The Man Who Left Too Soon: The Life and Works of Stieg Larsson (12 page)

At a Christmas party, Armansky makes a clumsy pass, which Salander struggles away from. She does not return to the office or answer her phone, but then, arbitrarily it seems, she reappears in the office at night and asks him if he would like some coffee. She then confronts him about his sexual attraction for her, and makes it ruthlessly clear that nothing will ever happen between them. The dialogue in this discussion has the skilfulness that (as the trilogy progresses) is one of the real strengths of the narrative, particularly as rendered in Reg Keeland/Steven Murray’s utilitarian translation. But the upshot of this strange conversation is that Armansky and Salander arrive at a new working relationship in which she will do freelance assignments for him, and for which she will receive a monthly stipend. If she comes up trumps with an investigation, she will be paid more. The arrangement is satisfactory for everyone involved, and Armansky makes only one stipulation – that she does not meet the clients. He is fully aware just how she will be received by most people, and reasons that her talents are best kept under cover.

After the striking introduction of Lisbeth Salander, Larsson does not waste much time in introducing us to the character who will share the narrative with her, and who is in many ways a surrogate figure for the author himself. Arriving at work one day in a T-shirt with a picture of Steven Spielberg’s
ET
transformed into a fanged monster, Salander is to attend a meeting with a client, Dirch Frode, a lawyer who has made a point of meeting the member of the firm who has prepared a report he requested. Despite Armansky’s best attempts, the meeting takes place, with Frode (a man in his late sixties) looking at Lisbeth Salander with undisguised surprise. She has placed a folder labelled ‘Carl Mikael Blomkvist’ on Armansky’s desk.

It is in this chapter that Larsson introduces another element that is to be a leitmotif throughout the novel: the difficulty which people with more ‘normal’ lives find in dealing with Lisbeth Salander. This can be read in two ways: firstly, that she does not care how she affects people – which is certainly the rationale we are most likely to accept – but, secondly, it may be pointed out that she is far too intelligent not to know how people will react to her appearance, and this could all be part of a strategy for gaining a kind of advantage in a world that she sees as threatening and unsympathetic. Salander begins a dispassionate account of her findings with regard to Blomkvist, and readers who pick up the novel knowing that it is the first part of a trilogy will be intrigued by her cool response to the man who we know will be the most important ally she is to have. She points out that it has not been a particularly complicated assignment, finding out things about him, such as the fact that he is 43, being born in 1960, and that both his parents are dead. He has a sister some years younger than him who is a lawyer. He graduated from Blomma with decent marks, and played bass in a rock band (even putting out a single) before travelling abroad, hitching his way around India and Thailand before finding his way to Australia. He had begun to study to be a journalist in Stockholm in his twenties but then did military service in Lapland. Since then he has completed his journalism degree.

As the client listens attentively, Salander compares him to Practical Pig in the ‘Three Little Pigs’: he is an excellent journalist, with many temporary jobs, and his first big, attention-grabbing story was about bank robbers he identified, the Bear Gang. It was here that he got the nickname that he so hates, ‘Kalle’ Blomkvist (the name, from the children’s books of Astrid Lindgren, leads to another reference – the first in the book – to Pippi Longstocking. Salander says she would greet such nicknames with violence).

Armansky is thinking at that moment that Pippi Longstocking is exactly how he has always thought of Salander. Blomkvist’s original intention was to be a crime reporter, but he seems to have ended up as a political and financial specialist. He now works for a monthly magazine called
Millennium
, with its editorial offices a few blocks from Armansky’s company. It is a left-wing magazine; Salander says it is generally viewed as critical of society, but is held in contempt by anarchists, who do not take it seriously, while more moderate students regard it as a Bolshevist mouthpiece. Salander points out that there are no indications that Blomkvist himself has ever been politically active, even during his secondary school phase when such affiliations were
de rigueur
. He has always, it seems, been devoted to journalism, even when living with a girl who was active in the Syndicalists, who today is a member of parliament on the Left. Salander points out that he has been identified as left-wing simply because his prime targets are corruption and double-dealing in the corporate world, with some of those in his sights being among the most prestigious names in politics and business – and that drawing attention to such matters is hardly an indication of left-wing political sympathies. She also notes that he has written two books and is not rich but is relatively comfortably off.

