Nordic noir

It is November and that alone is reason enough to treasure certain things we in Nordic countries share. There are several things we have in common and not all of them can be reduced to our location far up here in the north wherefrom all light has fled by this time of year. I’m very fond of our neighbors and love to be a part of Fennoscandia both culturally and geographically. (By the way, my feeling of unity is sometimes compromised by the fact that Finnish language greatly differs from the others and belongs to a different language family. But since I love our language I can cope with that – and thank God all us Finns learn Swedish at school!)

Now let’s get to the point.

There is one thing about Nordic culture that I greatly enjoy and admire – and it’s also a thing we in Finland cannot take part in. What I mean, of course, is Nordic noir. If you’re familiar with Beck, The Bridge or at least the Millennium trilogy, you know what I mean. It’s really fascinating and gripping and I’d love to have something like that in Finland too. But for some reason we just can’t do it. It simply doesn’t work. The attempts are awkward. They’re hard to take seriously. I don’t mean to offend those who write these books or make these films and series; I’m just wondering why this genre is unreachable to us. I don’t read crime fiction much (and if I do I prefer the old style such as Agatha Christie’s) so there isn’t much I dare say about that, fearing that I might misjudge something. However, I love especially Stieg Larsson’s books and Bridge-series and as far as I know there is nothing in Finland that compares. We should be on the top of our game when it comes to the themes Nordic noir usually handles but no… We are masters of all that in real life but not in fiction.

P.S. Today, November 6^th, is the official Swedish Day in Finland. Heja!