kvarter Volume 07 • 2013 akademiskacademic quarter
Porous Borders Crossing the Boundaries to ‘Eastern Europe’ in Scandinavian Crime Fiction
Anna Estera Mrozewicz PhD, Assistant Professor at the Department of Film, Television and New Media at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland and pursued post-doctoral studies at the Department of Scandina- vian Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen (2010– 2012). Her current research project investigates the concept of ‘East- ern Europe’ in Scandinavian film, literature and visual arts.
Abstract In Scandinavian crime fiction, an implicit dynamics is noticeable between the adjacent worlds: Scandinavia and ‘Eastern Europe’. The author of the article approaches their relation using the two interrelated concepts of border and boundary (Casey, 2011). While borders are fixed and established by conventional agreements, boundaries are natural, perforated, and undermine the impenetra- bility of the border. Accordingly, two main strands are discernible within the representations of ‘Eastern Europe’ in Scandinavian crime fiction: a ‘border perspective’ and a ‘boundary perspective’. The first strand is rooted in the old world with pronounced nation- al divisions, while the other anticipates a globalised world, involv- ing a dynamic view of the relation between the neighbours across the Baltic. As the article attempts to demonstrate, the border/bound- ary distinction can be fruitfully applied to the analysis of the Scan- dinavian discourse on ‘Eastern Europe’ with all its implications.
Keywords border/boundary, Scandinavian crime fiction, ‘Eastern Europe’, adjacency, suppression, neighbour.
Volume 07 350 - - The The / - - - - - 351
and Scandi (1992), Kurt 1 Porous Borders Porous Volume the Swedish author 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna Den russiske sangerinde The Dogs of Riga / Leif Davidsen’s Hundarna i Riga
(1988), the climax scene at the end of the novel reads reads novel the of end the at scene climax the (1988), on the gas. It was like a film that ran too fast, and yet it was it yet and fast, too ran that film a like was It gas. the on in slow motion. Then time stood still as I saw one half of the officer’s head disappear in a cloud of blood before he was hurled along the road. […] I let all the horsepower of into gate the through crashing roar, a with off set Volvo the Finland. […] The guests of the cafeteria were sitting out side at white tables in the mild summer morning. (David sen, 1991, pp. 274-5) We drove down toward the last frontier gate We and stopped mid the in out stepped officer] [An […] it. before feet sixty machine his of catch safety the released and road the of dle gun. The gate stayed down. […] The general’s long tenta cles reached all the way into the KGB’s frontier corps, I realized in one absurd second, just before I stepped hard The border was invisible. It was there nevertheless, in side him, like just a under coil his of breast- barbed wire, on back look would He scared. was Wallander Kurt bone. the final steps he took on Lithuanian soil to the Latvian as border a crippling a towards trek country where from Abandon words: Dante’s shouting himself find would he (Mankell, 2012, p. 251) hope, all ye who enter here! the Danish writer In Russian Singer as follows: ish, Polish-Lithuanian), Wallander ish, perceives Polish-Lithuanian), the Wallander whole travel as a are thoughts His darkness. of heart the into deeper and deeper trip narrated as follows: The drama of crossing borders The drama of crossing Europe’ ‘Eastern between borders crossing of acts The navia are typically represented as accompanied by strong affect novels the from episodes Two fiction. crime in especially – fear and In striking in this respect. discussed below are Henning Mankell’s Wallander’s illegal crossing of the border between Lithuania and Latvia under cover of night serves as a point of no return in the fabula. Having several earlier (German-Pol other crossed borders quarter
