Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist will be together. The Lisbeth Salander Trilogy

Stieg Larsson and his legacy

© Britt-Marie Trensmar

Stieg Larsson began the Millennium trilogy in the summer of 2002. He was 48, and before that he had not written a single line of prose. A well-known Swedish journalist, Larsson spent his whole life researching right-wing ideologies and extremist organizations, and writing novels fit his figure so badly that even his friends treated the idea of ​​writing as a joke. Mikael Ekman, a colleague of Larsson, recalled how in 2001 they drank whiskey after work and fantasized about what they would do in retirement. "I'll write a couple of books and be a millionaire," Larsson said. Ekman made fun of him. Larsson's former boss, Kurdo Baxi, reacted in much the same way when Larsson admitted to writing a novel and asked to see the manuscript: "I thought he was joking."

But Larsson was not joking. In two years, he composed a whole trilogy and was already preparing it for publication, but on the morning of November 9, 2004, he suddenly died of a heart attack while climbing the stairs to the seventh floor to his office. Six months later, the first novel appeared in bookstores and immediately became a bestseller in Sweden, and five years later - all over the world.

It was this unusual trajectory of the life (and death) of the writer at first that ensured the success of the books. It's no joke - from scratch he wrote three excellent detective stories and died at the door of fame: a marketer's dream. But the main reason for the popularity of the Millennium trilogy is, of course, the characters.

Mikael Blomkvist

Mikael Nykvist (villain from the first John Wick) played the central male role in the Swedish adaptation of Millennium.

© Niels Arden Oplev

In the American version - agent 007 Daniel Craig

Creating his heroes, Larsson deliberately went against the canons. Noir is a well-established genre: at the center of the story is the invariably gloomy, depressive misanthropic alcoholic-type Harry Hole from, who solves crimes in between trips to his favorite bar and retreats after drinking bouts. Mikael Blomkvist, the founder of the Millennium magazine (hence the name of the cycle), in this sense, the character is the opposite: an absolutely healthy, moderately drinking truth-seeker journalist with a crystal clear reputation; even its outward appeal is played up by Larsson as a mockery of the genre's toxic masculinity. Blomkvist is a hit with women, but within the framework of the books, his flings always look like he's being seduced and dragged to bed, which is pretty witty against the backdrop of ossified notions of irresistible heroes from noir novels.

Lisbeth Salander

The role of a girl with a dragon tattoo and on a motorcycle launched Numi Rapace's Hollywood career (Prometheus, Obshchak)

© Niels Arden Oplev

Lisbeth Salander, like Blomkvist, is a shapeshifting character. With her, Larsson acted even more radically: he took all the known stereotypes about female heroines and turned them inside out. The result is an aggressive hacker girl with a heightened sense of justice and an extremely high IQ, dressed as a punk and slicing through the city on a motorcycle.

Larsson tried to achieve maximum contrast between the characters, and he succeeded: if Blomkvist is an opponent of violence who is always looking for a way to comply with protocols, then Lisbeth, on the contrary, behaves like an avenger from comics - personally punishes those who the law does not reach. In addition, Larsson's protagonists are equal: the author here also abandoned the standard detective trope, not dividing them into Holmes and Watson - the brain and his assistant. It is this novelty - an attempt to play with worn out clichés - as well as the chemistry between the characters that made the books such a success all over the world.

Family thought

The family is perhaps the main unit of measurement in Scandinavian literature. All sagas begin with long enumerations of family ties - who gave birth to whom and from whom. And secrets in Swedish thrillers also most often revolve around skeletons peeking out of closets. According to this formula, for example, many novels by Hokan Nesser or Anna Janson are written: the tragedies and crimes in them are the result of the disorder of life and hidden resentment rather than malicious intent. Recall at least "The Man Without a Dog", where the plot is centered on a family celebration.

