have several good pictures illustrating places in the novel that drakkar had shot, so I have been aware of the general layout and appearance of the school since I first found this forum.

Alas, drakkar apparently finished whatever account he used to serve the images several years ago, and since then the image links lead nowhere.
It also seems he doesn't have them any other place.

It's a great loss, since these images were such an invaluable resource to understand the novel.

However, the pictures I shot in the basement of the house where I used to live are still available:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1504&start=110#p52946

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1504&start=130#p53363
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by gkmoberg1 » Sat May 28, 2022 2:49 am

The pool nearly consumes the entire floor area! I'm misled in my thinking because of the movie's use of the nearby pool. (For the film, they used the pool in Vallingby, yes?)

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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by Unconditional » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:28 pm

Thanks for the pictures :D
I remember back in 2019 when I went to Blackeberg exploring the place. My favorite place was the playground hehe. Got a strange feeling when I was there, some sort of nostalgia.

Going back to Stockholm this weekend and will do my visit again.
For me it's more real than most of what's going on

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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by gkmoberg1 » Thu Aug 11, 2022 3:47 am

Unconditional wrote:
Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:28 pm
Thanks for the pictures :D
I remember back in 2019 when I went to Blackeberg exploring the place. My favorite place was the playground hehe. Got a strange feeling when I was there, some sort of nostalgia.

Going back to Stockholm this weekend and will do my visit again.
Get a couple pictures for us 8-)

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Siggdalos
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Re: Blackeberg pictures in context

Post by Siggdalos » Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:01 pm

Coincidentally, I am also planning a trip to Stockholm. Probably sometime this autumn, but haven't decided on a date yet. I'll bring a camera, obviously.

I agree with GK. The more pictures, the better.
De höll om varandra i tystnad. Oskar blundade och visste: detta var det största. Ljuset från lyktan i portvalvet trängde svagt in genom hans slutna ögonlock, la en hinna av rött för hans ögon. Det största.

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