"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me

Last updated
"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me
TranslatorLinda Coverdale
LanguageSwedish, English
Publisher Actes Sud, Seven Stories Press
Publication date
2011
Published in English
2011
Cover "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me.jpg
Cover

"There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me is a memoir written by Eva Gabrielsson, the life partner of Stieg Larsson, about life with the author and all of the complications surrounding his legacy. Larsson is best known for his posthumously published Millennium series .

Contents

Relationship

Gabrielsson and Larsson met when they were 18 at an anti-Vietnam War meeting and they remained together for 32 years until his unexpected death in 2004. [1]

Background and contents

The memoir originated with a series of diary entries that Gabrielsson wrote in order to cope with the loss of her partner. It chronicles their life together and puts Larsson's life into context. [2] The title of the book comes from a love letter that Larsson wrote to Gabrielsson when he thought he might die during a trip to Africa in 1977. The letter is included in the memoir along with the details of Larsson's trip to Africa. [3]

Her partner, she says, was a feminist, a hopeless businessman, a journalist who could not hold down a staff job, and a passionate fighter and investigator for social causes and against the Far Right. [4] The memoir details how the couple met and their struggles together at Expo, the anti-fascist publication Larsson founded in 1995. [5] Larsson's crusade against Sweden's right wing fascist movements put him in constant danger and Gabrielsson writes that neo-Nazis left death threats on the couple's answering machine and sent bullets in the mail, and suggests that part of the reason the two of them never married was that it would have made Larsson an easier target for his opponents on the right. [6]

Legacy issues

In her book, Gabrielsson also describes her struggle with Erland and Joakim Larsson, Stieg's estranged father and brother, over control of Larsson's work. Gabrielsson explains feeling "dispossessed" after Larsson's death because, as a common law partner in Sweden with no children, she had no inheritance rights. [7] [8] At one point, Erland and Joakim offered Gabrielsson roughly $3.3 million, but she does not want money and will continue to fight for the literary rights of Larsson's work. One source interviewed a friend who said that Gabrielsson "will not be bought." [9] According to Gabrielsson, Larsson had written 200 pages of a fourth novel in his internationally successful Millennium series before he died; she has been seeking the legal authority to be in charge of what will happen to these 200 pages as well as with all of Larsson's literary work and success, though so far Larsson's family has refused to give her these rights. [10] If granted the literary rights of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series , however, Gabrielsson explains that she is not sure that it is fair for a ghostwriter to complete the work that Larsson had started. [2]

Publication

The memoir was written in Swedish and was first published by Actes Sud in 2011. It was translated into English by Linda Coverdale and published by Seven Stories Press also in 2011.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Bergson</span> Fictional character

Bill Bergson is a fictional character created by Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. The first book featuring him was published in 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lena Endre</span> Swedish actress

Lena Endre is a Swedish actress of film and television, primarily in the Swedish and Norwegian markets, known for her parts in the Liv Ullmann film Trolösa (2000), and the Millennium series of films, based on the eponymous trio of Stieg Larsson books. Endre made her English-language debut in 2012, in Paul Thomas Anderson's movie The Master, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John-Henri Holmberg</span> Swedish writer

John-Henri Bertilson Holmberg is a Swedish author, critic, publisher and translator, and a well-known science fiction fan. In the early 1960s he edited Science fiction Forum with Bertil Mårtensson and Mats Linder and published over 200 science fiction fanzines of his own, in addition to his professional career as editor and critic. One of the fans with whom he worked was fellow Swede Stieg Larsson.

Steven T. Murray (1943–2018) was an American translator from Swedish, German, Danish, and Norwegian. He worked under the pseudonyms Reg Keeland and McKinley Burnett when edited into UK English. He translated the bestselling Millennium series by Stieg Larsson, three crime novels and two African novels by Henning Mankell, three psychological suspense novels by Karin Alvtegen, and works by many other authors. In 2001 he won the Gold Dagger Award in the UK for his translation of Sidetracked by Henning Mankell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stieg Larsson</span> Swedish writer, journalist, and activist (1954-2004)

Karl Stig-Erland "Stieg" Larsson was a Swedish writer, journalist, and activist. He is best known for writing the Millennium trilogy of crime novels, which were published posthumously, starting in 2005, after he died of a sudden heart attack. The trilogy was adapted as three motion pictures in Sweden, and one in the U.S.. The publisher commissioned David Lagercrantz to expand the trilogy into a longer series, which has six novels as of September 2019. For much of his life, Larsson lived and worked in Stockholm. His journalistic work covered socialist politics and he acted as an independent researcher of right-wing extremism.

<i>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</i> 2005 novel by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a psychological thriller novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson (1954–2004). It was published posthumously in 2005, translated into English in 2008, and became an international bestseller.

