What is often termed 'Nordic Noir' has dominated detective fiction, film and television internationally for over two decades. But what are the parameters of this genre, both historically and geographically? What is noirish and what is northern about Nordic noir? The foreword and coda in this volume, by two internationally-bestselling writers of crime fiction in the north, Yrsa Sigur?ardottir and Gunnar Staalesen, speak to the social contract undertaken by writers of noir, while the interview with the renowned crime writer Val McDermid adds nuance to our understanding of what it is to write noir in the North.
Divided into four sections - Gender and Sexuality, Space and Place, Politics and Crime, and Genre and Genealogy - Noir in the North challenges the traditional critical histories of noir by investigating how it functions transnationally beyond the geographical borders of Scandinavia. The essays in this book deepen our critical understanding of noir more generally by demonstrating, for example, Nordic noir's connection to fin-de-siecle literatures and to mid-century interior design, and by investigating the function of the state in crime fiction.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Blood on snow - it's not all you need (or want) to know about Nordic noir and its almost magical appeal around the world. An elegant, intelligent, and comprehensive guide to the connections between the bewitching stylistic effects in fiction and media and the realities of (and behind) Scandinavian social democracy, this collection will intensify the pleasure of fans and enlighten readers everywhere about what serious cultural work popular fiction can accomplish. * Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, USA * Eschewing the more commonly used Nordic Noir, this fabulous collection stakes out more ambitious and far-reaching critical territory, simultaneously conjoining and undoing its central terms - Noir and North. The usual suspect are here - Sjoewall and Wahloeoe, The Bridge, The Killing, Larsson, Nesbo - but so too are more unexpected figures: The Fall, Lillyhammer, Ann Cleaves, French decadence, Val McDermid. Along the way, the complacent assumptions of genre and region are jettisoned and thrillingly replaced by a mystery that refuses to be easily solved: what if Nordic Noir is neither exclusively Nordic nor easily characterised as noir? * Andrew Pepper, Senior Lecturer in English, Queen's University Belfast, UK * For those of us teaching and researching in the area, Noir in the North is a timely and stimulating study that makes a significant contribution to a dynamic area within crime fiction studies. At its heart is a crucial debate - across critical and creative fields - about the relationship between a transnational approach and the highly localised settings, cultures and languages from which this work emerges. It is also a study that takes its coordinates seriously, interrogating both the concept of 'north' (as shifting geographical territory and imagined space) and the tricky, seductive parameters of 'noir' in its literary, cinematic and televised forms. As well as addressing more familiar narratives around the political origins and commitments of Scandinavian crime fiction, these are essays that lead in new directions - towards the hidden colonial legacies of the region and the resonant 'whiteness' of the genre. * Maria Stuart, Assistant Professor, School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin *
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Maße
Höhe: 229 mm
Breite: 152 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-5013-4286-8 (9781501342868)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Stacy Gillis is Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University, UK. She is the editor of four books, including Feminism, Domesticity and Popular Culture (co-edited with Joanne Hollows, 2009).
Gunnthorunn Gudmundsdottir is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland. She is the author of Representations of Forgetting in Life Writing and Fiction (2016).
Herausgeber*in
Newcastle University, UK
University of Iceland, Iceland
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Foreword
Yrsa Sigur?ardottir (Author, Iceland)
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: Noir in the North
Gunnthorunn Gu?mundsdottir (University of Iceland, Iceland) and Gerardine Meaney (University College Dublin, Ireland)
PART I GENDER AND TRANSNATIONAL DIMENSIONS
2. The Woman Between: A Social Network Analysis of The Fall and The Bridge
Gerardine Meany (University College Dublin, Ireland), Derek Greene (University College Dublin, Ireland), Karen Wade (University College Dublin, Ireland), Maria Mulvany (University College Dublin, Ireland)
3. Adapting Nordic Noir: From Forbrydelsen to The Killing
Delphine Letort (Le Mans University, France)
4. Lilyhammer's 'Land of Second Chances': Masculinity, Violence and Corruption
Catherine Ross Nickerson (Emory University, USA)
PART II SPACE AND PLACE
5. Views from The Bridge: Panoramas, Streetscapes and the Optics of Noir
Graeme Gilloch (Lancaster University, UK)
6. Complex Nostalgias: North, Pastness and Community Survival in Arnaldur Indri?ason's Strange Shores and Ann Cleeves' Blue Lightning
Daisy Neijmann (University of Iceland, Iceland)
7. Nordic Noir and the 'Postcolonial' North: The Legacies of Danish Colonialism in the Nordic Region
Christinna Hazzard (Liverpool John Moores University, UK)
PART III POLITICS AND MORALITY
8. Crime's Cartography: Using Sjoewall and Wahloeoe's Story of a Crime to Map Sweden's Coordinates within Global Neoliberalism's Uneven Spread
Patrick Kent Russell (University of Connecticut, USA)
9. Kid Stuff: Nordic Noir, Politics, and Quality
Andrew Nestingen (University of Washington, USA)
10. Dark Nights and Moral Diversity: Re-thinking Morality in Nordic Noir
Mary Evans (London School of Economics, University of London, UK)
PART IV GENEALOGY AND GENRE
11. What's in a Name: The Thorny Thread of Nordic Noir
Bjoern Nordfjoerd (St. Olaf College, USA)
12. Bleakness and Tenacity: Nordic Noir and Fin-de-siecle French Decadent Literature
Christopher James (Bridgewater College, USA)
13. Dragon Tattoos, Crime, and the City: The Contemporary Epic
Giti Chandra (University of Iceland, Iceland)
14. The New Swedish Police Thriller of the 2010s
Kerstin Bergman (Lund University, Sweden)
15. 'Safe Little Norway': Norwegian Noir and the Roots of Subversive Sociopolitical Commentary
Nina Muzdeka (University of Novi Sad, Serbia)
16. Val McDermid on Noir in the North
Interview by Lorna Hill (University of Stirling, UK)
Coda
Gunnar Staalesen
Index
