DJs krimiblog

As the market is literally flooded with reviews of Stieg Larsson´s books, I have chosen to take a closer look at the two main characters, first the journalist Carl Mikael Blomkvist, and later Lisbeth Salander who is employed as a private investigator. (This piece is based on the first book exclusively).

Mikael Blomkvist does not appear in the prologue but on the first page of chapter one it is clear that Stieg Larsson deliberately draws parallels to the late Swedish author Astrid Lindgren´s trilogy about the boy detective Kalle Blomkvist (first published 1949-56; Bill Bergson in English), "´Let us have a comment´ said the journalist from one of the tabloids." The parallel is elaborated on the following pages where we get a background story telling us how Mikael as a very young journalist exposed a gang of bank robbers almost by accident, and earned immediate fame plus an obvious nickname. Mikael himself is not exactly thrilled, "Never an evil word about Astrid Lindgren - he looved her books, but hated the pet name."

Later in the book are only a few direct references. Soon after our first meeting with Elisasbeth Salander she hands in a report about Mikael Blomkvist to her client with an ironic comment, "... after this slap in the face it will presumably take a long time before master detective Blomkvist receives the Great Journalist Prize." Lindgren Experts will know that she refers to the title of the first Bill Bengtson volume.

And what does Mikael Blomkvist have in common with his namesake? It is quite easy to see in Mikael a grown-up edition of brave, lively and imaginative Kalle. Mikael is the incarnation of the idealistic, investigative reporter with an out-and-out boy scout moral. He is a loyal friend, rarely gets drunk and is highly conscious of the ethics of his profession. In keeping with his strong principles he receives a sentence for aggravated libel without further ado because he feels he deserved it. It goes without saying that he is an inveterate opponent of racism, Nazism plus any kind of discrimination, oppression and abuse of women. Last but not least, he is employed to solve an old case about a missing person, thus a de facto amateur detective.

Now that Stieg Larsson has established the connection between the two characters, he only uses the byname three-four times in the course of the last four hundred pages, first and foremost to underline Mikael Blomkvist´s role as the nice, upright boy who never breaks the rules of society.

Obviously, Mikael Blomkvist does deviate from his role model at certain points. Apart from being a boy scout he is a grown-up, postmodern protagonist. Mikael, who is divorced and has a teenage daughter, is clearly better at cooking and cleaning his studio flat than Salander, and he does not only endorse (guilt-)free sex, he even participates in a long-standing ménage à trois and is in every possible way a product of millennium Sweden. Now, one can only guess at what Astrid Lindgren´s protagonist would have turned into as Scandinavia´s most brilliant writer of children´s fiction died in 2002. It is not unlikely that she would have let her character move with the times, however.

N.B.: the point of this characterization is not to reduce Stieg Larsson´s fascinating crime novel to a children´s book. Just like Mikael Blomkvist, Stieg Larsson undoubtedly loved Astrid Lindgren´s books and while he relates to his own characters with his tongue in his cheeks, it is emphasized time and time again that the fight against sexual abuse of women should be taken seriously! Stieg Larsson has simply brought his childhood heroes into action against despicable crimes, and personally I interpret his entertaining trick as a tribute to an amazing author.