Stieg Larsson: Death and Discovery

Stieg Larsson: Death and Discovery

by Jacqueline Seewald

Readers romanticize writers and artists who have died,
especially those who die tragically while still young. Witness the value we now place on the art of Vincent Van Gogh who could barely sell a painting while alive and eventually committed suicide. Then there is the story of John Kennedy Toole, author of A Confederacy of Dunces, who in despair over lack of success as a novelist committed suicide at the age of thirty-two, only to be “discovered” as a great writer thanks to the persistence of his mother and the generosity of Walker Percy.

Stieg Larsson died of a massive coronary at the age of fifty in 2004, a short time after delivering his three Millennium novels to his Swedish publisher. No one including his publisher had any idea that these novels would become international blockbuster bestsellers. Although Larsson co-published two SF magazines with Eva Gabrielsson, his life partner/common law wife, he was mainly known as a left-wing journalist, a journalist who was editor-in-chief of the magazine Expo and campaigned against right-wing extremism in Sweden. He was outspoken against Neo-Nazism and often in fear from death threats made against his life.

There is no question that he both read and admired mystery fiction. Two of the writers that his journalist hero Mikael Blomkvist reads in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo are Sara Paretsky, who also has a social agenda and strong political and social convictions, and Elizabeth George, who writes dark, complex mystery fiction as well.

There is an even greater tragedy and irony to Larsson’s story. Larsson, although an advocate and defender of women’s rights, as can be witnessed in the character of Lisbeth Salander, did not leave a will. Therefore, Eva Gabrielsson, his wife in every way that mattered except legally, inherited none of the millions his novels have now earned. Sweden does not recognize common law marriage. He failed in effect to protect the rights of his own life partner.

As both a reader and a writer of mystery and romance fiction, I have quite naturally read Larsson’s work and appreciate it. But a questions remains: Would Stieg Larsson’s novels have been such amazing bestsellers had he not tragically died before publication? What is your opinion as a reader and/or writer? Please join the discussion and leave a comment.

Jacqueline Seewald
TEA LEAVES AND TAROT CARDS, Five Star/Gale, September 2010
THE INFERNO COLLECTION, Five Star hardcover, Wheeler large print
THE DROWNING POOL, Five Star/Gale