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Both novels 2 Porous Borders Porous Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna , Mankell’s second nov second Mankell’s , , the opening part of the so-called The Dogs of Riga , they all, even the most recent (Davidsen, 2013 century and the Cold War. Despite the fact that the century and the Cold War. The Russian Singer th As many scholars observed, place has gained increased signifi The examples derive from from derive examples The This article argues that within Scandinavian crime fiction an im familiar discourse known from the Enlightenment 1994),(Wolff, as 19 well as from Russian series was written after 1989, with the exception of entire The Russian Singer a similar discourse. reproduce cance in Scandinavian crime fiction in theWar post-Cold period. Globalisation and regionalisation have created ‘new ties between el in his Kurt Wallander el police in procedural his series, Kurt and Wallander Davidsen’s political thriller Russian tetralogy (recently expanded to pentalogy). 1989/91 of reorientation political the of time the around written were in Europe. While they have a lot in common regarding the impor tance attached they to alsothe Scandinavian-East European border, manifest meaningful differences. Whereas Mankell questions the which to due neighbours, two the between border the of status fixed his book can be perceived as representing the emergence of a new a reproduces Davidsen Scandinavia, in Europe Eastern on discourse time, however, time, it however, implies that the two worlds are adjacent. In other neighbours. they are words, Scandinavia worlds: adjacent two the between exists dynamics plicit and Eastern Europe, and that this dynamics can be understood by using two interrelated concepts of ‘border’ and ‘boundary’. With their help, I will distinguish two central strands within representa per ‘border a novels: crime Scandinavian in Europe Eastern of tions the in rooted is one first The perspective’. ‘boundary a and spective’ old world with pronounced national divisions, while the other an at stake. the question of borders ticipates a globalised world with The two excerpts provide typical examples of both affective and nar and affective both of examples typical provide excerpts two The rative dramatisation of border crossing, indicating the significance attached to borders separating Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. They borders between represent two utterly different worlds: the civilised and uncivilised, safe and dangerous, visible and invisible, known and unknown 1994).(Wolff, Indeed, crossing the border to the ‘other’ world feels so strange that it can only be compared to literature (Mankell) or an action movie (Davidsen). The border rep ‘our’of sameedge the ultimate At an resents experience. and world quarter
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Porous Borders Porous The Russian Singer Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna . Reflecting on place in place on Reflecting . p. 11) p. . While borders are established by convention by established are borders While . borders are always already in the process of becoming in the process always already borders are are two aspects of the same edge, even though . p. 11) boundaries boundary ’ (Casey, 2011, p. 393, original emphasis). 2011, ’ (Casey, and and It is noteworthy that Wallander crosses the to crosses border Latvia dur It is noteworthy that Wallander In his research on different types of edges in human experience, can be measured, boundaries allow negotiation. However, as Casey boundaries allow negotiation. can However, be measured, ‘either…or’.of terms in edge the about think cannot we emphasises, Border p. they belong 2011, to ontologically different dimensions (Casey, ‘ more, is What 395). boundaries ing night, while Jack Andersen forces his car through the gate to he wishes to separate the two spaces but gradually realises that un story the As suppress. to impossible is interconnectedness their folds, the presence of the ‘other’ space is made increasingly mani ‘ on only not (Sweden), world own Wallander’s within fest side of the Baltic’ (Mankell, 2012, p. 46). the American philosopher Edward S. Casey distinguishes between borders al agreements and emerge as a product of bounda human history, ries are paradigmatically natural and perforated, allowing for the border to p. 2011, breathe 388); (Casey, while borders are fixed and Borders and boundaries in and outer the element: constituting its from separate is place No repre The ways the are outer ner limits borders. of Eastern Europe sented in the two novels In vary significantly. the Soviet Union and Scandinavia (Norden) are staged as two dis jointed systems with only spare interconnections. Davidsen’s pro tagonist, Jack Andersen, represents a one-dimensional, non-evolv of agent ‘an Wallander, Kurt novel, Mankell’s In Russia. on view ing p. 2011, (McCorristine, criticism’ for targeted establishment very the fashion, xenophobic a In opposite. the of example an represents 78), places, undermining, for example, distinctions between national national between distinctions example, for undermining, places, 2011, Arvas, and (Nestingen identities’ the Kurt series, Wallander Paula Arvas and Andrew Nestingen, is tone pessimistic series’ ‘the note: McCorristine, Shane with along relations the about certainties undermining continually by created and Sweden of place the Others, of place The place. constituting the place are […] of haunted Wallander by the fluidity […] which makes securing a stable orientation impossible’ (Nestingen and Arvas, 2011, quarter
