Re: [Marxism] Dipping my toe into Nordic Noir.
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * A BBC doc on Swedish noir https://youtu.be/RiwObVhyoc8 -- Best regards, Andrew Stewart Message: 2 Date: Mon, 18 May 2020 08:13:19 -0400 From: Louis Proyect To: Daniel Lindvall via Marxism Subject: Re: [Marxism] Dipping my toe into Nordic Noir. Message-ID: <5240c706-f7bb-2170-215d-215c50ab7...@panix.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed On 5/18/20 2:03 AM, Daniel Lindvall via Marxism wrote: > The politics of the ten Beck novels by Sj?wall & Wahl?? tend to become more obvious as the series progresses. If you don?t feel like reading all ten in chronological order, but want to give them one more chance, I suggest you skip to ?The Abominable Man? (the 7th book, published in 1971). You could also search out the film based on this story, ?The Man on the Roof? (1976, directed by Sweden?s greatest director of the second half of the 20th century, Bo Widerberg). I went through the trouble to have his "Adalen 31" digitized and put on Youtube. From the introduction to the film on my blog: After a number of false starts, I was finally able to upload Bo Widerberg?s ?Adalen 31? to Youtube, a film that I saw when it came out in 1969 and that has lingered in my memory all these years. The title is a reference to a general strike in the Adalen district by paper mill workers in 1931 that led to the first in a series of Social Democratic governments that for many people defined the word socialism. What I took away from the film, besides its stunning artistic power, was the idea that there was a dialectical relationship between revolutionary struggle and reform. If not for the four men and one young girl who were shot down in the village of Lunde on May 14, 1931, it is altogether possible that the modern Scandinavian welfare state never would have been born. https://louisproyect.org/2015/04/15/adalen-31/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Dipping my toe into Nordic Noir.
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 5/18/20 2:03 AM, Daniel Lindvall via Marxism wrote: The politics of the ten Beck novels by Sjöwall & Wahlöö tend to become more obvious as the series progresses. If you don’t feel like reading all ten in chronological order, but want to give them one more chance, I suggest you skip to ”The Abominable Man” (the 7th book, published in 1971). You could also search out the film based on this story, ”The Man on the Roof” (1976, directed by Sweden’s greatest director of the second half of the 20th century, Bo Widerberg). I went through the trouble to have his "Adalen 31" digitized and put on Youtube. From the introduction to the film on my blog: After a number of false starts, I was finally able to upload Bo Widerberg’s “Adalen 31” to Youtube, a film that I saw when it came out in 1969 and that has lingered in my memory all these years. The title is a reference to a general strike in the Adalen district by paper mill workers in 1931 that led to the first in a series of Social Democratic governments that for many people defined the word socialism. What I took away from the film, besides its stunning artistic power, was the idea that there was a dialectical relationship between revolutionary struggle and reform. If not for the four men and one young girl who were shot down in the village of Lunde on May 14, 1931, it is altogether possible that the modern Scandinavian welfare state never would have been born. https://louisproyect.org/2015/04/15/adalen-31/ _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Dipping my toe into Nordic Noir.
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * If you want to read the very best of contemporary Swedish noir I highly recommend the Harry Kvist trilogy by Martin Holmén (http://www.martinholmen.se/english.html). Set in the 1930s it is also, very deliberately, a comment on our own times. > > The politics of the ten Beck novels by Sjöwall & Wahlöö tend to become more > obvious as the series progresses. If you don’t feel like reading all ten in > chronological order, but want to give them one more chance, I suggest you > skip to ”The Abominable Man” (the 7th book, published in 1971). You could > also search out the film based on this story, ”The Man on the Roof” (1976, > directed by Sweden’s greatest director of the second half of the 20th > century, Bo Widerberg). > > However, I do think that there is some exaggeration regarding the progressive > character of the Beck novels. As is often the case with stories that focus a > bit too narrowly on alienation, they tend to remain individualistic and can > be read almost as easily as a conservative critique of modernism and the > welfare state. > > > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/daniel.lindvall%40filmint.nu _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Dipping my toe into Nordic Noir.
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The politics of the ten Beck novels by Sjöwall & Wahlöö tend to become more obvious as the series progresses. If you don’t feel like reading all ten in chronological order, but want to give them one more chance, I suggest you skip to ”The Abominable Man” (the 7th book, published in 1971). You could also search out the film based on this story, ”The Man on the Roof” (1976, directed by Sweden’s greatest director of the second half of the 20th century, Bo Widerberg). However, I do think that there is some exaggeration regarding the progressive character of the Beck novels. As is often the case with stories that focus a bit too narrowly on alienation, they tend to remain individualistic and can be read almost as easily as a conservative critique of modernism and the welfare state. > > I frankly expected more > obvious politics. The villain if he could be called that was a near 40 year > "deviated prevert". And the heroes were all servants of the state > apparatus. Moreover they didn't appear majorly alienated from that > apparatus. It worked very efficiently at state and national level to solve > the crime with one individualist aha moment - use of the photographs and > film. > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Dipping my toe into Nordic Noir. "So when you read the Martin Beck series you may wonder: how do "committed Marxists" write crime fiction?"
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * An old meditation on CRIME FICTION:Sjöwall and Wahlöö. Back in the day. CRIME FICTION:Sjöwall and Wahlöö: Marxism and crime fiction "But Sjöwall and Wahlöö occupy a special place in crime fiction not only for their approach to plotting and character but they, more than any other novelists you can possibly find, were willing to market a shared CV that registered them as committed Marxists. "So when you read the Martin Beck series you may wonder: how do "committed Marxists" write crime fiction?" https://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/wahloo-sjowall-marxism-and-crime.html dave riley _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