Larsson is no exception: the theme of the family is very important to him, but he also plays with it in his own way. If you cut off the excess, then "Millennium" is one big journey of Lisbeth Salander in search of a real family, that is, people who will accept and love her for who she is. Architecturally, all the plots in the trilogy are built so that towards the end the heroine is freed from all tyrants and finds peace. And the main paradox is that Lisbeth's oppressors in this family saga are her blood relatives, her father and half-brother, as well as her court-appointed guardian. Larsson's novels are so well thought out that even if the reader does not see this semantic inversion, he still subconsciously feels the message: the family is not at all an entry in the birth certificate, blood ties are a fiction, and a branch can be broken off from the family tree at any moment and find a new family. This is exactly what Lisbeth does, and therefore the very last scene, when she opens the door for Blomkvist, that is, finally lets him into her life, is perhaps the perfect conclusion to her story.

Who is Eva Gabrielsson

© WANDYCZ Kasia / Gettyimages.ru

Larsson himself, like Salander, also, in a sense, had two families - relatives and a wife. Until the age of eight, he lived with his grandmother in the village, then he nevertheless moved to Stockholm, to his father and brother, but at sixteen he left home. And at eighteen he found a second family - he met the architect Eva Gabrielsson. They worked and traveled together, and in 1981 they went to Grenada altogether, where they studied the revolutionary experience of the newly liberated republic. Gabrielsson played such an important role in Larsson's life that when the Millennium trilogy conquered the world and journalists began to dig into the author's biography, there was a theory that Eva had a hand in the books. This is understandable - even his colleagues doubted Larsson's literary talents to the last, while Gabrielsson, on the contrary, was always known not only as an architect: in her youth she translated Philip K. Dick into Swedish.

What happened after Larsson's death?

Unfortunately, Larsson did not leave a will, and his marriage with Gabrielsson was not officially registered. The writer was afraid that if they had common property, his social activities could endanger her life. Therefore, after his death, all rights to the books, according to the law, went to his father and brother.

Gabrielsson tried to sue, she had the unfinished fourth novel about Salander - Blomkvist in her hands, and she was ready to finish it, but the court sided with the heirs and forbade her to use the names of the characters. And already in December 2013, Larsson's father announced that biographer David Lagercrantz would continue the series.

Should I read the Millennium sequels?

David Lagercrantz

Developing a successful franchise after the death of an author is a fairly common practice. For example, Sebastian Faulks among others, and Anthony Horowitz revived Sherlock Holmes. But there are two nuances here.

Firstly, Faulks and Horowitz are experienced writers, they at least know the basics of the craft, while Lagercrantz is a journalist whose summaries include semi-biographical novels about Alan Turing, the conquest of Everest and memoirs compiled from a 100-hour recording of an interview with a football player.

Secondly, the continuation of "Millennium" has nothing to do with Larsson's original idea. Eva Gabrielsson never gave the unfinished draft to the heirs, and Lagercrantz had to write a new story from scratch, which is a big problem, because he obviously has no idea how the plot of a good thriller works.

What Afisha wrote about Millennium and its sequels

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

"The Girl Who Played with Fire"

"The Girl Who Blowed Up Castles in the Air"

"The Girl Who Got Stuck in the Web"

Lev Danilkin: “We can do without hallelujah, but if your quota for detectives is one per year, then let it be Larsson”

Lev Danilkin: “And the first book was very exciting, but the second one is much more exciting: like Follett's Pillars of the Earth, like Smilla, like The Count of Monte Cristo; to the point where you can go into read-only mode for a couple of days and do everything else on autopilot.”

Lev Danilkin: “This, of course, is no longer a detective story, and not even a political conspiracy thriller, and not even an office series about relationships; something much more significant. A fictionalized guide to the Swedish constitution. Essay on the model of interaction between private individuals and government agencies”

Lev Danilkin: “The novel is teeming with Yuris, Ivans and Vladimirs - State Duma deputies, pimps, killers, hackers; Nikita Mikhalkov is even mentioned here. One can only guess how Larsson himself would have reacted to the fact that his books turned into weapons of the Cold War.

To be fair, Larsson was also a journalist and also started from scratch. His books have a lot of flaws - they're redundant, wordy, they have problems with rhythm - but the thing is that Larsson at least knew how to create charismatic characters and build up atmosphere. Lagerkrantz is incapable of doing this: while working on the sequel, he simply pulled plot moves from the original trilogy. Remember how in the second book of Millennium, Blomkvist figured out that Lisbeth had hacked into his laptop and communicated with her via a text file on his desktop? The same thing happens with Lagercrantz.

