Bilden av Sverige

Jag blev tipsad (tack, Lotta) om en tänkvärd och bitvis rolig betraktelse, publicerad på brittiska Telegraphs kultursidor på webben (13/3 2010). Med utgångspunkt i den pågående internationella bok- och filmsuccén för Stieg Larssons Millennium-trilogi rotar Stephen Armstrong runt i myten om Sverige, och hittar både gott och ont...

...in 2007 Sweden was rated best practising democracy by The Economist, least corrupt nation by Transparency International, most equal in gender relations by the World Economic Forum, and most generous donor of overseas development aid by the OECD. Even the legend that the country has an unusually high suicide rate isn’t true. Coming about 35th in the world, Sweden comes in lower than France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

"Part of Sweden’s problem overseas is that everyone thinks we’re like Abba and Ikea,” says Stockholm-based stand-up comedian Magnus Betner. “We’re a nation of beautiful people singing happy songs in stylish modernist apartments. ..."

Larsson, as with Betner and Mankell, spends much of the time pulling apart the stereotype of happy-ever-after, perfectly educated, socially democratic and joyfully tolerant Swedes enjoying wild sex lives and perfectly cooked meatballs.