At this juncture in the novel, not for the last time, art imitates life. Salander notes that Blomkvist is part owner of the magazine
Millennium
, and that any money he is obliged to pay out because of various settlements will cripple him – it is impossible not to see echoes of Larsson’s own sometimes parlous state when working for
Expo
, which similarly took on unpopular causes. After the legal judgement against him, Salander decides that Blomkvist has really made a fool of himself, and then she allows herself a direct comment on the Wennerström affair, noting that she has followed the trial and is surprised that Blomkvist published something that was so ill-advised and, as she puts it, off the wall. She believes that Blomkvist was set up.

Those who have re-read the
Millennium Trilogy
after their first acquaintance with this initial book will be struck by the phrase ‘set up’ – almost a game plan for all three books, with Salander being comprehensively set up again and again. At this point, however, she is standing outside events, and commenting coolly on the luckless Blomkvist. Her reason for believing him to be innocent is the extreme care with which she treats each case, which leads her to suppose that he may be right about Wennerström, who has acted, it seems, dishonestly. So far, Larsson has not revealed the interest of the client Frode in the affair, but the latter now asks if the trio are speaking in confidence. After Armansky nods assent, Frode says that he knows that without any shadow of a doubt Wennerström has acted dishonestly in certain other circumstances, and he, Frode, has a pronounced interest in the legal judgement against Blomkvist.

This strikes Armansky as slightly alarming, as his company is being required to look into a case that has already been concluded. He knows perfectly well that Wennerström has an army of solicitors who will descend on him en masse, and he is particularly aware that utilising Salander (who is, to put it mildly, the loosest of cannons) in such a scenario could potentially be disastrous. On the other hand, she has said that she requires no special treatment or protection, and was not to be given any special privileges. However, Armansky replies that such an investigation could become very expensive, but Frode is already, it seems, convinced of Salander’s competence.

She agrees, without much enthusiasm, to look into Blomkvist’s case. She notes that his private life is unexceptional. He was married with a daughter, but the couple were divorced and the daughter hardly ever sees her father. However, Frode learns something more about Blomkvist from Salander: she tells him that he is something of a ladies’ man, with a succession of love affairs and many one-night stands. There is one particular relationship that seems to be a steady presence: Erika Berger, who is the editor-in-chief at
Millennium
. She is an upper-crust woman (with a Belgian father and Swedish mother). The two met while studying journalism, and have enjoyed a casual relationship over the years. She, however, is married to an artist who appears complacent about the relationship and the affair appears to be a contributing factor to the ending of Blomkvist’s marriage.

Readers encountering Stieg Larsson for the first time with
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
will have realised by Chapter 3 that one of his specialities is to pay out chunks of information which are then expanded on when appropriate. And having introduced Erika Berger in the text, Larsson presents us with the woman herself in the third chapter. Blomkvist, shivering from cold, enters the editorial offices of
Millennium
, and talks to her. We learn that he is not in a good place. Leaving aside the legal disaster which has just befallen him, we discover that the magazine is living beyond its means, and that the rent on its offices (in the fashionable district of Götgatan above the offices of Greenpeace) is a little too steep for the magazine. The couple glumly discuss the bad news of the judgement which has gone against Blomkvist, and Erika mentions someone else involved: Christer, the art director and designer of
Millennium
, is also a part-owner of the magazine, along with Erika and Blomkvist.

Blomkvist suggests that Christer may have to take over as publisher, and again we are reminded of the real-life decisions that Larsson himself would have had to have made, working on the staff of a magazine which risked legal entanglements. Erika persuades Blomkvist that he needs to stay on, as he is essential to the running of the magazine, and it’s difficult not to see a certain wish fulfilment on Larsson’s own part (in the sense that he would desire to be similarly missed from any magazine he might be involved in).

