As the posthumous success of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy seems to grow to ever-more unprecedented levels, with worldwide sales in the millions, it is an apposite time to celebrate the life and work of an intriguing, courageous – and self-destructive – man. Of course, extremely talented people often possess a certain carelessness with regard to their own health, for a variety of reasons. Leonard Bernstein certainly matched Stieg Larsson in terms of a prodigious nicotine intake, but preferred haute cuisine to the junk food that was another element in Stieg Larsson’s own reckless lifestyle.
Bernstein, however, believed he was one of the gods and that the health strictures which ordinary mortals were obliged to take note of simply didn’t apply to him – knowing that he was an immortal in terms of his music, he ill-advisedly applied this mindset to his much-abused body. With Stieg Larsson, who died in 2004 aged 50, the scenario was rather different, and the combination of what might be called a Protestant work ethic and a fierce desire to right the wrongs of the world were partly behind the cavalier approach to his own wellbeing. What counted was the work – not maintaining the instrument that carried it out.
It goes without saying that Larsson’s early death is a crucial element in the mythic qualities that his life and work have come to possess. But it is the innovation and intelligence of the Millennium Trilogy (along with its trenchant and fierce social critiques, so much a part of Larsson’s own crusading personality) that are among the real reasons behind the all-conquering acclaim the books have engendered.
Just as Larsson cannily pays out chunks of information to his readers to create a total picture, it seemed to me appropriate to attempt something similar in this book. The approach I have taken is piecemeal, utilising a variety of elements – Stieg’s life, his influential journalistic career as a courageous fighter against extremist organisations, his relatives, his publishers, his translators, the successful movies being made from his books – and the acrimonious dispute over his legacy. I’ve been lucky enough to speak to most of the people concerned, but like virtually all readers of the novels, I never had a chance to meet the author, for whom the phrase ‘taken too soon’ could have been coined.
Larsson aficionados will be aware that his biography is, to some extent, to be found in his books – hence the concentration here on the three novels of his trilogy, with biographical data built into these sections rather than hived off into separate chapters, though his life is addressed separately. So at the centre of this study (to be read, of course, only after reading the novels themselves) is a thoroughgoing examination of the phenomenally successful novels in the trilogy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, comprising one of the most striking and innovative trilogies in modern fiction. And for all their faults – discussed here alongside their felicities – the auguries are that the books will join the pantheon of the very finest popular literature, to be read for generations to come.
Barry Forshaw, London 2011s