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01 02 Death in a Cold Climate is a celebration and analysis of Scandinavian crime fiction, one of the most successful literary genres. Barry Forshaw, the UK's principal expert on crime fiction, discusses books, films and TV adaptations, from Sjöwall and Wahlöö's influential Martin Beck series through Henning Mankell's Wallander to Stieg Larsson's demolition of the Swedish Social Democratic ideal in the publishing phenomenon The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo . In intelligent but accessible fashion, the book examines the massive commercial appeal of the field along with Nordic cultural differences from Iceland to Denmark. Including unique interview material with writers, publishers and translators, this is the perfect reader's guide to the hottest strand of crime fiction today, examined both as a literary form and as an index to the societies it reflects. Includes Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbø, Håkan Nesser, Karin Fossum, Camilla Läckberg, Liza Marklund, Jussi Adler-Olsen, Arnaldur Indriðason, Roslund & Hellströmand many others. 04 02 Acknowledgments Introduction Crime and the Left The Cracks Appear: Henning Mankell Sweden: The Dream Darkens Sweden: Foreign Policy and Unreliable Narratives Last Orders: The Larsson Phenomenon The Fight Back: Anti-Larsson Writers Criminals and Criminologists Norway: Crime and Context Norway and Nesbø Iceland: Crime and Context Fringe Benefits: Icelandic Woes Finland: Crime and Context Death in Denmark Danish Uncertainties Film and TV Adaptations Bibliography Index 31 02 A celebration and analysis of Scandinavian crime fiction, one of the most successful literary genres, with a focus on books, films and TV adaptations of authors such as Stieg Larsson. 08 02 'Extensive, penetrating and intelligently written, Barry Forshaw's book is the most fulfilling work on the strange genre of Nordic Noir I have ever encountered.' - Håkan Nesser, author of The Inspector and Silence 'Death in a Cold Climate is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the fictional underbelly of the Nordic psyche, whose popularity has become the publishing sensation of the century. Perceptive, witty and awesomely well-researched.' - Andrew Taylor, author of The American Boy 'Far more than a checklist, this is the essential guide through the snowdrifts of Nordic Noir.' Val McDermid, author of The Wire in the Blood 'With customary depth and precision, Forshaw gets under the skin of this celebrated genre, uncovering many of its secrets and riches. Like its subjects, this book is hard to put down, and will undoubtedly be returned to time and again.' - Dr Steven Peacock, University of Hertfordshire, UK 'A fascinating, comprehensive and very enjoyable overview of the publishing phenomenon that is Nordic noir, placing it in a cultural and historical context, with insightful contributions from writers, translators and editors - an essential reading guide for lovers of the crime genre.' - Laura Wilson, crime fiction critic, The Guardian 'The sudden triumphant rise of Nordic mystery stories is a fascinating puzzle of modern literature. With forensic intelligence, captivating characters, riveting clues and sub-plots, Barry Forshaw investigates and satisfyingly explains what happened.' - Mark Lawson 'Not a stone is left unturned in Barry Forshaw's witty, encyclopedic investigation into the fictional crimes that have made Scandinavia the most talked about region in the world of books. Death in a Cold Climate is a unique and admirable personal testament to the writers, translators and publishers who have dedicated themselves to introducing Scandinavian crime fiction, its many languages and cultures, to the English speaking world. If upon turning the last page of Forshaw's book you are not immediately heading for the nearest bookstore to buy up every Scandinavian crime novel on its shelves, you were probably not meant to read this book in the first place.' - Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen, University College London, UK 'What Barry Forshaw doesn't know about crime fiction, to borrow an old phrase, isn't worth knowing. A journalist, chronicler of the genre, and talking head for the CWA Awards, with Death in a Cold Climate he covers in depth the extraordinarily popular sub-genre that is Nordic noir...Through interviews with authors and translators, Forshaw offers in-depth takes on the cream of the Nordic crop...an informative and educational effort from perhaps the nation's leading expert in the field.' - Dennis O'Donnell, bookgeeks.co.uk 'Death in a Cold Climate is both intelligent and perceptive. Humble it is not. It is, to my knowledge, the most complete guide to Scandinavian crime fiction yet written in any language, an invaluable companion for anyone interested in the genre.' - Mons Kallentoft, Financial Times 02 02 Barry Forshaw, the UK's principal crime fiction expert, presents a celebration and analysis of the Scandinavian crime genre; from Sjöwall and Wahlöö's Martin Beck series, through Henning Mankell's Wallander, to Stieg Larsson's demolition of the Swedish Social Democratic ideal in the publishing phenomenon The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo . 16 02 Arvas & Nestingen (eds): SCANDINAVIAN CRIME FICTION (EUROPEAN CRIME FICTIONS SERIES); University of Wales Press, forthcoming 2011 (pbk £24.99) This is the only study in English of Nordic crime fiction.  It is an edited volume exploring the cultural contexts into which Nordic crime fiction fits via thirteen articles on the history, aesthetics, and film and television adaptation of Nordic crime fiction. 19 02 Scandinavian crime fiction is currently one of the most successful popular fiction genres Includes exclusive interview material with authors, translators and publishers of Scandinavian crime fiction This is the first in-depth study of Scandinavian crime fiction Places key authors in their relevant context to explore the ways in which British and American notions of the Nordic democratic ideal have changed Highly experienced and proactive author 13 02 BARRY FORSHAWis a writer and journalist specialising in crime fiction and cinema. His books include The Man Who Left Too Soon: The Life and Works of Stieg Larsson (2010), British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia (2008), The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction (2007), Italian Cinema: Arthouse to Exploitation (2006) and the forthcoming British Crime Film (2012), and he has contributed to the Directory of World Cinema . He has also written for a variety of national newspapers as well as for Movie Mail , Waterstone's Books Quarterly and Good Book Guide and is editor of the online Crime Time magazine. He is also a talking head for the ITV Crime Thriller author profiles and BBC TV documentaries, and has been Vice Chair of the Crime Writers' Association.

