Millennium in Stieg Larsson’s own words
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Welcome to my page featuring selected excerpts of a mail correspondance between Stieg Larsson and his editors at Nordstedts Forlag [Nordstedt Publishing] about the Millennium trilogy! The quotes have been translated by Chris Marcus from Swedish to English. The full correspondance can be found on www.stieglarsson.se (in Swedish only, though).
Since this website is now on infinte hiatus I do hope someone else will take over this work!
E.g. if anyone proficient in Scandinavian languages would like to help out, just by translating one or two excerpts that you think is interesting, please contact me at chris_at_sallysfriends.net.
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Okay, let’s begin ...
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Stieg Larsson about
“- Some people who appear in the book have to be briefed. First and foremost 
this regards Paolo Roberto, who plays a certain part in book two. I have never met Paolo, but he works at Strix Television now, and both Robban and Mikael Ekman of Expo have already teased him about having to enlist the help of a girl in order to survive in a fight. He knows what’s going on and should not be too difficult to persuade. My thought when I made him part of the action was that the first book should be out before I approached him; but unfortunately I found myself writing it all so fast that you already have [three] scripts before I could talk to him.”
this regards Paolo Roberto, who plays a certain part in book two. I have never met Paolo, but he works at Strix Television now, and both Robban and Mikael Ekman of Expo have already teased him about having to enlist the help of a girl in order to survive in a fight. He knows what’s going on and should not be too difficult to persuade. My thought when I made him part of the action was that the first book should be out before I approached him; but unfortunately I found myself writing it all so fast that you already have [three] scripts before I could talk to him.”Original quote in Swedish: “- Sen måste några personer som förekommer i boken vidtalas. Den det främst gäller är förstås Paolo Roberto, som ju spelar en viss roll i bok två. Jag har aldrig träffat Paolo, men han jobbar på Strix television numera och både Robban och Mikael Ekman på Expo har redan trakasserat honom för att han måste ta hjälp av en tjej för att klara sig i slagsmål. Han vet alltså vad som är på gång och torde inte vara alltför svår att övertala. Min tanke då jag skrev in honom i handlingen var att bok ett redan skulle ligga ute innan jag började prata med honom; sen skrev jag dessvärre så snabbt att ni redan fått manus innan jag hunnit prata med honom.”
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- from a mail by Stieg Larsson to Eva Gedin, 28 April 2004
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Chris’ comments: Boy, what an understatement – that he was writing ‘so fast he didn’t have time to contact Paolo’. This explanation sounds a bit far-fetched. I think Larsson really wanted to make sure Paolo – or anyone else – wouldn’t say no, by handing in as much work as possible before asking for permission to have Paolo in book two. However, he probably didn’t even have that as his primary motivation. From the scattered biographical information available on the web we do know that Larsson was a workaholic, working at Expo during the day to document right wing extremism and going home to the couch in his and Eva’s small apartment to write about Salander and Blomkvist during the nights – and presumably consuming half of Stockholm’s supply of coffee in the process and, unfortunately, quite a few packages cigarettes as well.
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Click the numbers below to read more of Larsson’s own opinions about Millennium!
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Categories: Books
8 Comments » (Including 2 Discussion Threads)
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January 21st, 2010 at 2:55 PM
THANKS!!!!!
January 27th, 2010 at 8:41 PM
I think the sales figures speak for themselves.
Who cares anyway? As long as people enjoy the books.
Personally, I don’t think Dan Brown is much of a writer. But that hasn’t stopped him selling more books than just about anyone else on the planet…
January 27th, 2010 at 8:57 PM
I think what happens is that the ‘debate’ is created in certain parts of the old media (culture sections of newspapers, etc.); and perhaps one or two places in the blogosphere. The former happens because of the typical journalistic bias towards ‘conflict’, even when there’re perhaps only a handful of other, largely irrelevant, authors who suddenly go into attack-mode against a commercially successful colleague (dead or otherwise). It’s a dead end really, because as you say: The sales speak for themselves. That’s also why we won’t go into it anymore here at Sally’s. Except maybe for my own in-depth article about Larsson’s writing style, influences, strengths, weaknesses and so on. Alas, if only the day had 48 hours …
January 28th, 2010 at 12:24 AM
Hi Chris, The old guard is doing the same thing to Camilla Läckberg, particularly Leif G.W. Persson, who has made several vituperative comments to journalists about her “lousy” writing style. Now she is #1 in Sweden for each book now that Stieg’s sales have tapered off, so sales figures tell the tale. Those old farts certainly aren’t writing for young moms with babies, are they? Know thine audience. –Reg
January 28th, 2010 at 9:11 AM
I agree wholeheartedly. I was never much a fan of some of the female Nordic crime writers – those I’ve tried to read that is. Lemme see: Liza Marklund, Elsebeth Egholm and I think one by Läckberg as well. BUT I was never – at any point – a fan of old [censored] who think they know best what is ‘good literature’. Christ almighty, there should be something for every audience and if someone wants a ‘broader audience’ to read literature with more political and social themes and whatnot, well, maybe they should write an exciting action-thriller about it! Like … a book about a bisexual punk-goth-kick-ass hacker and her faithful super-idealistic journalist friend … I think, I’ve seen such books on the shelves somewhere
January 28th, 2010 at 2:44 PM
The sales figures are an argument, but I can think of best-selling authors whom I did not think were particularly good writers. So sales could be one measure, but certainly there are others, and you mention some of them. Larsson does create compelling stories, which have plot twists that are difficult to predict. He creates fascinating characters that are multidimensional. And he addresses difficult social issues. I think it is the combination of these three facets that makes him a wonderful writer, and so many people agree that the sales figures are astronomical.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:20 PM
The link to “www.stieglarsson.se” doesn’t work anymore. You need a password!
August 25th, 2010 at 9:30 PM
Wow… how’s that for competency!