“The girl who got stuck in the web” is no continuation of the series: it is the plots of the first three books crushed and ground in a blender, sterilized and diluted with water. Almost all the scenes in Lagercrantz's novels are conversations between two people in a room or on the phone, and over the phone they usually retell to each other what happened in the previous chapter. Not a single attempt to build a spectacular scene: the whole book looks like a collection of interviews - one long dialogue is replaced by another.

The original trilogy, among other things, was also distinguished by extreme cruelty: in three novels, Lisbeth managed to douse her father with gasoline, set him on fire and hit him with an ax, sit in an isolation ward in a psychiatric hospital for 381 days and nail her brother to the floor; she was raped, beaten, shot in the head and once even buried alive; she chased a maniac-killer on a motorcycle, tattooed the word “pig” on the rapist’s chest and single-handedly swept away a crowd of bikers. Larsson's books in this sense are an example of a Scandinavian detective story, mutilation and cruelty in them are part of everyday life: in one scene the heroine is having breakfast, and in the next she already has a concussion and a couple of penetrating wounds - and this is normal.

Not the Lagercrantz. In the new novel, one broken jaw at the beginning, an overdose of a frail old man in the middle, and then incoherent fuss around the "mysterious secret experiment on orphans", which is presented without irony and is similar to the plot of the film stolen from Uwe Boll. Lagerkrantz simply lacks neither the spirit, nor the imagination, nor the instincts to give heat - and against the backdrop of the madness that was happening on the pages of the original author, this is simply ridiculous.

Larsson, as an Old Testament god, forced his heroes to go through the most terrible trials - Lagercrantz, on the other hand, seems to be afraid of harming them and, if he punishes the character, it is as if for fun: Lisbeth is always wounded not seriously - in order to jump through the fjords with an antelope in twenty minutes and shoot from a pistol with one hundred percent accuracy. In The Girl Who Was Looking for Someone Else's Shadow, the reader meets Salander in prison - and here one could exaggerate and unwind the legal line, make all the heroes fight for their lives, but no: Lisbeth is released from prison two months later without a single scratch. Yes, and this prison is more like a pleasant Swedish hotel with a garden in the yard, a circle of ceramics and cheesecakes with lingonberry sauce for lunch. If it goes on like this, then in the third book, Lagercrantz will put Lisbeth in a corner and forbid her to watch TV - he is obviously not capable of greater cruelty to the characters.

Writing a sequel to a well-known series is, in principle, a very risky undertaking; one way or another, the successor must compete with the original source, try to get out of his shadow, say something of his own. Lagercrantz has no such goal: both of his "Girls" are novels screaming about their secondary nature. Their author does not even try to flirt with the genre and somehow prove himself: on the contrary, he is constantly looking for a way to write “under Larsson”, to hide behind him - and even in this he fails. Millennium's sequels don't even reach the level of fanfiction: the latter can be awkward and wry, but at least they are always written with love - for the idol writer, the characters, the atmosphere of the original. Lagercrantz's books are written with love for money.

In the Russian box office there is a film "The Girl Who Stuck in the Web" about the exploits of the hacker Lisbeth and her old friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist. This, as you might guess from the title, is a sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but instead of David Fincher, the Uruguayan Fede Alvarez, who is behind the powerful thriller Don't Breathe, was in the director's chair. The brave Englishwoman Claire Foy (TV series The Crown) played the role of a hacker, and the authentic Swede Sverrir Gudnason played Blomkvist himself (it will be hard to get rid of the ghost of Daniel Craig, who played this role in the first part of the trilogy). Kommersant Style spoke with Swedish actor Sverrir Gudnason

So, how does it feel to be in the shoes of a character that has been with us for quite some time?

Yes, it's like playing Hamlet, because other actors used to play him too. Although this is not such a rarity in our profession.

- Is this the complexity of the role?

No, the difficulty of the role is to make it believable. Believable and alive. But, of course, I have a lot of respect for everyone who played it before me. Mikael Blomkvist was a close friend of mine. So it's a little strange to take over this role from him, but still very exciting.

