Mallarmé as Jesus
Naked Singularity Big Read Schedule
More on Bolano’s Journalist
Lord save us . . . yes, I know, every copy of Stieg Larsson that Vintage sells means that it can prop up some deserving, underearning author. And I’ll even grant that Larsson isn’t nearly as bad as lots of the bestsellers that get published.
But do we really need Larsson’s adolescent writings?
“We have received material from a small archive from a periodical called the Jules Verne Magazine, and in that small archive there were some manuscripts by the author Stieg Larsson that were never published,” Sweden’s deputy national librarian Magdalena Gram told AFP.
The manuscripts, written around 1970 when Larsson was just 17, were “in the science fiction genre” and had been sent to magazines in hope of publication, Gram said.
I don’t know what’s worse: the idea that Vintage would greenlight writing rejected over 30 years ago by a defunct magazine, or that people would actually choose to buy this over some other book just because it has Larsson’s name on it.
Well, then there’s this . . .
Gabrielsson says, for example, that Christopher MacLehose, a legendary editor and publisher who acquired the books in England and gave them their catchy titles, needlessly prettified the translation. The translator, Steven T. Murray, says that he feels the same way; he was so upset by MacLehose’s tinkering that he asked that his name be removed and a pseudonym be used instead. MacLehose pointed out to me that the translations were commissioned by the Swedish film company and were originally intended not for publication but to aid an English-speaking screenwriter whom the producers were hoping to hire, and for that reason they were done with unusual speed. All he did, he said, was polish and tighten them up a bit, the way he might with any translation.
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I enjoyed Larsson’s books for the mental vacation they provided. Without leaving home, I was able to take a break from life. I find it alternatively hilarious and irritating at how seriously they are taken. Let the books be what they are, no one needs to over analyze his writing or read anything else he ever wrote. There isn’t a lot more to say other than, when you want a romp, choose a Larsson book.