Chapter 3 - Nordic Noir and Gothic Crimes

Summary

Since the millennium, Nordic crime stories have been widely consumed around the globe. They are often set in a bleak Nordic landscape and narrated from an afflicted detective's point of view, whose investigation exposes a morally complex society beneath the seemingly peaceful social surface of the Nordic welfare state. The popularity of these crime novels – sometimes called the Nordic Noir or the Scandi Noir – has given rise to adaptations and transnational fame. Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy (2005–7) and Henning Mankell's series about the Swedish police detective Kurt Wallander (1991–2013) have resulted in a number of Swedish and internationally produced films and TV series. The popularity of Nordic Noir is also due to several internationally successful TV series, such as the Danish The Killing (Forbrydelsen, 2007–12) and the Danish-Swedish The Bridge (Broen/Bron, 2011–18). The two TV series have given rise to several international productions. While the first one has resulted in an American version titled The Killing from 2011–14, the second one has inspired one French-British TV series, The Tunnel (2013–18) and one American adaptation, The Bridge (2013–14).

In the last two decades, a Gothic version of Nordic Noir has emerged that could be called Gothic crime in literature, film and TV productions. Within a realistic tradition of Nordic crime fiction, the police procedure is obstructed by apparently supernatural activities and the interference of uncanny characters. Beyond the well-known everyday world, a mythological world and a dark past appear to be operating and Gothic tropes and narrative strategies are used to mystify the background and the consequences of the committed crime. Although the crime mystery is eventually solved, the potential existence of supernatural powers is confirmed rather than negated. One of the most internationally awarded Swedish novelists of the genre hybridity is Johan Theorin with his quartet of Gothic crime novels set on the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea: Echoes from the Dead (Skumtimmen, 2007), The Darkest Room (Nattfåk, 2008), The Quarry (Blodläge, 2010) and The Voices Beyond (Rörgast, 2013). Another example is Cecilia Ekbäck's historical novels Wolf Winter (I vargavinterns land, 2015) and In the Month of the Midnight Sun (Midnattssolens time, 2016), both of which were first published in England..