- Did the death of Mikael somehow affect your role?

He died before I even knew about this project. We worked together on Serious Game, which was directed by Pernilla August. He was a great guy.

- How did you work with Fede Alvarez?

He has a clear vision of what he wants to do and guides you kindly. And he's also very smart. Given his background and the kind of films he made, Fede brought a lot to this project. He knows how to add tension, how to shoot real action.

- Blomkvist is a journalist, and you, preparing for the role, somehow immersed yourself in this profession?

No, except that I constantly gave out interviews to journalists. (Laughs.) So I studied you.

What kind of journalist is he? Tell about it!

He is an investigative journalist who seeks to get to the bottom of the truth.

You mentioned that Blomkvist is being kicked out of his publication. Does the film reflect in some way the changes that are taking place in the publishing business and journalism?

Yeah, it's all clickbait now, right? And Blomkvist is a journalist of a different temper. He investigates and searches for the truth, and this is no longer for sale. So yes, it reflects.

Critics say that Mikael Blomkvist is the grown-up Kalle Blomkvist from Astrid Lindgren's books. Have you heard of such a comparison and do you think it has a basis?

I think he got his nickname when he was an aspiring journalist and solved some bank robberies, and Kalle Blomkvist is a character in Astrid Lindgren's books who was in a kind of secret society like spies. So there is a certain black humor in all this: the characters of children's books become part of fairy tales for adults.

- Have you read these books?

Yes, because I live in Stockholm, where they were written. So I read them when they first came out, and I've been living with this universe for quite some time now.

You said that you have read all the books in the series, and the book on which the film is based is the first one that was not written by Stieg Larsson (“The Girl Who Got Stuck in the Web” is a novel by Swedish journalist and writer David Lagerkrantz, continuing the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson .- "Kommersant Style"). Have you noticed any differences in the development of Mikael Blomkvist? Or could he write it?

I think David did a great job of keeping the characters in this universe, and I think the readers are happy.

What is the relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth in this film? How have they changed since the first movie?

Mikael and Lisbeth are very important to each other, but at the beginning of this story they haven't seen each other for three years. At the same time, Mikael's life went downhill a little. He is kicked out of the magazine and drinks a little more than he should. And then she appears and asks him for help, this gives him new strength. It seems to me that they feel each other and both are looking for truth and justice.

- Tell us, how did you work with Claire Foy, whom we all know as a queen?

Yes, she is a great actress. And she is very focused and charming. She takes care of everyone around, and with her you feel at home on the site.

How engrossed was Claire in her role? I remember talking to Noomi when she was playing this part, she said that even when the cameras were off, she kept acting like Lisbeth Salander. What about Claire?

Maybe. Although she herself should answer this question for you. She played very convincingly.

- Can you tell us foreigners if there is something in Scandinavian thrillers that we don't understand?

Hmm, I don't even know, I think some of them are like opera. I think that the Scandinavian mentality combined with the underworld is the winning combination.

Sociotypes of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist January 24th, 2014

The author Stieg Larsson describes in such detail, apparently with some kind of awe and even love for people who, perhaps, do not deserve it at all, that you immediately imagine Balzac with his "Human Comedy "and a huge number of characters, as well as careful writing out details, which some people think are unnecessary. Why are they unnecessary? I ask. They can be savored endlessly. For example, I got high from the description of how Lisbeth bought furniture for a new apartment. So cozy and life-affirming, which is even strange. By the way, I am also OR.

Asocial individuals should also have TIM.
Lisbeth - LSI (Max Gorky), both in the book and in the Swedish film. According to the book, you can prove that she is Max, the author constantly describes the motives for her actions.
The fact that she is not an ethicist is immediately evident: there is still a second such closed person to look for. This does not yet speak of introversion, because. there are extroverts who are not striving for communication, but striving for business, and Salander is a very active person!

However, it is better not to type according to dichotomies - in my deep conviction - but rather to type according to functions.
The main feature is that she was intoxicated by the very process of collecting information about a person/object of interest. 4 "gatherers of information" in the socion - Gab, Bal, Max, Rob. This is logic on the first function - it lives and breathes the collection of information, the process of thinking, drawing conclusions and systematization.

