Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2012, Blaðsíða 28

28
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2012
Literature | Nordic
What’s So Great About
Nordic Crime Fiction?
About a dozen years ago, a ground-
swell of interest in Nordic crime fic-
tion began to gradually grow with
appearance of Peter Høeg’s intrigu-
ing tale of ‘Miss Smilla’s Feeling For
Snow’. Around the same time a Brit-
ish publisher, who had clearly gone
out of his way to find an Icelandic-
speaking Englishman, contacted
me with a request to comment on a
book by an unknown quantity from
Iceland. I produced a fairly favour-
able report on one of Arnaldur In-
driðason’s first novels, with the ver-
dict that even if that particular one
didn’t suit them, this guy would be
worth watching.
The publisher has been bringing out
Arnaldur’s books ever since.
GIMME FICTION, NORDIC FICTION
Nordic crime fiction has since become
increasingly available in English, rep-
resented primarily by Swedish and
Norwegian writers, with a handful of
Danish, Finnish and Icelandic authors
in the mix.
The word on the qualities of Nordic
crime fiction is out in the open, gone
mainstream with the arrival of Stieg
Larsson’s trilogy of blockbusters. But
let’s backtrack a decade or three. At
the end of the sixties, a series of exotic
crime stories appeared in English. Writ-
ten by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, the
Martin Beck novels were a breath of
fresh air and shone a bright new light
on aspects of Scandinavian life that
none of us had suspected existed. But
then everything went quiet again, with
their ten outstanding books relegated
to odd corners of bookshops and librar-
ies as an oddity that couldn’t be easily
pigeonholed—until now.
Today, English-language readers
are spoilt for choice with a host of tal-
ented crime writers being hastily trans-
lated following Stieg Larsson’s success,
preceded by that other top-selling
Swede, Henning Mankell, both of them
launched into English by canny Brit-
ish publisher Christopher Maclehose
who also set the ball rolling with Miss
Smilla. Most of what we are seeing is
making its way to English from Sweden
and Norway. Liza Marklund, Jo Nesbø,
Camilla Läckberg and others are filling
the shelves, while writers from Finland,
Denmark and Iceland are largely being
pulled along with the flow—plus a few
outsiders with the impertinence to set
their work in Nordic countries.
From a dearth of Nordic crime a
few years ago, there’s now so much
available that it would be practically a
full-time job reading through it as it ap-
pears.
But it’s worth remembering that
what we’re discovering now is only
what readers in Germany have known
for years. Let’s face it, we native English
speakers don’t read much foreign stuff.
Fiction in translation represents a tiny
percentage of books published every
year—making Stieg Larsson’s grand ar-
rival even more remarkable.
HOW DO THEy TRANSLATE?
While Arnaldur Indriðason and Yrsa
Sigurðardóttir have made it into Eng-
lish, there are other fine Icelandic
writers who haven’t been able to fol-
low, despite success in Germany. Even
Denmark’s king of crime fiction, Jussi
Adler-Olsen, who sells by the truckload
in Germany, is only just set to appear for
the first time in English this year.
What has certainly helped Arnaldur
and Yrsa is that their first books were
translated by the mighty Bernard Scud-
der with a lightness of touch and a sen-
sitivity that made them almost better in
English. Such is the importance of the
translator that a good translation can
make a good book shine—but equally
a poor translation can ruin a fine book
in the transition from one language to
another, and any writer is entirely at the
mercy of his or her translator.
The attraction of Nordic crime fic-
tion is largely about touch and feel, the
atmosphere of the Nordic countries is
subtly different yet still familiar. In spite
of its ferocious winters, Scandinavia is
perceived as being a safe and comfort-
able part of the world, so the portrayal
of evil deeds in these cosy surround-
ings provides much the frisson that
crime fiction demands.
Crime writing isn’t so much about
crime as location and character, the
regular players as well as the transi-
tory villains, and Nordic crime fiction’s
sleuths tend to be real, highly believ-
able types—complete with flaws. Ar-
naldur’s Erlendur and Yrsa’s Þóra carry
with them convincing baggage that
takes the reader straight to Iceland.
But what is striking about Nordic
crime fiction is the undeniable quality
of the writing. This is good stuff, well
written and paced, in a genre that has
seen a shortage of good homegrown
stuff in recent years. Is Nordic crime
fiction (in English) here to stay—or is
this a flash in a fashionable pan?
Stieg Larsson is bound to be fol-
lowed by a host of imitations in the
same way that Harry Potter spawned
a brood of youthful magical lookalikes.
So what’s next? My guess is that Nor-
dic crime is here to stay once the Stieg
Larsson brouhaha has died away. But,
crime buffs, watch out for Mediterra-
nean Noir with its sharp smell of garlic,
pastis and sun-baked machismo—and
as good fiction tends to spring from
turmoil, watch out for the Irish. There’s
a band of writers in the Emerald Isle
with plenty to prove. Don’t forget you
heard it here first.
“The attraction of Nordic crime fiction is
largely about touch and feel, the atmosphere
of the Nordic countries is subtly different yet
still familiar.”
Quentin Bates is an occasional Grapevine contributor and former fisherman (he sailed on sev-
eral Icelandic trawlers!). He published his first novel, ‘Frozen Out’ on Constable & Robinson in
the UK (also available as ‘Frozen Assets’ by Soho Press in the US) in late 2011, and just released
his second one, ‘Cold Comfort’ this March! Congratulations, Quentin!
Words
Quentin Bates
Photograph
Promotional
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, who began her
writing career in children’s fiction,
wrote her first crime fiction novel in
2005. She has since then become one
of Iceland’s best-selling contemporary
authors and is now working on her
eighth crime novel. Between writing,
working as a civil engineer, and caring
for a family, Yrsa fielded a few ques-
tions for us…
Iceland probably has one of the
lowest crime rates in the world.
What is it about the crime fiction
genre that thrives here?
I think the appeal of crime fiction is very
different from actual crime. If you’re in-
terested in crime, you read the news-
papers. Fiction is more about the feel-
ings of the people involved, what drives
characters to murder and how others
respond to it. So it’s more about the
mystery and the drama involved.
The main character of your crime
novels is attorney Þóra Guðmunds-
dóttir, a smart, single mother of
two. Does her character embody
the Icelandic female?
Yes, she’s supposed to be a typical
Icelandic female—not that they are typi-
cally single mothers—but juggling fam-
ily life and work is something that most
Icelandic females will do when they be-
come mothers.
As a mother of two, and an engi-
neer by day, how do you find time
to write?
I don't watch very much TV. It's not as
hard as it somehow sounds. A lot of
Icelandic writers have fulltime jobs, but
perhaps it’s the fact that mine is techni-
cal that makes it unusual.
your novels have been translated
into more than thirty languages and
sold in more than 100 countries.
What do you think it is about them
that most appeals to the world?
It's probably something similar to what
makes Scandinavian crime fiction pop-
ular. Nordic societies are looked upon
as being very kind and sheltered; it’s a
bit like blood on white snow. Nobody is
interested in murder in a war zone.
Nordic crime fiction also tends to
focus more on social issues than your
average crime fiction. The close-knit
ties that people have here with their
friends and family is very much part of
the characters and the development
of the story. Lastly, I think the gloomy
nature and dark nights here are fertile
grounds for crime fiction.
It’s A Bit Like
Blood On White
Snow
Best selling crime writer
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
interviewed
ANNA ANDERSEN
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