Scandinavian Literature

A comparative approach to French and Scandinavian crime fiction. This book offers a study of Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and French crime fiction from 1965 to the present. Anne Grydehøj presents twelve literary case studies to examine how the genre responded to shifting social realities. The book's analysis focuses on the way that crime fiction internalized themes regarding the French model of republican universalism and the Scandinavian welfare state—both of which were routinely characterized as being in a state of crisis at the end of the twentieth century. Adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the book investigates the interplay between contemporary Scandinavian and French crime narratives as it considers the way these novels engaged with the relationship between state and citizen through the lens of class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity.

Scandinavian popular novels and films have flourished in the last thirty years. In Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia, Andrew Nestingen argues that the growth and visibility of popular culture have been at the heart of the development of heterogeneous ?publics? in Scandinavia, in opposition to the homogenizing influence of the post-World War II welfare state. Novels and films have mobilized readers and viewers, serving as a preeminent site for debates over individualism, collectivity, national homogeneity, gender, and transnational relations. Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia provides insight into the changing nature of civil society in Scandinavia through the lens of popular culture. Nestingen develops his argument through the examination of genres where the central theme is individual transgression of societal norms: crime films and novels, melodramas, and fantasy fiction. Among the internationally known writers and filmmakers discussed are Henning Mankell, Aki Kaurismäki, Lukas Moodysson, and Lars von Trier.

Barry Forshaw, the UK's principal crime fiction expert, presents a celebration and analysis of the Scandinavian crime genre, from Sjöwall and Wahlöö's Martin Beck series through Henning Mankell's Wallander to Stieg Larsson's demolition of the Swedish Social Democratic ideal in the publishing phenomenon The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Since the late 1960s, the novels of Sjowall and Wahloo's Martin Beck detective series, along with the works of Henning Mankell, Hakan Nesser and Stieg Larsson, have sparked an explosion of Nordic crime fiction—grim police procedurals treating urgent sociopolitical issues affecting the contemporary world. Steeped in noir techniques and viewpoints, many of these novels are reaching international audiences through film and television adaptations. This reference guide introduces the world of Nordic crime fiction to English-speaking readers. Caught between the demands of conscience and societal strictures, the detectives in these stories--like the heroes of Norse mythology—know that they and their world must perish, but fight on regardless of cost. At a time of bleak eventualities, Nordic crime fiction interprets the bitter end as a celebration of the indomitable human spirit.

Finland, the myths and truths. Internationally, it has a reputation as perhaps the best place in the world to live. A great economy. A low crime rate. Good and nearly cost-free health care. The needy are provided for by the state and live in reasonable comfort. Finns: peaceful and quiet people, living in the perfect example of a social democracy functioning as it should. A tourist, or even a person who has lived here for a length of time, might well view Finland as such. There is some truth to this, but like every country, Finland has many truths...Finland is, like the theme so often explored in Star Trek, a parallel universe in which, on the surface, all seems normal, but under that shell lie vast differences...As this book demonstrates, Finland is a noir nation [and] this anthology is, I believe, the best representation of Finnish noir ever offered to the international community. Every word rings true. It holds Finland up in a way that not only exposes this wonderful and fascinating country to the world, but acts as a mirror that reflects its people and culture in a way every Finn will recognize, vocalizing those truths that are so seldom spoken here amongst ourselves (James Thompson, from the Introduction).

The stranger-than-fiction life story of the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. His three novels are violent, terrifying, brilliantly written, and have sold millions of copies around the world, but Stieg Larrson was not able to witness their international success. Since he died in 2004 the author of the Millennium trilogy has received international fame with dizzying speed. But when one looks a little deeper at the man behind these phenomenal novels, it is clear that his life would be remembered as truly extraordinary even had his trilogy never been published. Larrson was a workaholic: a political activist, photographer, graphic designer, a respected journalist, and the editor of numerous science fiction magazines. At night, to relax, he wrote crime novels. By the time of his death at the age of 50 he had completed The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Next, the third book featuring the hypnotic Lisbeth Salander. His relentless personality and political convictions did not make life easy. He famously took on some dangerous neo-Nazi opponents, making for much speculation that his enemies, who often told him that his days were numbered, may have a hand in his premature demise. This difficult man, brilliant and multifaceted, is the subject of a penetrating biography and a celebration of his remarkable life and books.

