Swedish Marxist Noir ― The Dark Wave of Crime Writers and the Influence of Raymond Chandler

[This book is set to explore and develop a theory of Swedish Marxist Noir. In order to expose the dialectics of crime fiction, going from then (the American 1930s) to now (the Swedish post-1990s), we must explore, through a Marxist reading of several central works of crime fiction, the Marxist connection between the writings of Raymond Chandler and the Swedish wave of crime fiction since the 1960s. This dialectic, thus, consists of a long-term transition of ideas from Chandler, via the founders of Swedish social crime fiction, Sjöwall-Wahlöö, to modern bestseller phenomena such as Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Roslund & Hellström, Jens Lapidus, Arne Dahl and others. Marxist theories have had a profound influence on the crime genre ever since the American 1930s and there is a strong link between the Swedish writers and the work of chandler, both in terms of direct influence and philosophy: Their view on society and the ambition to write about a modern world gone wrong. Consequently, a Marxist view on existence, makes all these writers a part of the same tradition. Despite the eighty years that have passed since Chandler initiated his Marlowe novels.]

Journalist Per Hellgren is a contributor to Clues: A Journal of Detection. He lives in Strangnas, Sweden.