Who killed Nanna Birk Larsen? The question grips the relatively small, but avid, band of people who are following The Killing, a Danish crime series being screened on BBC4.Not me. I’m fine with my iPad and month’s worth of US tv series to catch up on, thanks.
One of the many things The Killing asks is this: are political coalitions really healthy?
It is no doubt coincidence that the query is so particularly pertinent in Britain right now.Wow, it’s sounds just great. Doesn’t it?
But there is a definite reason why a slice of Scandinavian crime fiction should be actively concerned with framing socio-political debate. It is part of what is expected of the genre in this part of the world, and has been since Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö started publishing what came to be known as the Martin Beck series, in 1965.Well, I’m sure it goes down a bomb in Sweden, but is it really knocking them dead over here? Certainly, it has its fans, David Duff for one.
Ratings for the tv series say otherwise, though. And the prime driver for most popular British and US crime fiction, from my glance at the shelves in ASDA, seems to be who can come up with the most gruesome killings...
The couple, former journalists, conceived 10 crime novels that would provide a deliberate critique of what they viewed as the degeneration of Sweden. Marxists themselves, they intended to use the crime genre to illustrate the advantages of socialistic approaches to social problems.Ummm, ok…
That sounds unbearably didactic and worthy.You said it!
But the tremendous thing is that the books work first and foremost as crime fiction. In fact, they are reckoned by the cognoscenti to be among the finest and most influential crime novels ever written.I might give them a try. When I’ve finished reading the absolute mountain of books I seem to have accumulated…
Oh, wait! I don't really listen to 'the cognoscenti', do I? Or consider that the most important thing is to be reading what my social circle is reading.
Count me in! In fact, I'm not sure we shouldn't be filing this stuff under 'Horror'...Essentially, the pair challenged the convention of the lone genius private detective, replacing him with a group of police officers, led by the low-key Beck, who depended on each other to solve cases – and also, as a matter of course, put up with, or worked round, colleagues who were not so gifted.
...
The British are used to believing that the Scandinavians, especially the Swedes, have social democracy cracked, while Britain is far from being a socially democratic country. The truth, however, is much more nuanced.Well, that’s one way of putting it. As a commenter points out: “Sweden operated a eugenics programme until 1975.”
The logical solution – if there is a solution at all – is for everyone to live very healthy and disciplined lives, expecting to look after more vulnerable members of the family whenever necessary, and seeking only specialist or temporary help from a well-ordered state as a last resort. It is a vision that unites authoritarian left and right, but scares the bejesus out of free-marketeers and social liberals.
9 comments:
Dunno about all that bollocks Orr writes, but The Killing is absolutely brilliant. Characters are superb, story has more twists and turns than a twisty turny thing, and the political side is fascinating, with the usual corruption issues, coalition sacrifices etc.
I must admit, I really do want to know who killed Nanna Birk Larsen!
Scandinavia does seem rather good at crime fiction. The Millenium trilogy was brilliant (second one was a bit shaky maybe) and my Swedish friend assures me that this has always been the case but it was of course mostly not translated.
Socialism can fuck itself though.
"Essentially, the pair challenged the convention of the lone genius private detective, replacing him with a group of police officers, led by the low-key Beck, who depended on each other to solve cases – and also, as a matter of course, put up with, or worked round, colleagues who were not so gifted."
What, you mean like real life? No wonder it hasn't troubled the best seller lists over here.
I downloaded to my kindle a free sample of a Martin Beck novel on the basis that I had enjoyed a number of Scandinavian crime novels. It was so dull I couldn't finish the sample let alone attempt the whole book. I tried The Killing and enjoyed the episode I saw but I am unable to watch TV without doing something else at the same time so I kept missing chunks of dialogue because I didn't see the subtitles. I need to develop my screen watching skills or wait for the DVD.
The "Martin Beck" series is, shall we say despite any intentions of the authors to use them as vehicles for overt or covert social comment about Sweden in the late 1960's and early 1970's "a good read" - it isn't po faced proselytising, but police procedurals with a fair share of humour in there too, , and is available these days as a boxed set of translations in paperback, no doubt in no small measure due to the success of Wallander and the like.
I think you'll find it's Denmark. That aside, I watched a few episodes and it was so glum I decided to wait for the last episode and see who dunnit. As for the hidden political stuff, I haven't seen enough to comment but it's easy to recognised a f**k up society even after five minutes!
Sorry anon 2 - my bad for not spelling it out properly or for even however obliquely - so obliquely it completely escaped my notice - implying otherwise - so to be absolutely clear "The Killing" is indeed set in Denmark whereas the "Beck" series is set in neighbouring Sweden ...
Oh! Crime fiction designed to extol the virtues of Marxism, eh?
Now I know why there has been nothing worth watching on BBC4 for the past few months!
Stieg Larsson's (excellent, for me anyway) "The Girl Who..." crime trilogy about the very capable and utterly anti-social Lisbeth Salander is based in Sweden.
Larsson was left-leaning with a social conscience, etc, but he does show in the books that The State (to who all lefties must doff their cap, or else) can really badly screw up someone's life because they are sop determined do things correctly, and completely forget there is a human being in there.
Oh wait... that's the left for you...
"I must admit, I really do want to know who killed Nanna Birk Larsen! "
I really did want to know who killed Laura Palmer, but look how that turned out... ;)
"What, you mean like real life? No wonder it hasn't troubled the best seller lists over here."
I've seen a lot of Jo Nesbo and Steig Larsson in the windows, though...
"I downloaded to my kindle a free sample of a Martin Beck novel on the basis that I had enjoyed a number of Scandinavian crime novels. It was so dull I couldn't finish the sample let alone attempt the whole book."
That's the brilliant thing about ebooks, isn't it? I've bought so many that I'd never have picked up on the bookstore of from Amazon, just due to that.
"...it's easy to recognised a f**k up society even after five minutes!"
Indeed!
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