Overview
An in-depth and personal exploration of Scandinavian crime fiction as a way into Scandinavian culture at large For nearly four decades, Wendy Lesser's primary source of information about three Scandinavian countries--Sweden, Norway, and Denmark--was mystery and crime novels, and the murders committed and solved in their pages. Having never visited the region, Lesser constructed a fictional Scandinavia of her own making, something between a map, a portrait, and a cultural history of a place that both exists and does not exist. Lesser's Scandinavia is disproportionately populated with police officers, but also with the stuff of everyday life, the likes of which are relayed in great detail in the novels she read: a fully realized world complete with its own traditions, customs, and, of course, people. Over the course of many years, Lesser's fictional Scandinavia grew more and more solidly visible to her, yet she never had a strong desire to visit the real countries that corresponded to the made-up ones. Until, she writes, between one day and the next, that no longer seemed sufficient. It was time to travel to Scandinavia.
Full Product Details
Author: Kirsten Potter ,
Wendy Lesser
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Imprint: Tantor Audio
Edition: Library Edition
ISBN: 9798200206919
Publication Date: 18 August 2020
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
"Listeners will be inspired to do more of both through Potter's expert handling of the dense material. Listeners become engaged in the story behind the stories, both the author's and those she dissects.-- ""AudioFile"" ""A beautifully crafted inquiry into fiction, reality, crime and place."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""Lesser is remarkably encyclopedic in her knowledge of Nordic noir and easily conveys her enthusiasm to readers. This fine exploration of fiction."" -- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)"" [A] lively, perceptive guide to Scandi noir...Lesser is an engaging and amiable guide to a cultural phenomenon that has swept much of the planet."" -- ""The Economist (London)"""
Author Information
Kirsten Potter has won several awards, including more than a dozen AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a three-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. Her work has been recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and by AudioFile magazine, among many others. She graduated with highest honors from Boston University and has performed on stage and in film and television, including roles on Medium, Bones, and Judging Amy. Wendy Lesser is the founder and editor of the Threepenny Review and the author of a number of books, including Why I Read, which garnered rave reviews from coast to coast. She has written for the New York Times Book Review, the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and other publications. To complete You Say to Brick, she was awarded one of the first National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar awards, the only one given to a Californian in 2015.