Swedish crime fiction became an international phenomenon in the first decade of the 21st century, starting first with novels but then percolating through Swedish-language television serials and films and onto English-language BBC productions and Hollywood remakes. This book looks at the rich history of 'Scandinavian noir', examines the appeal of this particular genre and attempts to reveal why it is distinct from the plethora of other crime fictions.

Phantoms of War in Contemporary German Literature, Films and Discourse offers an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of fundamental shifts in German cultural memory. Focusing on the resurgence of family stories in fiction, autobiography and in film, this study challenges the institutional boundaries of Germany's memory culture that have guided and arguably limited German identity debates. Essays on contemporary German literature are complemented by explorations of heritage films and museum discourse. Together these essays put forward a compelling theory of family narratives and a critical evaluation of generational discourse.

The profound political and social changes Germany has undergone since 1989 have been reflected in an extraordinarily rich range of contemporary writing. Contemporary German Fiction focuses on the debates that have shaped the politics and culture of the new Germany that has emerged from the second half of the 1990s onwards and offers the first comprehensive account of key developments in German literary fiction within their social and historical context. Each chapter begins with an overview of a central theme, such as East German writing, West German writing, writing on the Nazi past, writing by women and writing by ethnic minorities. The authors discussed include Günter Grass, Ingo Schulze, Judith Hermann, Christa Wolf, Christian Kracht and Zafer Senocak. These informative and accessible readings build up a clear picture of the central themes and stylistic concerns of the best writers working in Germany today.

Germans Going Global is the first monograph in English to address in depth the interrelatedness between contemporary German literature and globalization. In an interdisciplinary framework and through detailed readings of a wide variety of texts, the study shows how the challenges globalization has posed for Germany over the last two decades have been manifested and reimagined in aesthetic production. Analyses of the literary marketplace and public debates illuminate the more material sides of this development. The study also analyzes the ways in which German-language writers born between 1955 and 1975, such as Chr. Kracht, Th. Meinecke, J. Hermann, S. Berg, F. Illies, K. Röggla, J. v. Düffel, and G. Hens, respond to the pressures of globalizing factors, and how these have influenced notions of authorship and literary aesthetics. It shows how narratives dealing with the neoliberal work world, global travel, and the aftermath of 09/11 implicitly comment on contemporary debates on globalization, its socio-economic nature, and the impact for local culture. By presenting a literary history of the present, Germans Going Global deepens the reader's understanding of contemporary Germany and its cultural production.

This paper examines the interplay between polygyny and gender by exploring the way in which family structure and gender roles are negotiated, imagined and exercised in fiction. Aminatta Forna's Ancestor Stones (2006) is read in order to explore how the institution of polygyny changes over time and how it influences gender role negotiation. Using an African feminist approach, the paper juxtaposes the historical and contemporary institution of polygyny in relation to gender role negotiation and how contemporary writers build on their literary precursors in re-writing the history of polygyny and gender according to the socio-cultural needs of twenty-first century Africans. These changes in socio-cultural, economic and political spheres in Africa have played a pivotal role in altering family structure and arrangements. I therefore argue that the changes in familial structure and arrangement necessitate gender role negotiation.

To ascertain the scope of their impact, Bridge combines analyses on three different topics that previous scholarship had analyzed separately: literary representations of the Nazi past, biographical fiction, and mythical themes. The reason that literature was able to withstand official state policy and develop away from state-sponsored historiography lies, so Bridge, in its \"opaque relationship to reality, ... , its critical commentary on society and its roots in subjective, individual experience\"(26), whereas \"historiography ... is confined ... in a totalitarian state such as the GDR, to a single overarching narrative\" (24).