Now let's assume the CR is in the creative function. Power for Lisbeth is not characteristic, violence for her is not an end in itself, but a tool. She constantly shows her will. All this speaks of an emergency in the 2nd position.

In book 2, she killed a man without hesitation, about whom she found out that he was a bastard. Not to mention what she did to her guardian. And after all, she clearly, on the shelves, laid out for him what he should do after. That is, she, in general, lives according to the system herself and inclines others to this.
True, srach reigned in her apartment, but she herself always appeared in public taut, in the image in which she wanted to present herself.

Blomkvist frustrated her with his kindness and love, which is very suitable for the social order of Max - Dumas. But Dumas turns out to be very strange, with troubles. Since I first watched Swedish films, I introduced Mikael as Dumas, perhaps because Nykvist, the actor, is SEI. In reading, I have already reached the middle of the trilogy and now I understand that Mikael is more like Balzac, like the author. Relations, by the way, with Salander, again, are unequal, skewed and misunderstood. I read that Blomkvist is Larsson's alter ego. In this case, it seems that Larsson idealized his hero, giving him not only his own features, but also the features that he would like to have.
Blomkvist constantly thinks, he always thinks about everything that catches his eye, he evaluates everything and everyone, but does not create his own harmonious system. This suggests that he is OR. The first time he went to Salander's apartment, he immediately criticized her for the mess.

In relation to women, he has a clash of traits that are difficult to suspect that they are combined in one person.
He constantly has several mistresses (SEI, value - relationships?), but he is not jealous of any of them (OR?), and they appear as if by themselves, without his efforts (OR?). Specifies the boundaries of the relationship (OR?). He is single, or rather, divorced. He did not try to keep his wife (OR?), but countless times he tries to renew his friendship with Lisbeth (SEI?). He is gentle and allows himself to be "guided" in relationships (OR?).
In general, OR outweighs. And in the film, Nykvist plays rather SEI, or just the actor himself is like that.

About "The Girl Who Played with Fire" - I'm listening to it now in the form of an audiobook. I haven't thought about Salashenko yet.
Ronald Niederman is very interesting to consider. In his descriptions - also incessant - the background is necessarily the creation of business relationships, he enjoys them, if this word is applicable to the character, builds. Maintaining them (1st f. - ethics of relations). Niderman is conservative, he has the same accomplices, their number only decreases over the years. Power sensing is rushing out of him, but, like for Lisbeth, power for him is not a goal, but a means (2nd emergency). Appreciates money, he does not need fame, prefers to stay in the background and do something only when he needs these actions. Doesn't overthink. All this adds up to a harmonious picture of Dreiser, ESI. Oh yes. Dreisers are also called inquisitors, punishing moralists. For Niedermann, the process of killing someone is not actually murder, but punishment, because someone behaves wrong, does not agree to play by his rules.

Z.Y. Myrikans with their remake are completely out of touch with their feet. Mara is too gentle, Craig is too brutal.

Lisbeth Salander was afraid that her feelings would return and that she would feel the pain again when she saw him with Erica Berger on Christmas Eve. She understood this, understood that, most likely, sympathy gradually arose, but did not want to do anything. She did not want to expel him at all, sometimes she had thoughts about him moving in with her, but something stopped her. Most likely, "that something" was Erica Berger or Monica Figuerola. She didn't want to think about it. When Blomkvist mentioned their names, Lisbeth got annoyed. She knew it was jealousy, but she couldn't help it.
On the part of Mikael, he became attached to Lisbeth in just a month. He thought that he had known her for an eternity, that he knew all her shortcomings and habits. Erica Berger noticed that Mikael is constantly away from the editorial office, but he works, though Lisbeth Salander. This worried her. They had not been in the same bed for more than a month and a half. Perhaps this is her decision. She is recovering from a difficult time in the company of her husband Greger Beckman. But she tried not to think about it. Monica Figuerola often called Mikael and offered to take a break from his work and from Lisbeth Salander and finally meet, but he kindly refused, promising to call her soon and offer a meeting. Mikael himself did not understand why, for the sake of Lisbeth, he refused to appear in the editorial office and was against meeting Monica. Although he knew that it was related to Salander, he was afraid that she would disappear again, and Mikael would not find her anymore.
Lisbeth sometimes thought of Miriam Wu. She was still in Paris, but at the last meeting she said that she would return to Stockholm. For some reason, Salander didn't miss her too much and gradually forgot her image. Days passed, and Lisbeth thought of her less and less. Most likely, all her attention switched to Mikael.

