The Swedish public and political figure Stig Larson is known to the Russian reader primarily for the three-part novel Millennium, but writing was far from the only thing in his life. From the article you can learn more about the biography and personal life of the writer, as well as about his works.
Stig Larson Biography
The writer was born on August 15, 1954 in the small Swedish town of Skellefto. Mostly, he was brought up as a grandmother in childhood, because his parents were too poor and young, and at the age of 16 he left home. The formation of his personality was greatly influenced by his grandfather, who had anti-fascist beliefs, for which he suffered during the Second World War.
Throughout his life, Stig Larson was a politically active person: from his youth he was a member of the Communist Workers League (which was later renamed the Socialist Party of Sweden), first worked as a designer, and then as a journalist and editor in the newspaper Fourth International. Larson left the party in 1987 on ideological differences.
In 1977, he participated in the training of women partisans of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea. After returning to Sweden the same year, he began working at one of the largest Swedish news agencies, TT, as a journalist and graphic designer.
Anti-fascist activity
In 1982, Larson, at that time a representative of the English anti-fascist newspaper in Sweden, created Expo, an organization (as well as the magazine of the same name) that counteracted the spread of radical Nazi views among Swedish young people. In particular, the writer is known for his publications and research on the topic of right-wing extremist movements, for example, the book "Right Extremism", on this subject he lectured even in Scotland Yard.
In addition to his editorial and journalistic activities, Stig Larson is also known for creating scripts for film and radio.
In addition, the writer from childhood loved science fiction, periodically worked as an editor in various publications specializing in literature of this genre, and was also the chairman of the club of science fiction buffs in Sweden.
The trilogy “Millennium” brought Larson world fame, but already posthumous. Having concluded a contract for the publication of books, the writer did not live to see this. November 9, 2004 Larson died of a sudden heart attack. Rumors that his death was not accidental and related to threats of neo-Nazis against him were refuted by his common-law wife and colleagues - they claimed that the journalist was a workaholic, and also smoked a huge amount of cigarettes per day.
However, in the past fifteen years, the journalist has really lived in an atmosphere of constant threat from the radical right, against whom he was active. Larson became a real expert in the field of precautions designed to protect against possible attempts, and even wrote instructions on how exactly journalists should behave in such situations.
Personal life
Stig Larson from 1974 until his death was in a civil marriage with the architect and writer Eva Gabrielsson. They met at a public meeting in support of South Vietnam when Larson was eighteen. Their marriage was never officially registered, according to Eva, her common-law husband feared that his anti-fascist activities could be harmful if their relationship was legalized.
The image of Larson
In the eyes of contemporaries, Stig Larson himself looked like a kind of literary character. He was a modest and quiet man, so they suggest that, had he lived to literary fame, he would not have changed especially. Arriving at the office in the afternoon with his big glasses and an old corduroy jacket, he could sit there until the early hours of the morning, absorbing a huge amount of coffee and smoking up to sixty cigarettes a day. Returning home in the morning, he wrote for several hours before going to bed.
Writer's work
Larson’s literary debut is considered his novel Autists. In it, the author broke with literary norms: the character seemed impersonal, the principles of narration were not respected - there was no beginning or end, the reality described in the novel was weakly similar to reality. But, as already mentioned, the author received world fame after the publication of the detective trilogy "Millennium". It tells of the adventures of hacker girl Lisbeth Salander and journalist Michael Blumqvist. Neither the author nor the publishers assumed that the novel could have such success with the public - Stig Larson’s books have now been translated into more than 40 languages, and the total circulation is 70 million copies.
The books were sequentially published in 2005 (the first part of the trilogy “Men who Hate Women”), in 2006 (the second “The Girl Who Played with Fire”) and in 2007 (the third - “The Castle in the Air that exploded” ").
Initially, Larson planned to create a ten-volume novel. Eva Gabrielsson wanted to finish several hundred pages of the fourth part, which he managed to write before his death, but in the end, “The Girl Who Stuck in the Web” was completed by David Lagerkranz. However, it is difficult to call the author of this book Larson, it is too much different from the rest of the trilogy. There are still sketches for the next two books, and debates about what fate awaits them are still ongoing.
Interestingly, the author began to write a trilogy while resting from his main work - social activities, journalism and editing. The creation of literary conspiracies and their consistent disclosure allowed him to relax, since such an occupation did not threaten him or his wife. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stig Larson was more of a hobby for him than a main occupation.
In 2009, Larson became the most popular writer for European readers. The book received bestseller status in five European countries.
Screen versions of the trilogy
All three books were filmed by Swedish directors in 2009 - the first part of the trilogy was shot by Niels Oplev, the other two by Daniel Alfredson.
In 2010, a series based on the trilogy appeared on the screens.
In 2011, the Hollywood film adaptation of the first book of the Millennium was shot (directed by David Fincher, starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig). The continuation of the trilogy is still in a frozen status, since the negotiations on the filming are not completed, although the script is already ready.
Comic book “Girl with a Dragon Tattoo”
Between 2012 and 2014, Vertigo released a series of comic books based on Stig Larson’s books, which are available both in print and electronic. The authors were Leonardo Manco and Andrea Mutti. Comic book publishers felt that the plot and characters of the trilogy are the best suited to adapt it to this genre, and quite successfully implemented their idea.