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, on the oth the on , Porous Borders Porous Volume 07 Boundary Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna can be thought of as ‘diur Sweden’s constant oscillation while the diurnal is ruled by : border . In Mankell’s novel, the Baltic Sea acquires a metaphorical dimen metaphorical a acquires Sea Baltic the novel, Mankell’s In The spatial and temporal constellation in Mankell’s novel, partlynovel, Mankell’s in constellation temporal and spatial The extensive Latvian and Estonian minorities, mainly refugees from from extensive Latvian and Estonian minorities, mainly refugees (Lund USSR the to ‘repatriation’ by threatened WW2, of time the and Nilsson, 2006, p. 4) sion – it is a boundary by its very nature; its fluency and porosity disseminate to the plot construction and relations between the ac Shortly after Wallander’stors; they also reality. ofaffect perception a life-raft with two Russian corpses reaches the Swedish coast – an ‘Sweden’s relation ‘Sweden’s to relation the Baltic states as well as the Soviet Union is Swed the of portion large a Historically, problematic. and complex ish colonial expansion project stretched to the east, and during the Sweden as a Cold neutral War, “middle way” nation was geographically but also ideologically located in between NATO pact’ and (Larsson, the 2010, Warsaw p. According 33). to Larsson, these facts triggered ‘a national anxiety interspersed with a vague sense of guilt’ (Larsson, 2010, p. 22). and their official neutrality policy impelled between East and West the authorities to turn a blind eye to the oppression of their Baltic neighbours by the Soviets. Another reason was the safety of the set in Ystad, a small town at the southern coast of Sweden, and ‘fall already having wall Berlin the 1991, February in Riga, in partly en’, but the destiny of the Baltic countries still unknown, carries an important message. As the Swedish author Mariah Larsson notes, noticing, around 1960, still before the feminist turn in the humani ties), the configuration is gendered active male subjects, the nocturnal is inhabited by female, passive hierarchical. thus is relation The 104). p. 2001, (Chambers, objects the discussed novels, a striking dependency between emerges bor dynamics.der/boundary dynamics and gender Finland in the daylight. If we relate Casey’s border/boundary dis tinction to the made differentiation by the anthropologist French Gilbert Durand between the diurnal and nocturnal regimes of rep resentation (Durand, 2002), then and solid the rational, the by ruled day, the to belonging is, that nal’, separation. and division to pointing rigid, the characterised regime’ ‘nocturnal a opposite: the represents hand, er elusivenessby andfluidity, a porous structure, inviting disturbing and subversive elements. In Durand’s model (elaborated, worth quarter
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an ostensi , while Wal Porous Borders Porous and wishes borders to subject Volume 07 of internal play be Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna object . Baiba embodies separation and differ Wallander, who embodies the Wallander, ambiguity of the history Sweden shares with its Latvian In contrast to Davidsen’s novels in which traditionally which in novels Davidsen’s to contrast In adjacency, which raises Wallander’s fear, adjacency, both He learns, for instance, about the existence of the Latvian mi . What happens, then, has after illegally Wallander crossed the tween Latvian dissidents and the pro-Soviet authorities. The aim is aim The authorities. pro-Soviet the and dissidents Latvian tween to get po hold the of pro-Soviet before major report Liepa’s secret lice find it.Wallander Meanwhile, falls in love with Baiba, who him. rejects understood gender roles are strongly represented, in Mankell, these roles are challenged reorients his attitude