Ive just seen the second of Stieg Larsson's films in Swedish,here in Stockholm. If you don't know who he is, remember you heard about him here first!
Stieg Larsson was a Swedish journalist, editor of an obscure left wing magazine and a leading expert on right-wing Nazi movements – he set up a Foundation Expo to challenge racism in Sweden. In 1995, at the age of just 50, he died of a heart attack.
Months later the second life of Stieg Larsson began.
The posthumous publication of his first novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won him Best Nordic thriller. The second in the Millenium Trilogy (The Girl who played with fire) was tonight's film – and made him the second bestselling author in the world in 2008. The books have been translated into 40 languages and read by 12 million people – and that was before the two films were released. I'd be very interested to know if they'll appear in the UK -- demand from British and French readers for tours of locations has been so fierce this summer, Stockholm City Museum organised Millenium walking tours.
Why is Larsson so popular? For me it's a combination of the entirely unworthy approach to serious subject matter like rape and human trafficking underpinning a complex and very unconventional relationship between journalist/investigator Mikael Blomkvist and controversial female anti-hero Lisbet Salander. To say she's feisty is putting it mildly – she fights back.
I was saying to my long-suffering guide today, Eva Holmstrom of the Swedish Institute that there's a point when you know you are reading a novel by a Nordic writer, and it's the way they generally handle women characters.
Picture the scene. It's dark. It's dangerous. Our heroine thinks aloud, I'd better get back to the house. (That's a British novel)
Compare and contrast the following.
It's dark. It's dangerous. Our heroine thinks aloud, I need to find out what's going on as she inches alone into the darkness. (That's Nordic!)
Lisbeth Salander is a law onto herself but not a female Dirty Harry. She's no bitter, mindless avenger. In fact, Ive never seen a female character like her. To say much more would spoil it – just go and buy the books.