Monday, April 19, 2010

More on Stieg Larsson

I picked up a copy of the Quercus catalogue today at the London Book Fair and it has the following publications for the autumn this year relating to Stieg Larsson. For around £50 - a boxed set of the Millennium Trilogy, tr. Reg Keeland, "with an accompanying volume containing background material":
Revised hardback editions, with maps, of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, plus original material.

The fourth volume includes an essay by Eva Gedin, Larsson's publisher, on working with the author; an email correspondence between Larsson and Eva Gedin; an essay by John-Henri Holmberg, placing Stieg Larsson in the context of the resurgence of Scandinavian crime writing; a poster of the best jackets of the Millennium Trilogy from around the world; maps and photographs.
and also Stieg Larsson, My Friend by Kurdo Baksi, tr. Laurie Thompson:
Five years after his death, Stieg Larsson is best known as the author of the Millennium Trilogy, but during his career as a journalist he was a crucial protagonist in the battle against racism and for democracy in Sweden, and one of the founders of the anti-facist magazine Expo. Kurdo Baksi first met Larsson in 1992; it was the beginning of an intense friendship, and a fruitful but challenging working relationship.

In this candid and rounded memoir, Baksi answers the questions a multitude of Larsson's fans have already asked, about his upbringing; the recurring death threats; his insomnia and his vices; his feminism - so evident in his books - and his dogmatism. What was he like as a colleague? Who provided the inspiration for his now-immortal characters (Baksi is one of the few who appears in the trilogy as himself)? Who was Lisbeth Salander?

2 comments:

Dave Riley said...

Baksi's assertions, esp of deep friendship, have been vociferously challenged by Larsson's long time
partner Eva Gabrielsson
http://www.thelocal.se/24464/20100119/

The fact is that given Larsson's political profile on the far left it is absurd to suggest that there was some obscure enigma at stake with his life and work.

Gav said...

One can see larsson's writing the trilogy as a way to process what was happening in his own life.