_There Are Things I Want You to Know_ About Stieg Larsson and Me - Eva Gabrielsson [0]
English translation (c) 2011 by Linda Coverdale
First English-Language Edition
Original title: Millenium, Stieg et moi
Original publisher: Actes Sud, 2011
Photo illustrations from the personal collection of Eva Gabrielsson
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gabrielsson, Eva.
[Millenium, Stieg et moi. English]
“There are things I want you to know” about Stieg Larsson and me Eva Gabrielsson ; with Marie-Francoise Colombani; translated from the French by Linda Coverdale.
1st English language ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-1-60980-364-3
1. Larsson, Stieg, 1954-2004. 2. Gabrielsson, Eva.
3. Authors, Swedish—20th century—Biography. 4. Journalists—Sweden.
I. Colombani, Marie-Francoise. II. Coverdale, Linda. III. Title.
PT9876.22.A6933Z6413 2011
839.73‘8—dc23
2011016387
v3.1
Till alla Er som holl mig nar jag inte holl ihop sjalv.
Och till Er som stannade kvar efterat.
To all those who supported me when I faltered.
And to those who are standing by me still.
—EG
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Epigraph
Foreword
Speaking of Coffee
Early Days
Our Mamas
Meeting
The Trip to Africa
Stockholm
The TT Agency
Expo
Threats
Millennium
Stieg’s Journalistic Credo
Feminism
At the Heart of the Bible
The Duty of Vengeance
Addresses in The Millennium Trilogy
The Characters
Grenada
Sailing
Schemes and Scams
Heading for Publication
November 2004
The Aftermath
Goodbyes
The Vengeance of the Gods
My 2005 Diary
2005-2010
supporteva.com
The Fourth Volume
Acknowledgments
About Seven Stories Press
Foreword
YES, THERE is a mystery behind The Millennium Trilogy. And secrets, too. As in the parable of Plato’s Cave, Stieg Larsson’s crime novels allow only a certain reality to appear, and the reality that remains hidden within them is rich in stories that open endlessly onto still more stories. The trilogy is filled with signs, some of which are drawn from everyday life while others, strangely powerful, link Stieg Larsson and Eva Gabrielsson, his companion of thirty-two years, to worlds distinctly their own: science fiction, the Bible, Scandinavian mythology, espionage, the battle against right-wing extremism, the struggle for human rights….
Only Eva Gabrielsson can shed an intimate light on the Millennium novels, which in her telling become much more than the crime fiction saga known throughout the world. The trilogy is an allegory of the individual’s eternal fight for justice and morality, the values for which Stieg Larsson fought until the day he died. To Eva Gabrielsson, these books are the reflection of a shared life and love, but also the embodiment of terrible events. The first and most dramatic of these, of course, was the sudden loss of Stieg. Felled by a heart attack at the age of fifty soon after delivering his manuscripts to his publisher, Stieg never witnessed the immense success of his creation. And what happened next was sordid. Because domestic unions between unmarried childless couples are not legally recognized in Sweden, Eva was deprived of all of her inheritance from her partner and for a time even feared she would be evicted from their small apartment, only half of which she owned. Another distressing development for Eva was the growth of a huge “Stieg Larsson industry,” the complete antithesis of everything he stood for: TV series, films, books by false friends, all kinds of rumors…. The real Stieg Larsson—the militant, the feminist, the journalist, the autodidact of