Dragon tattoos, friends and fame

• Source: Global Times
• [09:33 September 03 2010]
• Comments

The cover of The Girl Who Played With Fire. Photos: Courtesy of Swedish Consulate of Shanghai

"Larsson was a fantastic researcher, but he was less fantastic as a journalist. He liked to write down everything he could, so his articles became too full of information. For him the best thing was to write novels with the same content."

The novels also offered the opportunity to explore the larger issues that were a lifelong passion for the Swede and reflect his work as a political activist.

The Millennium Trilogy, aside from being explosive, fast-paced crime novels, also deals with women's rights, fascism and racism.

The trilogy fictionalizes many characters Larsson came into contact with during his time as an investigative journalist, according to Baksi.

"As a journalist he had a very intuitive grasp of where corruption or abuse was taking place. But he was often not able to produce enough evidence to back up a claim about this or that minister. So the books became helpful; you don't need to show any facts in fiction, you are free."

Larsson was, according to Baksi, aware of his potential for success in Scandinavia and Germany, but would never have been able to foresee his extraordinary rise to fame.

"He was a shy man and probably wouldn't have given many interviews. He liked journalism, but he wasn't very fond of journalists."

The Larsson fortune, amassed entirely posthumously, has been the subject of considerable media attention. During his time as the editor of Expo, the Swede received numerous death threats from the ultra right-wing groups he was trying to expose.

A clause in Swedish marriage law, that all married couples must disclose their addresses, meant that, to be safe, Larsson and long-term partner Eva Gabrielsson never married. Gabrielsson was subsequently denied any claim on Larsson's will.

A second will, purportedly found by Gabrielsson in May 2008, which declared the author's wish to leave all assets to the Ume? branch of the Communist Workers League, was rejected by the Swedish courts because it was unwitnessed.

The Girl Who Played With Fire is available online and in bookstores now in English, and in Chinese from this month.