It was a cold January. Exactly one month has passed since the murder of Ronald Niedermann, since the trial and since Mikael visited Lisbeth Salander. Kalle Blomkvist was something like an alarm clock for Lisbeth - he came at about eleven o'clock in the morning, thus waking up Lisbeth and left at eleven.
On January 20 he came again. Mikael Blomkvist opened the door without even thinking that it was closed. She was always open to him. He entered and looked around innocently. Lisbeth came out and greeted him with a wry smile.
- Hello, Sally, - Mikael was a little embarrassed by her clothes. She was wearing a loose gray T-shirt and underwear. It looks like she just got up. - I'm going to make some coffee.
- Mm, - Lisbeth stretched and went into the shower. She chuckled. - You are early today.
Blomkvist looked at her in surprise and glanced at his wristwatch. The clock showed 9:03. He raised his eyebrows in bewilderment - usually at this time he only gets up. - Crap. I didn't even notice. Apparently, I'm already automatically going to you. Check in later?
"No," Lisbeth Salander said firmly from the bathroom.
Mikael Blomkvist smiled and walked into the kitchen. There he made coffee and turned on his laptop. Fifteen minutes later, Lisbeth came out in ripped jeans and a gray T-shirt. She sat at a distance from the table, on the sofa and sat down at the already turned on laptop. Blomkvist first looked at her furtively, but then fixed his eyes on Lisbeth and stared at her for a long time.
"Stop staring," Lisbeth said smiling. Blomkvist was a little embarrassed and took his eyes off her for a moment, but then looked again.
- I want to remember your image. If you suddenly disappear again. I don't want to forget you," he said calmly.
She looked at him coldly, but said nothing. Mikael Blomkvist continued to stare at Salander, but she no longer said anything. After a few minutes, Blomkvist said:
- You are beautiful.
Lisbeth looked at him and didn't know what to do. A little more than a minute passed when she, still looking at him, smiled. Then she got up, went up to him, put her hands on his head and kissed him. Mikael was very surprised at her sudden move, but did not resist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he easily grabbed her by the legs and dragged her into the bedroom.
That night Mikael stayed with Lisbeth.

In the morning, Mikael woke up from the smell of smoke and saw Lisbeth lying, holding a cigarette in her hand and exhaling tobacco smoke.
"Good morning," he smiled at her.
- Hello.
There was a short pause, when suddenly Lisbeth asked:
- Do you want to know why I disappeared from your life for two years?
Blomkvist's eyes widened at her - he never thought she'd want to talk to him about this. “Yes, Lisbeth is really an unpredictable girl,” thought Kalle Blomkvist.
He nodded to Lisbeth.
“I went to see you at Bellmansgatan on Christmas Eve on a very important matter. Me... I wanted to express what I felt for you. I bought you a present. But I saw you and that fucking Erica Berger laughing at something and hugging. It hurted me. I never fucking felt so resentful.” She paused a little. “It was then that I fell in love for the first time in my life.
- Fell in love with me? Mikael was taken aback.
Lisbeth looked at Mikael like he was an idiot. She wanted to say, "Damn it, to Erika Berger," but she held herself back. Lisbeth was furious, but seemed unperturbedly calm.
- And now, besides Berger, you have Figuerola, - Lisbeth added mockingly.
Blomkvist thought of Monica and Erik and realized how much pain Lisbeth Salander had already experienced in her short life. He suddenly felt unbearably sorry for her.
"No," Mikael said firmly. - Now I'm with you.
Salander looked at him and smiled wryly. She could feel the doubt in his voice, but she wanted to believe him. She thought about it and realized that this is the second time she is the initiator of their relationship - the first time in Hedestad and the second time now, two years later. How damned attractive was Kalle Blomkvist, since he allowed Lisbeth to open up to him like that.
Lisbeth Salander realized that her feelings were returning with rapid speed to Kalla Blomkvist, but she was not afraid now, as she was afraid that time. She told him about everything and it became much easier for her. Now she wanted only his company, conversations with him. Suddenly, Lisbeth wanted to work with Mikael again, become his partner again, live in the same house with him again and solve the case together. They knew how to do it and they proved it. Together.

