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The Shadow Woman
Ake Edwardson |
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| 08/12/2011 |
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Scandinavian noir has become an extremely popular genre, with its own unique qualities, some of which also pertain to Ake Edwardson. In his The Shadow Woman, there is no one hero but an entire police department trying to solve a case. Readers not only follow the investigations but the relationships between the officers of the homicide squad as well. “I’ve always been a fan of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, and when I began writing was inspired by them,” said the Swedish writer. “I created this squad of police officers who becomes increasingly closer to one another, so close that they begin to hate one another. That’s what happens in most relationships actually. I wanted to bring this collective story to the modern age and see how these characters could function in the new millennium, in the new society.
Born in a small town of 1,000 inhabitants, in a region of great lakes, an ancient commercial crossroads, Edwardson sets most of his noir in Goteborg, “Sweden’s second largest city, with a population of one million, in which you feel the sea everywhere, which gives a lot, as well as sadness. When I wrote my first crime novel, in 1993, it was considered ridiculous writing about this city, because it was known as a place where people only worked, had fun and everyone sang. I took it seriously, because I knew it was about to change. And it has truly changed a lot since 1993. To me it’s one of the most dynamic cities in all of Northern Europe. Even its crime rates are at global levels. Before there was nothing, now there are gangs, drugs, cars burned in the streets. I show how a city can change.”
Edwardson has written 21 books, half of which are not crime novels (but, rather, children’s and travel books), and he began his career as a journalist, which can easily be seen in his writing. His main character is Inspector Erik Winter, now 50 years old and at his tenth book; who in the novel presented in Courmayeur must deal with the cadaver of an unidentified woman.
The themes found in this book are those central to all of Scandinavian noir: immigration and the policies of the extreme right. In other words, noir is used an instrument to speak about social issues and conflicts. However, he warns: “If you use politics to say something political you’re not a writer, you’re a politician. By this I mean that in those cases it’s not the writing that comes first. Generally, in good literature, the language, the writing, must be present. The rest comes on its own. In Scandinavian noir many try to carry forward a political agenda. I try to understand, to see what happens. A writer and his characters should never say anything political, because if a writer writes well, the book itself is a comment on society.”
“I believe in intuition, in imagination. I believe these are the qualities that allow us to be better than others. When I began talking to police officers I noticed that those who used their imagination were better than others, they went farther. I thought it was just a myth, but the officers themselves told me it was true. They often use their imagination. A couple of years ago I said I wouldn’t write any more novels featuring Winter, but then I found a story that seemed perfect. So, next November there will again be a novel centered around Winter, and I’ll definitely return to Courmayeur to present it.”
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