The couple end their discussion by deciding to forget their problems in a relaxing sexual encounter. After they have made love, Blomkvist finds himself thinking about this unconventional relationship that he is part of, not the old-fashioned kind which leads to love, a home shared together, children, and so forth. Once again, it is clear to see that the life that the author chose for himself is reflected in his protagonist. Erika, however, is a sympathiser with this point of view, which possibly echoes Larsson’s relationship with Eva Gabrielsson, and as
Millennium
is their mutual creation, it might be read as something of a surrogate child for the couple. Certainly, they lavish a great deal of love and dedication on the magazine. A press release is prepared in which it is pointed out that the journalist Mikael Blomkvist will be leaving his post as publisher of the magazine
Millennium
. Erika feels that the magazine will survive and not be affected by his voluntary stepping down. He persuades her that it is time to take a step backwards, but promises that some day they will be able to prove their allegations about Wennerström – and they will create a furore on Wall Street.

By now we have the classic scenario of the protagonist somewhat cut adrift and on the receiving end of an unjust accusation. The stage is set for Blomkvist to be handed the most significant assignment of his career. And it happens while he is cleaning out his desk at the office of
Millennium
. The phone rings and it is the lawyer Dirch Frode who tells Blomkvist that he is representing a client who is anxious to contact him for a talk. Unusual conditions are given. It is pointed out to Blomkvist that the client would like to be visited in Hedestad, which is three hours away by train. Blomkvist begins to be suspicious and makes it clear that he is not interested. But then he is told the name of Frode’s client: no one less than Henrik Vanger. This information takes Blomkvist by surprise, as it is the name of a powerful industrialist with a massive portfolio of interests in a family-owned company. His interest aroused, Blomkvist asks why Vanger wants a meeting – is a press secretary required, perhaps? He is told that he will hear more when he visits Hedestad, with (naturally) all expenses paid. Blomkvist decides that it is necessary to tell the lawyer something that he is not sure the latter knows: the disgrace that has followed the decision in the Wennerström affair. But rather than being a disincentive, this, according to Frode, is precisely the reason why Herr Vanger has contacted him.

At this stage, Larsson has intrigued the reader sufficiently with narrative possibilities for his male protagonist, so that we are now able to move to the company of Lisbeth Salander who is spending Christmas Eve at a nursing home in Upplands – Väsby. She is gazing at the woman she knows as her mother, thinking (not for the first time) that they bear no physical resemblance to each other. The woman, confused and ill-focused after being given a present, says, ‘Thank you, Camilla.’ To which Salander replies, ‘Lisbeth. I’m Lisbeth.’

Blomkvist similarly spends time with his family, who largely avoid discussing the verdict which has gone against him, but he is now intrigued by his meeting with Frode, even though he has considered cancelling it. He asks Frode if the invitation bears any relation to Wennerström, to which he receives the reply that Herr Vanger is most definitely not a friend of the man who has won the judgement against Blomkvist. Frode drives Blomkvist along frozen roads for his meeting with Vanger, which lead to an isolated island.

Henrik Vanger lives in the family’s stone-built farmhouse, and on entering, Blomkvist encounters a remarkably youthful-looking 82-year-old man with a weathered face and thick grey hair. He is made to feel welcome and Frode takes his leave. Blomkvist, the eternal journalist, reaches into his pocket as his new acquaintance begins to talk and turns on a tape recorder. He has not formed a conception of what Vanger wants, but has learnt to be ultra-cautious on such occasions. Vanger assures him after the preliminaries that he will get to the point, and the couple move to a massive, imposing office lined with a remarkable collection of books. Vanger shows him a picture of a strikingly attractive young woman with dark hair, and asks (using Blomkvist’s first name) whether he remembers her. And, for that matter whether he remembers being in this room before.