What is often termed 'Nordic Noir' has dominated detective fiction, film and television internationally for over two decades. But what are the parameters of this genre, both historically and geographically? What is noirish and what is northern about Nordic noir? The foreword and coda in this volume, by two internationally-bestselling writers of crime fiction in the north, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Gunnar Staalesen, speak to the social contract undertaken by writers of noir, while the interview with the renowned crime writer Val McDermid adds nuance to our understanding of what it is to write noir in the North. Divided into four sections—Gender and Sexuality, Space and Place, Politics and Crime, and Genre and Genealogy—Noir in the North challenges the traditional critical histories of noir by investigating how it functions transnationally beyond the geographical borders of Scandinavia. The essays in this book deepen our critical understanding of noir more generally by demonstrating, for example, Nordic noir's connection to fin-de-siècle literatures and to mid-century interior design, and by investigating the function of the state in crime fiction.

A compact and authoritative guide to the phenomenally popular genre. The information-packed study examines and celebrates books, films and TV adaptations, from Sjêwall and Wahlêê's highly influential Martin Beck series through Henning Mankell's Wallander (subject of three separate TV series) to Stieg Larsson's groundbreaking The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, cult TV hits such as the Danish The Killing, The Bridge and the political thriller Borgen, up to the hugely successful books and films of the current king of the field, Norway's Jo Nesbo.

Focusing on the sexualized violence of Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium trilogy—including the novels, Swedish film adaptations, and Hollywood blockbusters—this collection of essays puts Larsson's work into dialogue with Scandinavian and Anglophone crime novels by writers including Jo Nesbø, Håkan Nesser, Mo Hayder and Val McDermid.

With its bleak urban environments, psychologically compelling heroes and socially engaged plots, Scandinavian crime writing has captured the imaginations of a global audience in the 21st century. Exploring the genre's key themes, international impact and socio-political contexts, Scandinavian Crime Fiction guides readers through such key texts as Sjöwall and Wahlöö's Novel of a Crime, Gunnar Staalesen's Varg Veum series, Peter Høeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, Henning Mankell's Wallander books, Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy and TV series such as The Killing. With its focus on the function of crime fiction in both reflecting and shaping the late-modern Scandinavian welfare societies, this book is essential for readers, viewers and fans of contemporary crime writing.

Stieg Larsson's darkly violent but irresistibly absorbing and wildly popular crime novels have brought new attention to the work of Nordic crime writers, and Scandinavian Crime Fiction is the first English-language study of the genre as practiced in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Attending to the work of such popular authors as Henning Mankell, Karin Fossum, and Anne Holt—as well as Larsson—Scandinavian Crime Fiction explores every aspect of crime writing in the region, from history to recurrent themes to the ways these books have been adapted for television. Many readers will be familiar with Mankell's "Wallander" series and movies based on Staalesen novels, which are both popular on PBS.

You might think you know what Nordic Noir is. Brutal crimes. Harsh landscapes. Brilliant but socially dysfunctional protagonists. Stylish knitwear. Yet, as a generic category and cultural phenomenon, Nordic Noir has always been far more complex. The story of its success owes as much to adaptation and evolution as it does to geographical migration or cosmopolitan curiosity. But how did this happen? What was it about the genre that struck such a chord with international audiences and readers? How did it build on previous trends and influences? And how has the category changed in order to survive in a cutthroat commercial landscape? Has it become less "Nordic"? Less "noir"? Has its proverbial moment in the sun passed? Featuring twelve original chapters and an editorial introduction, The Scandinavian Invasion brings together leading media and literature scholars from the UK, Denmark and Australia to critically examine how the phenomenon took shape and what we can learn from it. By exploring the cultural, aesthetic and industrial forces that propelled Nordic Noir across borders, the book provides a kaleidoscopic look at a disruptive cultural phenomenon in transition. Nordic Noir is dead. Long live Nordic Noir!

