Sophie’s World Study Guide

Jostein Gaarder was born in Oslo, the son of schoolteachers. He grew up in Bergen, Norway, and later studied theology and literature in college. He taught high school in Bergen for many years, during which he began to write Sophie’s World, the novel that would make him famous. During the late 80s, Gaarder wrote children’s mysteries that gained him a wide following in Scandinavia. It wasn’t until 1991, when Sophie’s World was published, that he became an international figure. Following the success of this book, Gaarder became a popular columnist, talk show guest, and journalist, in addition to a writer of children’s books. He established a “Sophie Prize,” named after his novel’s protagonist, which honored education and environmental awareness, and also penned a column in which he lobbied for Palestinian rights. Gaarder continues to write children’s books, though none have had the same international impact as Sophie’s World.

Because Sophie’s World is a history of Western philosophy, it’s also something of a history of the Western world. While there are too many specific historical events to recount here, a few overarching cultural trends stand out: the rise of the Greek city-state circa 400 B.C., which paved the way for the founding texts of Western philosophy; the death of Christ circa 33 A.D., which inspired the rise of the Christian era; the revitalization of Rome in the 14th century, which provided the material conditions for the Renaissance; the French Revolution of 1789, which inspired the Romantic era’s emphasis on democracy, historical process, and human rights; and the First and Second World Wars, which challenged the Western world’s faith in liberalism and universalism.

Sophie’s World mentions too many specific works of literature to name—in addition to the works of philosophy that Sophie and Hilde learn about, there’s Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and many others. In particular, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, with its unlikely combination of disorienting fantastical worlds, difficult mathematical ideas, and child-friendly humor, was a major influence on Gaarder’s book. For another book that uses fantasy to teach children about a complicated subject, check out Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s The Number Devil (1997). In this amusing novel (possibly inspired by the unlikely success of Sophie’s World), a confused child teams up with an imaginary friend to learn about number theory, geometry, and probability.