In the afternoon, Lisbeth and Mikael were immersed in the entertaining reading of articles and people's comments about Wennerström - they remembered the past. Blomkvist held Lisbeth in his arms, his hand resting on her farthest shoulder. She did not react to this in any way, but in her soul she was pleased, she did not want to leave him anywhere.
Lisbeth bent down to take coffee from the table, and Mikael once again saw through the top the head of her huge dragon, suggesting an unusual mysterious sensation to people. He ran his little finger along the edges of the tattoo. Lisbeth flinched slightly in surprise.
Why did you get this tattoo? Blomkvist asked her when she was in his arms again.
- There were reasons. Do not you like it?
Mikael Blomkvist shook his head.
- No, I like it very much. She's beautiful. As are you.
Lisbeth smiled - she liked being called beautiful, which was rare enough. And hearing this from Kalle Blomkvist was even more pleasant.
She scares a lot of people. Many people are afraid of my appearance. My piercings, tattoos, clothes, even my little tunnels in my ears scare people away.” She looked Mikael straight in the eyes. - But I don't care.
Mikael looked at her and nodded again.
"And I like you the way you are." He smiled that innocent smile that Salander hated and loved at the same time. That smile melted her once. Mikael did not know what else to say - he saw that Sally was waiting for the continuation of his speech, and this made him think. - You really occupy a special place in my world and my life, - he finally said and smiled again. "Thank you," was the last thing he said.
Now it was his moment to wait for her answer.
Lisbeth didn't know what to say to her. She suddenly remembered how she sat at home, back on Lundagatan, and thought about her feelings. She remembered that these were the words she had wanted to hear from him then. Lisbeth wanted him to show his love for her - and he did. Now it was her turn.
She smiled at him, wryly but sincerely. Blomkvist loved the way she smiled. In her eyes, he could see at least some gleam of light.
Lisbeth looked away from Mikael and stared blankly into space, smiling at the same time. She felt as happy as she had ever felt. Looking at Mikael again, she stretched her neck towards him, wrapped one arm around his neck, pulled him to her and kissed him on the lips. Blomkvist felt the touch of her small lip earring on his lips.

Swedish writer Stieg Larsson without exaggeration, known throughout the world as the author of the Millennium trilogy about a journalist Mikaele Blomkviste and a hacker girl Lisbeth Salander. In his native Sweden, he became famous for his research on far-right extremists and neo-Nazis.

Stieg Larsson (Stieg Larsson) was born on August 15, 1954 in Västerbotten, northern Sweden. The Stig spent his childhood with his grandfather, his mother's father, in the village, because the family was not rich and could not afford time to raise his son in the Welfare Society. Men in the Larsson family have always been distinguished by self-will and stubborn character. My grandfather ended up in a concentration camp for criticizing the Nazi regime during the Second World War, my father was an active participant in the trade union movement. Stig also followed this path and was actively interested in politics, sympathizing with the left.

The Stig had a love of reading from an early age and was an avid visitor to the library. After graduating from school, he tried to enter the journalism department, but did not pass due to low grades. But as they say, unlucky in learning, lucky in love. In the same year, at a rally against the Vietnam War, he met a young, energetic girl. Eva Gabrielsson (Eva Gabrielsson), which became his life partner, although officially they were never painted. Eva worked as an architect, and Stig managed to get a job in Swedish news agency in place of the graphics editor.

Stieg Larsson always interested in the topic of the ultra-right, Nazis and racists, and when in 1995 his acquaintance asked him to help finance the newspaper Expo exposing the activities of the ultra-right, Larsson helped him not only with money, but also as literary negro, that is, he wrote drafts of articles on given topics. When Larsson was made redundant in 1999, he was immediately promoted to editor-in-chief. Expo.

