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Swedish Noir and Prime Crime
Camilla Läckberg
Cilla and Rolf Börjlind
Hans Rosenfeldt and Michael Hjorth
Intro: Joakim Lind
12:15-13:15
November 22, 2012
government.se/storytellers
#storytellers
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The media image of Sweden
after Stieg Larsson and the Millennium
A media report by Joakim Lind of
Cloudberry Communications AB on behalf of
Swedish Institute.
November 22, 2012
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“We have a very, very dark side, and I think
you‟re only just finding out about it now.”
Magnus Betnér in The Telegraph, March 2, 2010, The dark
side of Swedish society
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“In Larsson's Sweden, the police are useless
where they are not corrupt; the countryside is
full of violent drug dealers; the rich are utterly
unprincipled. It sounds like Mexico in the snow.
This is no longer a clean, well-lighted place for
Volvo owners. What went wrong?”
Foreign Policy, May 26, 2010, We're All Swedes Now
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“Most important is the setting. The countries
that the Nordic writers call home are
prosperous and organised, a „soft society‟
according to Mr Nesbo. But the protection
offered by a cradle-to-grave welfare system
hides a dark underside.”
“Larsson is a master at depicting the
relationship between business, social
hypocrisy and criminal behaviour, and his
heroes do not want to be rescued through any
form of conventional state intervention.”
The Economist, March 3, 2010, Inspector Norse - Why are
Nordic detective novels so successful?, link
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”We live in a world that has capsized, where
law and order reigns on the surface, but in
reality it is the well-organized crime pulling
the strings.”
”Millenium has exposed the anxiety every man
feels in a world where old benchmarks have
failed.”
Le Monde, Jean-Jacques Larochelle, May 10, 2009
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“Tattoo artists are cashing in. “What Salander
has done is inspire women to go under the
needle with their own message in mind,” said Mr.
Rakovic of Inked.”
“She‟s taking names and delivering payback.
And, Ms. Leach said, „she‟s not about to do that
in a pair of Miu Miu shoes.‟”
NY Times, February 1, 2012, Lisbeth Salander bringing
back leather and spikes - link
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“What makes the books so interesting for
visitors to Stockholm is that the characters are
very clearly identified with the Södermalm area
of the city. On a Millenium Tour you can see
where these characters live, the restaurants they
visit, the cafés they hang out at, even their
favourite 7-Eleven store where they buy frozen
pizza.”
The Mail on Sunday, July 19, 2009, Stieg Larsson's Millennium
and the city at the centre of a literary phenomenon
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”You can summarise by saying that in principle
there do not appear to be any normal people in
Sweden. The introduction to [one of the books
about] Karlsson-on-the-Roof, which I loved so
much as a child: ‟In a completely normal
Swedish family…‟ now just fills me with
horror.”
CityCelebrity.ru, October 7, 2010, Matari Anna och
Dmitri Tikhonov , Шведская модель для тщательной
сборки, link
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"this story is not primarily about spies and
secret government agencies; it's about violence
against women, and the men who enable it.”
The Independent, October 2, 2009, Bad men and the good
society, What was the secret of Stieg Larsson's extraordinary
success?, link
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”In the novels of writers such as Mankell and
Larsson, as well as the films of Lukas
Moodysson, corruption, vice and despair run
rampant.”
”It's also notable that all three employ the
archetype of the abused prostitute as the prime
symbol of capitalist exploitation.”
The Guardian, August 8, 2010, Göran Lindberg and
Sweden’s Dark Side - link
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”Sweden may have attained heights of
gender equality only dreamed of in other parts
of the world but, if we‟re to believe Larsson,
that apparent moral superiority is merely
cosmetic, concealing pervasive misogyny at
every level of society.”
n+1 magazine, February 27, 2010, Ian MacDougall,
The man who blew up the welfare state
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”The Swedes themselves no longer believe in a
Swedish model, or, when they do, it's very
different from the heavily regulated ‟people's
home‟ of myth.”
Foreign Policy, May 26, 2010, We're All Swedes Now
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“Relationship between the five international
papers and WikiLeaks had moments of difficulty
and tension‟, at times threatening to collapse
into farce, ‟as if a Stieg Larsson script had been
passed to the writer of Downton Abbey, Julian
Fellowes”
The Guardian, January 30, 2011, Julian Assange feared he was
being followed by US spies, new book reveals, link
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"This makes one wonder: does Indonesia need
its own Lisbeth Salander?”
Karim Raslan, The Jakarta Globe, March 29, 2012
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”Everyone should read Stieg for the quality of
decency that he evokes on every page, as
Orwell once did. Maybe popular fiction can
indeed change the world.”
The Independent, October 10, 2009, Understand
Swedish society through Stieg Larsson’s popular fiction,
link
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”SWEDEN BEYOND THE MILLENNIUM AND
STIEG LARSSON” (Summary) LINK:
www.si.se/upload/Sweden_beyond_the_Millennium.pdf
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“IT IS Sunday afternoon, preferably before the
war. The wife is already asleep in the armchair,
and the children have been sent out for a nice
long walk. You put your feet up on the sofa,
settle your spectacles on your nose, and open
the News of the World. Roast beef and Yorkshire,
or roast pork and apple sauce, followed up by
suet pudding and driven home, as it were, by a
cup of mahogany-brown tea, have put you in just
the right mood. Your pipe is drawing sweetly, the
sofa cushions are soft underneath you, the fire is
well alight, the air is warm and stagnant. In these
blissful circumstances, what is it that you want
to read about?
Naturally, about a murder…”
George Orwell, Decline of the English Murder
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