ence, towards the while scenari Wallander os of the nocturnal: involvement and connection across national, the ‘other’ shore of the Baltic reaches its climax when Wallander travels to Latvia illegally in the second part of the novel – thus al moreo and, border over command take to boundary the for lowing of illegal movement. direction the traditional reversing ver, border? First of all, he loses his firm position as a subject in narra tological terms, The instead comprisesprocess becoming a helper. both national and gender roles: regarding a meaningful reversal the main Latvian female character, Baiba, the widow of a mur dered dissident (major Liepa), becomes the lander turns – at least briefly – into an ger originating from the East – corresponds to discourses present in present discourses to corresponds – East the from originating ger Swedish politics in the earlier decades of the Cold (af War Malm borg, 2001, p. 159). growing xenophobia, on the one hand, and Swedish moral con science, on the other (McCorristine, p. 2011, 78), be borders (and as not the boundaries). plot However, unfolds, his hope of staying safely isolated and uninvolved fades. The process knowl his in gaps of aware gradually becoming Wallander includes edge regarding bour on is what to fear and attraction of ambiguity The Sweden. in nority event that commences the criminal plot – the Baltic becomes the subject of inspector Kurt Wallander’s frequent reflections, eventu in position – own his and – Sweden’s re-evaluate to him forcing ally the surrounding world. The Baltic’s fluent nature allows for the lets It border. political the of fixity the dominate to boundary-aspect ‘other’ – elements such through as the dead Russians. The sea con notes bothas – Baltic the of perception ambivalent This distance. safe bly an imagined protective moat and the place of an unidentified dan quarter
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Porous Borders Porous , the Danish au (People’s Home), (People’s Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna Folkhemmet The Russian Singer As Charity Scribner observed, the disintegration of Eastern Bloc Using A.J. Greimas’ narratological term, both A.J. the Greimas’ political situa Using dural, Mankell’s novel does not serve as a ‘comforting reassurance to the reader that there is discipline and justice in society’ (Berg man, p. 2011, 35). In Davidsen’s thorities’ acceptance of the Soviet conditions is also approached unchangeably Russia fixed: are oppositions the However, critically. and quiet the is Denmark while fascinating, and dystopian remains rightful welfare state, the place of “Interlude”, where the protago factors than the trite visible/invisible, civilised/uncivilised, secure/ civilised/uncivilised, visible/invisible, trite the than factors insecure binaries. In Sweden, the lack of transparency is hidden, while in Latvia it is a self-evident condition; in Latvia, insecurity is obvious, while Swedes ‘have been lulled into a false sense of secu p. 78). rity’ (McCorristine, 2011, welfare exhausted the to comparisons ‘prompted countries socialist 2003, p. meeting 64). withWallander’s (Scribner, states of the West’ about disillusioned him makes Latvia the ideal of Swedish welfare state defined by social equality and proce police typical a in Unlike 22). p. 2011, (Tapper, decency moral does not work ‘by the book’ (Stjernfelt, 2003, p. 141). can ‘Average’ transna Wallander’s standards. Soviet and Swedish both mean here tional his encounter, ‘boundary experience’, opens his eyes to the dimensions as law or police in neutral of such apparently relativity vestigation rules. during Paradoxically, the Swedish part of the in des Soviet the to according act to impelled is Wallander vestigation, tinator (whose ‘middlemen’ are the Swedish diplomats fearing that Latvia,in when while discord), political bring can case’ ‘Latvian the his acts are guided by Mankellthe anti-Soviet destinators. Thereby, brings paradoxes into focus: the contrast between Sweden and Lat other upon rests it least At first. at seem might it than clear less is via cultural and gender divisions. In the end, he how realises difficult to enact. they are tion in Latvia and Baiba become Wallander’s destinators, a role be longing to the Swedish police and authorities in the first part of the position Wallander’s Simultaneously, 138). p. 2003, (Stjernfelt, novel changes from being an ordinary Swedish policeman to Baiba’s and transgresses typically detective A detective. private dissidents’ the accordingly, and police, the governing codes and norms average, the quarter
