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Title details for Scandinavian Noir by Wendy Lesser - Available

Scandinavian Noir

In Pursuit of a Mystery

by Wendy Lesser
ebook
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"Even those unmoved by its subject will thrill to [Scandinavian Noir], a beautifully crafted inquiry into fiction, reality, crime and place . . . Perhaps when it comes to fiction and reality, what we need most are critics like Lesser, who can dissect the former with the tools of the latter." —Kate Tuttle, The New York Times Book Review

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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 4, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780374718718

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780374718718
      • File size: 1118 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      February 15, 2020
      An enthusiastic guide to the mysteries and the countries. Threepenny Review founder Lesser, whose biography of Louis Kahn, You Say to Brick (2017), won multiple awards, has been a huge fan of Scandinavian mysteries since college. She shares her "eccentric and personal" excitement for them in this comprehensive and insightful assessment of noir novels from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. "What I have constructed here," she writes, "is a map, or a portrait, or a cultural history of a place that both exists and does not exist." Early on, Lesser shares how the ten-book series about Swedish homicide detective Martin Beck, written together in alternating chapters by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, "changed my life." Beck's friend Lennart Kollberg is "one of the great characters of detective fiction." In Lesser's opinion, the only series that approaches Beck's in its "persuasively real experience" is Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series. The author found Stieg Larsson's uber-popular Lisbeth Salander series "un-putdownable" even though she "despised the cheap feminism of the books." In the first section, Lesser broadly discusses all the novels via nifty alphabetically sequenced topics, from alcohol, erotica, and religion to xenophobia and zealous. She clearly has her finger on the pulse of Scandinavian society, discussing such topics as childhood abuse, obsessive references to original art, a scarcity of Jewish as well as female and gay cops, and sadism ("the worst sadist in all of Scandinavian literature is Karin Fossum," whose novels are disturbing in a way that is "manipulatively, personally, intentionally pain-inducing"). In the second section, Lesser switches to third person as "she" describes a personal tour of the three countries. She feels at home in Sweden; Stockholm is "even lovelier than she expected." In Oslo, a policeman tells her they only have about 12 homicides per year, and "compared to Oslo or Stockholm, Copenhagen is definitely a bit grungy." Lesser's opinionated Appendix summarizes the series that she has read, and her recommended list of TV adaptations is user-friendly as well. Perfect for any die-hard fan of Scandinavian mysteries and culture.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Kirkus

      February 15, 2020
      An enthusiastic guide to the mysteries and the countries. Threepenny Review founder Lesser, whose biography of Louis Kahn, You Say to Brick (2017), won multiple awards, has been a huge fan of Scandinavian mysteries since college. She shares her "eccentric and personal" excitement for them in this comprehensive and insightful assessment of noir novels from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. "What I have constructed here," she writes, "is a map, or a portrait, or a cultural history of a place that both exists and does not exist." Early on, Lesser shares how the ten-book series about Swedish homicide detective Martin Beck, written together in alternating chapters by Maj Sj�wall and Per Wahl��, "changed my life." Beck's friend Lennart Kollberg is "one of the great characters of detective fiction." In Lesser's opinion, the only series that approaches Beck's in its "persuasively real experience" is Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series. The author found Stieg Larsson's uber-popular Lisbeth Salander series "un-putdownable" even though she "despised the cheap feminism of the books." In the first section, Lesser broadly discusses all the novels via nifty alphabetically sequenced topics, from alcohol, erotica, and religion to xenophobia and zealous. She clearly has her finger on the pulse of Scandinavian society, discussing such topics as childhood abuse, obsessive references to original art, a scarcity of Jewish as well as female and gay cops, and sadism ("the worst sadist in all of Scandinavian literature is Karin Fossum," whose novels are disturbing in a way that is "manipulatively, personally, intentionally pain-inducing"). In the second section, Lesser switches to third person as "she" describes a personal tour of the three countries. She feels at home in Sweden; Stockholm is "even lovelier than she expected." In Oslo, a policeman tells her they only have about 12 homicides per year, and "compared to Oslo or Stockholm, Copenhagen is definitely a bit grungy." Lesser's opinionated Appendix summarizes the series that she has read, and her recommended list of TV adaptations is user-friendly as well. Perfect for any die-hard fan of Scandinavian mysteries and culture.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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