NORDIC NOIR
Scandinavian Sleuths

Why are Nordic detective novels so successful? Steig Larson and Henning Mankell (Swedish), Karin Fossum and Jo Nesbø (Norwegian) and Arnaldur Indridason (Icelandic) are among the big names now familiar to crime-fiction readers worldwide. What makes their fiction so accessible to readers? Is it important that, in the words of literary agent Niclas Salomonsson, their style is “realistic, simple and precise...and stripped of unnecessary words”? And how important is the Nordic setting? What is the darkness that these writers seek to disclose behind the prosperity and well-regulated political and social organization of their countries? The course will encourage you to detect the answers for these questions.

COURSE LENGTH: 12 weeks
DISCUSSION TEAM: Nusia Matura, Irene Menear, Erika Podesser-Romwalter
FIRST SESSION: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 10:00 am