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can be meas be can Porous Borders Porous scarred as scarred (1888), the border border the (1888), Volume Impressions of Poland Impressions 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna / , it reads: ‘I drove the sixty feet to feet sixty the drove ‘I reads: it , Equally, the plots and trajectories in trajectories and plots the Equally, Davidsen’s hero, unlike Mankell’s Impressions of Russia Impressions Indtryk fra Polen / , narrated in first person, introduce the The Russian Singer Russian The Indtryk fra Rusland The Russian Singer of the Sadovaya, where the frozen mixture of ice, which additionally resonate in the borders that borders the in resonate additionally which As often before, I was looking down upon the phalt , in Davidsen’s novel Eastern Europe is always already a crime In Davidsen’s novel, the diurnal regime clearly persists. Certainly, Certainly, persists. clearly regime diurnal the novel, Davidsen’s In reader to Moscow – or rather, a tiny part of Moscow, limited to what to limited Moscow, of part tiny a rather, or – Moscow to reader the the descrip protagonist can However, see through his window. quickly room, Andersen’s Jack from seen street, Sadovaya the of tion turns into a metaphor of the thewhole Sovietcity soci and, finally, ety and its political situation: Europe, is Europe, unchangeably known-and-visible for Davidsen’s protag intro is place criminal a as Union Soviet the of recognition The onist. duced to the reader from the very beginning. Unlike in Riga scene – and always already familiar to the main protagonist. The of the representations theplace through filtered authorityare of the speaker, unmistakably well-informed about the (dystopian) reality he confronts. In other words, the speaker takes the position of a su perior subject-in-control, while what is seen in front of him and de scribed becomes positioned as an inferior object. The opening para graphs of the small cafeteria [on the Finnish side] and stepped into civiliza tion’ (Davidsen, 1991, p. 186). Davidsen’s use of the term ‘civiliza as living, of standard developed highly a denote to supposed is tion’ opposed to the uncivilised, underdeveloped Soviet world. As in Georg Brandes’s travelogues, and (1888) the represents beginning (or end) of the ‘other’ world – dangerous, ‘other’,Easternthe however, Paradoxically, unknown. and invisible, Davidsen’s novel include dividing and separating (Chambers, 2001, (Chambers, separating and dividing include novel Davidsen’s 104), p. In precisely. ured nist lives peacefully, trying to forget his impeded diplomatic career career his impeded diplomatic to forget trying nist lives peacefully, in Moscow. at the Danish embassy the black-and-white reality is partly determined by the political thriller genre, where distinctions between East and are West sharp (Davidsen, 1999, p. 3). Again, the clear-cut divisions relate to the strong position of the subject. well- is who type, Bond-like James masculine a represents anti-hero, affairs. international in oriented quarter
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along
Porous Borders Porous . The Soviet like fangs Volume when the choice when the choice 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna . It was early Janu the dark stillness of Moscow of stillness dark the Like many times before, I 3 Mankell narratively destabilises the all lonely and unhappy people unhappy and lonely all
like a bandage that should have beenhave should that bandage a like like almost everything else in the city, else in the city, like almost everything
. The Sadovaya is the ring road that […] Sharp icicles hung the border is being established from both sides: lifeless city grew even quieter, so grew that even quieter, not know what to do with themselves; seemed to be between the bottle and suicide showed, thermometer the than deeper cut cold the and ary, because it had come from the depths of Siberia surpris falseand slush and thaw of days after suddenly and ingly promises of impending spring. stood by the window smoking my pipe and looking out over the the beautiful name covered an unpleasant reality an unpleasant covered the beautiful name Union is a society that distinguishes itself by describing lies as truths and staring them straight in the face before exist. not do they that pretending them, on back its turning deep-frozen night, A […] when the roofs. (Davidsen, 