An in-depth and personal exploration of Scandinavian crime fiction as a way into Scandinavian culture at large. For nearly four decades, Wendy Lesser's primary source of information about three Scandinavian countries—Sweden, Norway, and Denmark—was mystery and crime novels, and the murders committed and solved in their pages. Having never visited the region, Lesser constructed a fictional Scandinavia of her own making, something between a map, a portrait, and a cultural history of a place that both exists and does not exist. Lesser's Scandinavia is disproportionately populated with police officers, but also with the stuff of everyday life, the likes of which are relayed in great detail in the novels she read: a fully realized world complete with its own traditions, customs, and, of course, people. Over the course of many years, Lesser's fictional Scandinavia grew more and more solidly visible to her, yet she never had a strong desire to visit the real countries that corresponded to the made-up ones. Until, she writes, "between one day and the next, that no longer seemed sufficient." It was time to travel to Scandinavia. With vivid storytelling and an astonishing command of the literature, Wendy Lesser's Scandinavian Noir: In Pursuit of a Mystery illuminates the vast, peculiar world of Scandinavian noir—first as it appears on the page, then as it grows in her mind, and finally, in the summer of 2018, as it exists in reality. Guided by sharp criticism, evocative travel writing, and a whimsical need to discover "the difference between existence and imagination, reality and dream," Scandinavian Noir is a thrilling and inventive literary adventure from a masterful writer and critic.

Uniquely placed to explore the worldwide phenomenon of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy beginning with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the book offers the first full-length study of Larsson's work in both its written and filmed forms.

Michael Tapper considers Swedish culture and ideas from the period 1965 to 2012 as expressed in detective fiction and film in the tradition of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Believing the Swedish police narrative tradition to be part and parcel of the European history of ideas and culture, Tapper argues that, from being feared and despised, the police emerged as heroes and part of the modern social project of the welfare state after World War II. Establishing themselves artistically and commercially in the forefront of the genre, Sjöwall and Wahlöö constructed a model for using the police novel as an instrument for ideological criticism of the social democratic government and its welfare state project. With varying political affiliations, their model has been adapted by authors such as Leif G. W. Persson, Jan Guillou, Henning Mankell, Håkan Nesser, Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström, and Stieg Larsson, and in film series such as Beck and Wallander. The first book of its kind about Swedish crime fiction, Swedish Cops is just as thrilling as the novels and films it analyzes.

Swedish crime fiction became an international phenomenon in the first decade of the twenty-first century, starting first with novels but then percolating through Swedish-language television serials and films and onto English-language BBC productions and Hollywood remakes. This book looks at the rich history of 'Scandinavian noir', examines the appeal of this particular genre and attempts to reveal why it is distinct from the plethora of other crime fictions. Examining the popularity of Steig Larsson's international success with his Millennium trilogy, as well as Henning Mankell's Wallander across the various media, Peacock also tracks some lesser-known novels and television programmes. He illustrates how the bleakness of the country's 'noirs' reflects particular events and cultural and political changes, with the clash of national characteristics becoming a key feature. It will appeal to students and researchers of crime fiction and of film and television studies, as well as the many fans of the novels and dramatic representations.

The fascinating stories behind what have been rightly called the "hottest books on the planet": The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Through insightful commentary and revealing interviews, you will enter the unique world of Lisbeth Salander, Mikael Blomkvist-—and of Stieg Larsson himself—discovering the fascinating real-life experiences and incidents involving Swedish politics, violence against women, and neo-Nazis that are at the heart of Larsson's work.