Yellow Bird is a Swedish film and television production company. In 2003 Danish producer Ole Søndberg and Swedish author Henning Mankell started a collaboration on a series of television films based on Mankell’s famous fictional detective Kurt Wallander and Yellow Bird was born. The success of the initial Wallander films was followed by Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, Jo Nesbø’s Headhunters, Liza Marklund’s Annika Bengtzon series as well as the British version of Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh.

<i>The Girl Who Played with Fire</i> 2006 novel by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire is the second novel in the best-selling Millennium series by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noomi Rapace</span> Swedish actress (born 1979)

Noomi Rapace is a Swedish actress. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the Millennium series (2009): The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. She has gone on to become an acknowledged actor in American movies.

<i>The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest</i> 2007 novel by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is the third novel in the best-selling Millennium series by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published in Swedish in 2007; in English, in the UK, in October 2009; and in the US and Canada on 25 May 2010. The three novels in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005), The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006), and The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest were written by Stieg Larsson before being shown to a publisher and were published posthumously after his fatal heart attack in 2004. Additionally, all three novels were adapted as films.

<i>Millennium</i> (novel series) Series of posthumously published crime novels by Stieg Larsson

Millennium is a series of best-selling and award-winning Swedish crime novels, created by journalist Stieg Larsson. The two primary characters in the saga are Lisbeth Salander, an asocial computer hacker with a photographic memory, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of a magazine called Millennium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisbeth Salander</span> Fictional character in Stieg Larssons Millennium trilogy

Lisbeth Salander is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. She is the lead character in Larsson's award-winning Millennium series, along with the journalist Mikael Blomkvist.

<i>The Postcard Killers</i>

The Postcard Killers (2010) is a crime novel by Swedish writer Liza Marklund and American author James Patterson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikael Blomkvist</span> Character in novels by Stieg Larsson

Mikael Blomkvist is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. He is a main character of Larsson's award-winning Millennium series, along with Lisbeth Salander.

Millennium is a Swedish six-part television miniseries expanded from the 2009 film adaptations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium book series. The miniseries was produced by Yellow Bird in cooperation with several production companies, including SVT, Nordisk Film, Film i Väst and ZDF Enterprises, and was broadcast on SVT1 from 20 March 2010 to 24 April 2010. It was released later in DVD and Blu-ray in the US under the name Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Edition.

Eva Gabrielsson is a Swedish architect, author, political activist, feminist, and the long-time partner of the late Swedish mystery novelist Stieg Larsson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stig Larsson (author)</span> Swedish writer, film writer, director and actor (born 1955)

Stig Håkan Larsson is a Swedish writer of novels, dramas, poetry, political essays and short stories, film writer, director and actor.

Gabrielsson is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lagercrantz</span> Swedish journalist and author (born 1962)

David Lagercrantz is a Swedish journalist and author, internationally known as the author of I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye and The Girl Who Lived Twice. The latter three of these works are the fourth, fifth and sixth instalments respectively in the Millennium series originated by Stieg Larsson. He is a board member of Swedish PEN.

<i>The Girl in the Spiders Web</i> 2015 novel by David Lagercrantz

The Girl in the Spider's Web is the fourth novel in the Millennium series. It focuses on the characters Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Written by David Lagercrantz, this is the first novel in the series not authored by the series' creator and author of the first three Millennium books, Stieg Larsson, who died of a heart attack in 2004. The novel was released worldwide on 27 August 2015, except in the United States, where it was released on 1 September 2015.

References

  1. Gabrielsson, Eva, Marie-Françoise Colombani, and Linda Coverdale. "There Are Things I Want You to Know" about Stieg Larsson and Me. New York: Seven Stories, 2011
  2. 1 2 Pevere, Geoff (27 June 2011). "Life after Larsson". toronto.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28.
  3. Patel, Vibhuti. "Interview With Eva Gabrielsson: Straight Talk on Stieg Larsson - WSJ.com." Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com. Dow Jones & Company Inc, 25 June 2011.
  4. John Lichfield "My role in Stieg Larsson's success, by partner who was left with nothing", The Independent, 17 February 2011
  5. The Guardian, "Stieg Larsson's partner plans to complete final Millennium novel," January 14, 2011 TixDaq
  6. Carr, David. New York Times Book Review, "Remembering Stieg Larsson," July 8, 2011
  7. Porter, Anna (10 October 2010). "Exclusive: Anna Porter talks to Stieg Larsson's life partner". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  8. The Local, "Eva Gabrielsson refuses Larsson family offer," June 17, 2010 Eva Gabrielsson refuses Larsson family offer - The Local
  9. Yerkey, Gary. "Stieg Larsson's Companion Prepares for the Book Tour He Never Took." The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com. The Christian Science Monitor, 14 June 2011.
  10. New York Times, "A Word From Stieg Larsson's Partner and Would-Be Collaborator," February 17, 2011 A Word From Stieg Larsson's Partner, and Would-Be Collaborator - NYTimes.com