Andrew Nestingen

Kukku Melkas

Jussi Ojajärvi

Ralf Kauranen

Kasimir Sandbacka

A deep-dive into the work of Tove Jansson (1914–2001), the Finland-Swedish author and visual artist who created The Moomins, this book considers her novels, short stories, picturebooks, comics, illustrations and paintings to provide a comprehensive overview of her genre and form defying career. With work ranging from the ironic to melancholy, playful to wise and reaching from the heights and horrors of fantasy to distinctly modern themes and affects, Tove Jansson: Literature and Art brings together literary, comics, film and art scholars to examine creations from across her oeuvre whilst offering insightful new interpretations and approaches. A long-awaited volume for scholars and students as well as a treasure trove for fans, the book, including 60 immaculate illustrations, explores the unique appeal of Jansson's work, which has captivated readers for decades. Covering the tones and techniques that defined her works, recurrent themes and motifs, the important cultural and social contexts, and adaptations of her creations, Tove Jansson provides a rich look back at a writer and artist whose books have been translated into over 60 languages.

Literature and Art

Tove Jansson

Since 1983, Aki Kaurismäki has made classically styled films filled with cinephilic references to film history, influencing Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson. Yet the director is often depicted as the loneliest, most nostalgic of Finns (except when promoting his films, making political statements and running his many businesses). Drawing on revisionist approaches to film authorship, this text links Kaurismäki's work to issues in film aesthetics and history, nostalgia, late modernity, commerce, film festivals, and national cinema.

Contrarian Stories

The Cinema of Aki Kaurismki

Paula Arvas

This collection of articles studies the development of crime fiction in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden since the 1960s, offering the first English-language study of this widely read and influential form. Since the first Martin-Beck novel of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo appeared in 1965, the socially-critical crime novel has figured prominently in Scandinavian culture, and found hundreds of millions of readers outside Scandinavia. But is there truly a Scandinavian crime novel tradition? Scandinavian Crime Fiction identifies distinct features and changes in the Scandinavian crime tradition through analysis of some of its most well-known writers: Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Anne Holt, Liza Marklund, Leena Lehtolainen, and Arnaldur Indrioason, among others. Focusing on Scandinavian crime fiction's snowballing prominence since the 1990s, articles zoom in on the transformation of the genre's social criticism, study the significance of cultural and geographical place in the tradition, and analyze the cultural politics of crime fiction, including struggles over gender equity, sexuality, ethnicity, history, and the fate of the welfare state. Scandinavian Crime Fiction maps out the contribution of Scandinavian crime writers to contemporary European culture and society, making the volume valuable to scholars and the interested public.

Scandinavian Crime Fiction

Jaakko Seppälä

Linda Badley

This book argues that adaptation is an underrecognized yet constitutive element of Nordic noir. In so doing, it reframes the prevailing critical view. Now celebrated for its global sweep, Nordic noir is equally a transmedial phenomenon. Nordic Noir, Adaptation, Appropriation deploys the tools of current adaptation studies to undertake a wide-ranging transcultural, intermedial exploration, adding an important new layer to the rich scholarship that has arisen around Nordic noir in recent years.

Nordic Noir, Adaptation, Appropriation

Aki Kaurismäki is an enigma, an eminent auteur who claims his films are a joke. Since 1983, Kaurismäki has produced classically-styled films filled with cinephilic references to film history. He has earned an international art-house audience and many prizes, influencing such directors as Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, and Wes Anderson. Yet Kaurismäki is often depicted as the loneliest, most nostalgic of Finns (except when he promotes his films, makes political statements, and runs his many businesses). He is also depicted as a bohemian known for outlandish actions and statements. The Cinema of Aki Kaurismäki is the first comprehensive English-language study of this eccentric director. Drawing on revisionist approaches to film authorship, the text links the filmmaker and his films to the stories and issues animating film aesthetics and history, nostalgia, late modernity, politics, commerce, film festivals, and national cinema.

The Cinema of Aki Kaurismäki

This collection of articles studies the development of crime fiction in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden since the 1960s, offering the first English-language study of this widely read and influential form. Since the first Martin-Beck novel of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö appeared in 1965, the socially-critical crime novel has figured prominently in Scandinavian culture, and found hundreds of millions of readers outside Scandinavia. But is there truly a Scandinavian crime novel tradition? Scandinavian Crime Fiction identifies distinct features and changes in the Scandinavian crime tradition through analysis of some of its most well-known writers: Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Anne Holt, Liza Marklund, Leena Lehtolainen, and Arnaldur Indriðason, among others. Focusing on Scandinavian crime fiction’s snowballing prominence since the 1990s, articles zoom in on the transformation of the genre’s social criticism, study the significance of cultural and geographical place in the tradition, and analyze the cultural politics of crime fiction, including struggles over gender equity, sexuality, ethnicity, history, and the fate of the welfare state. Scandinavian Crime Fiction maps out the contribution of Scandinavian crime writers to contemporary European culture and society, making the volume valuable to scholars and the interested public.

Scandinavian popular novels and films have flourished in the last thirty years. In Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia, Andrew Nestingen argues that the growth and visibility of popular culture have been at the heart of the development of heterogeneous �publics� in Scandinavia, in opposition to the homogenizing influence of the post-World War II welfare state. Novels and films have mobilized readers and viewers, serving as a preeminent site for debates over individualism, collectivity, national homogeneity, gender, and transnational relations. Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia provides insight into the changing nature of civil society in Scandinavia through the lens of popular culture. Nestingen develops his argument through the examination of genres where the central theme is individual transgression of societal norms: crime films and novels, melodramas, and fantasy fiction. Among the internationally known writers and filmmakers discussed are Henning Mankell, Aki Kaurism�ki, Lukas Moodysson, and Lars von Trier.

Andrew Nestingen

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