1991, pp. 3-4, added emphases) (Davidsen, 1991, pp. the roofs. gravel, and snow looked snow and gravel, ago changed a long time means It band. cigar a like Moscow of center the surrounds the Garden Road, but The Dogs of Riga A striking A difference between the two authors lies in that while tees its it currency: its ‘ensures in repeatability changing historical (Bhabha, 2004, p. 95). and discursive conjunctures’ ‘other’,side,the Soviet by constituted as border the stages Davidsen in as the well East as European the is Swedish ‘inside (the him’border [Mankell, 2012, p. 251]). While border and gives way to boundary (both thematically by making it The gaze of the narrator – his or voice rather, and the rhetorical de trans – italics) (in animization or hyperbole metaphor, as such vices spec imaginary an into eyes his of front in unfolding view the form tacle of and horror hopelessness. The aura of the place in resides its attributed are objects Inanimate danger. life-threatening imagined, features of living creatures – and deprived of life again. Thus, the rhetoric enacts As stereotype. the Indian theoretician Homi Bhabha noted, ‘ais stereotype para the major discursive strategy of fixity, unchang an and rigidity connotes it representation: of mode doxical ing order as degeneracy well and as demonic disorder, repetition’ (Bhabha, 2004, p. 94). This paradox in inherent guaran stereotype quarter
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The RussianThe Porous Borders Porous The Dogs of Riga Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna Davidsen establishes a ‘regime of antithesis’ (Durand,antithesis’ of ‘regime a establishes Davidsen Gender relations only confirm this. As the Spanish acts as its agent. Wallander’s growing awareness of the Latvian neighbour’sexist Latvian the of awareness growing Wallander’s perspective’ from Davidsen’s ‘border perspective’ is that while the while that is perspective’ ‘border Davidsen’s from perspective’ feature a reflection, of subject a suppression makes author Swedish that exceeds the formula of the genre, Davidsen with Singer the of effect’ ‘side a as emerges Baltic the of ‘other’ shore the on ence investigation he conducts, to begin with officially in Ystad, and Wallander is in the fabula later unofficially in Riga. Concurrently, Suppression and change The ‘boundary perspective’ in Mankell’s novel involves another relevant aspect. Drawing on a spatial metaphor employed by Sig mund Freud (Freud, 2012), I will call it suppression. Suppression related to and exposed by border crossings in curs as an incidental emergence of both geographical and histori cal issues, encompassing the mentioned ‘vague sense of guilt’ in any Erecting 22). p. 2010, (Larsson, neighbours Baltic the to relation bor political invisible or fences and walls visible whether borders, derlines, involves suppression or disavowal of some kind (Scrib 2003, ner, pp. 135-36). What distinguishes Mankell’s ‘boundary only reveal his secret knowledge to the Soviet authorities on the con the on authorities Soviet the to knowledge secret his reveal only dif the Finally, Denmark. to him with travel Lilli let they that dition ference between Mankell and Davidsen rests upon the degree of sexu in both protagonists, the by gained fulfillment and satisfaction al and professional terms: while Jack wins Lilli’s love and is pre does not manage to sented in the Soviet media as Wallander a hero, hisabout learn never police Swedish the and feelings, Baiba’s ignite gets neither successful a performance ‘reward’ in Latvia. Wallander (a woman) nor satisfaction derived from being officially acknowl edged for his deeds. porous porous and narratively by displacing the protagonist from the sub position), ject 2002, p. 31). scholar Ana Manzanas put it, ‘As a representation of the vertical axis, the wall/fence stands as a of crucible power and phallicism’ female the where novel, Mankell’s in Unlike 11). p. 2007, (Manzanas, Latvian protagonist acts as a subject and Davidsen’s destinator, fe male protagonist, Lilli, functions both as a victim of the Soviet sys tem and as an object of exchange across the Thus, border. Jack will quarter
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threshold ; he pass he ; Porous Borders Porous suppression and suppression ‘ Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna a watchman , in which the psychic impulses rub elbows o any kind of two adjacent spaces, separated by a which consciousness occupies. But on the