The future writer has always been an avid reader, focusing in particular on detective novels and science fiction. He headed the Scandinavian Science Fiction Society for two years, but took up the pen himself only in the late 1990s. According to the recollections of colleagues, he burned his first two novels because he did not like them. By the time the first novel in the series was written Millennium , according to the stories of relatives, Larsson had sketches of characters in his head, which he brilliantly embodied in his popular novels.

Colleagues also say that the idea to write a detective story started as a joke. Larsson was hinted that it would be interesting to write a novel about the aged heroes of a popular French comic tintin. The future writer thought. However, the work really began to boil when Larsson tried to age the famous Swedish heroine of children's novels Pippi Longstocking in the same way - this is how Lisbeth Salander. According to the memories Eva Gabrielsson work on the first novels of Millennium began during a joint vacation, which they spent together in the Stockholm archipelago.

All three novels were written unusually quickly, with approximately 9 months of continuous work per novel. And if you consider that each novel was more than 600 pages long, you had to write at least 2.5 pages cleanly a day. Larsson was so passionate about writing novels that he spent all his free time at the computer. In April 2004, he signed a publishing contract for the first three books, which were almost finished.

The heirs of his work claim that he wrote about half of the fourth novel, but since the heirs still cannot share the rights to revise or print existing manuscripts, the series Millennium limited to three books.

Popularity of novels Stieg Larsson is so great and unique, and his books break all sales records throughout Europe and America, overtaking even the super-popular thrillers of Dan Brown. The plot of the first three novels was made into popular films in Sweden, and then David Fincher made a remake with Daniel Craig And Rooney Mara starring.

About creativity

Mikael Blomkvist

Mikael Blomkvist (Mikael Blomkvist) was born on December 18, 1960 in Borlen. Mikael was late, but not the only child in the family of Kurt and Annika Blomkvist. Both spouses were thirty-five when their first child was born, and three years later Mikael had a sister, Annika. Kurt was often on business trips, which was required by his profession - an installer of industrial equipment. Annika spent most of her time at home, as she was a housewife.

By the time the youngest Annika was born, the Blomkvist family had moved to permanent residence in Stockholm. Mikael was not much different from his peers. He went to school in Brom and then went to the gymnasium on Kungsholmen. In his youth, he was fond of music, put together the rock band Bootsrap, one of whose songs even hit the air on the radio in 1979.

Mikael had a cherished dream to visit different exotic countries in order to earn money for the trip, he worked after graduating from the gymnasium as a subway controller. He traveled around Australia, Thailand and India, and after returning he was attracted by the profession of a journalist, but he managed to enter the university only after the end of his military service, which took place in Lapland.

Currently Mikael Blomkvist works as a professional journalist, which is why he can hardly be called rich.

Like his creator, Stieg Larsson, Blomkvist eats disgustingly (only fast food) and abuses coffee, but unlike the author, Blomkvist keeps himself in shape, runs regularly in the mornings. He agrees that he is considered apolitical, he is much more attracted to detective stories and modern music.

Women occupy a special place in his life. A special place among them is occupied by Erika Berger, with whom Mikael has maintained a remarkably good relationship over the years. Blomkvist was married to Monica Abramson and they had one daughter, Pernilla.

Relationship with Lisbeth Salander awaken in Mikael paternal feelings, which he showed little when he was married and raised his own daughter.

In the case of Blomkvist Stieg Larsson did the same as with Lisbeth. If the main character was the successor of Pippi Longstocking, then Blomkvist became an adult continuation of another famous Swedish hero - Kalle Blomkvist. The story about the young detective was told by the famous Astrid Lindgren, and the obvious connection was suggested by the author, both by the surname itself and by the story, when Mikael managed to accidentally expose a gang of bank robbers, for which he received the nickname Kalle Blomkvist.

Mikael Blomkvist works as a journalist for Millennium magazine, after whom the series was named, symbolizing a new approach to journalism, a new style of professional ethics and citizenship. Larsson uses a fictional novel to declare his own principles - the independence of the press, even from the police, criticality towards any form of government, but criticism should be based on constitutional foundations.

Blomkvist is a talented journalist, but a sharp enough opponent, which is why he is sued in the first book of the trilogy, but he manages to cope thanks to his talent.