The man who played with Fire

Years after his sudden death ,Kolkata wakes up to Swedish writer,Stieg Larsson’s provocative Millenium trilogy

Stieg Larsson,one of Sweden’s most prominent investagative journalists lived under constant threat from right-wing activists because of his efforts to”counteract the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people.”. Therefore,it’s not a surprise that his early death in 2004 fuelled conspiracy theories galore. But that’s not the reason why you are reading this. The theories about Larsson death have since long been dismissed and it has been established that there was no foul play in his untimely death —he died at the age of 50 because of a massive heart attack. A lithe 24-year-old computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander with seriously misandristic tendencies— an invention of Larsson’s pen—is the reason why the world has woken up to the Swedish writer. The trilogy of dark crime novels featuring Salander as the protagonist,which Larsson wrote before his death, has sold millions of copies around the world. The first instalment (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo),sold 15 milllion copies alone. “Larsson is no less than a phenomenon. His books,which were published posthumously,are solid examples of a well crafted crime novel. They have topped bestseller’s list around the world. We have been stocking his books for the past few months but it’s only now that Kolkata has woken up to him,” s says a representative of the Oxford Bookstore.

There is a reason why Larsson has generated such interest among Kolkata ‘book lovers’. Recent reports about the legal battle between Larsson’s estranged family members and his long-time partner,Eva Gabrielsson,regarding the manuscript of a possible fourth novel,has forced many of us to reach for a Larsson novel. “I wanted to figure out why is everybody talking about the novel. I bought a copy of The Girl with the Golden Tattoo and finished it within a day. It’s a brilliantly mounted novel,” claims Madhurima Mukhopadhyay,a teacher with the Cambridge English School.

At the Familp Bookshop,Steig Larsson’s The Girl with… and The Girl who played with Fire (the second instalment of the trilogy),has sold more copies in the last week than it had in the past few months. “These novels are not very cheap. They are priced above the Rs 400 bracket. But the recent newpaper articles on Larsson have translated into a boost in sales for us. Suddenly,people want to know what he is all about,” says Ashok Burman of the Family Bookshop. At the Starmark Bookstore,Larsson’s novels are prominently displayed and he is listed among the top sellers of the week. “It will be wrong to say that Larsson was not selling in the city before the controversy. It has done consistently well throughout the year. It’s just that we have registred a boost in sales in the last few weeks,” says Gautam Jatia. That maybe so,but it can be safely said that Lisbeth Salander is here to stay.