, parlour t es on the individual psychic impulses, censors them, and them, censors impulses, psychic individual the on es will not let them into the parlor if they do not meet with added emphases) 2012, p. 256, (Freud, his approval. We will compare the system of the unconscious to a large a to unconscious the of system the compare will We ante-chamber with as one separate another, beings. There opens out of this ante-chamber a another, smaller room, a sort of lor stands there rooms two the between Indeed, already at its very beginning, the novel introduces the The Baltic Sea is directly related to the layer of suppression in one having the status of the centre or ‘parlor’,one having the status of the centre the other of a forgot ten periphery or ‘antechamber’. Suppression can be viewed as a and history. to space, borders cultural phenomenon, related the of structure porous the revealing suppression, of act an to reader borderline connected to the prevailing In Cold chapterreality. War one, set on the Baltic Sea, an we ob encounter a Swedish smuggler, scure figure who transports goods from Sweden to the (former) Freud Freud discusses here the individual psychological process of sup pression. if However, we extend the metaphor of an antechamber and a ‘threshold’, that is, a border overseen by a ‘watchman’, where the movement from the ‘antechamber’ to the ‘parlor’ is a strictly con trolled process, then it can be fruitfully applied to a literary repre history, common a sharing countries neighbouring two of sentation the fabula. In the context of what could be called be could what of context the In fabula. the geography’, I will recall a useful spatial metaphor employed by illustrates the psycho (threshold) a border crossing where Freud, logical phenomenon of suppression: clearly opposed to the central Swedish authorities, who – fearing the Soviets – monitor the investigation. Both the authorities and exhibit Wallander suppression towards Sweden’s Baltic neigh represent authorities the whereas that however, argue, will I bours. fixity andWallanderrepresents adjustment, a unit of change, sub ject to revision tries and to dynamism. overcome Wallander his ig norance and understand the Latvian ‘other’, who knocks on the door of his moral conscience. quarter
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in the areas areas the in Porous Borders Porous Significantly, Wal Significantly, 4 century Volume 07 th Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna in the 17 the in ’s Latvia, a part of history that has almost been inforgotten [He realised that] it must be the Swedish Gate […]. He shivered. It had grown cold again. He decipher to inspected tried and the absent-mindedly, wall brick cracked some ancient symbols carved into it. He gave up ormore A relevant A example of suppression occurs when is Wallander re Likewise, throughout the story, both Wallander and the officials both Wallander the Likewise, story, throughout Swedish Gate in Riga, originating that from time, but his attitude can be said to illustrate suppression: minded about the Swedish hegemony Swedish the about minded of today Swedish schoolbooks (Maciejewski, 2001, p. 56). lander is reminded about this historical fact by a pro-Soviet police whoofficer, suggests a parallel between the bygone Swedish and Sweden’s current Soviet colonial imperialism. past Indirectly, as a Russia when period the recalled, is area Sea Baltic the in superpower Sali and Støren as oppositions, These rival. important most her was cath emphasise, did not disappear after Sweden’s influence gradu ally faded (Støren and Salicath, 1986, p. 2). visits Wallander and Sweden. The smuggler operates in a grey zone in-between, demonstrating that both sides, the ‘neutral’ Sweden and Eastern Bloc, dependent are on each other and draw mutual benefits from order. the Cold War from Stockholm attempt to keep the ‘Latvian case’ move away, it only not unfolds, story the as ‘antechamber’.the to back However, connections historical of fragments also but closeness, physical the emerge, entering the ‘parlor’ and revealing themselves as sup aware the in missing as well as discourse, official the from pressed ness of the individual. Eastern Germany on his fishing boat. When he discovers a life-raft taketo not decides he it, in bodies dead two with sea the on drifting activity. illegal his disclosing avoid to – police the notify or steps any nagged However, by guilt, he finally tows the raft closer to the Swedish The coast fact and that sails the away. attempt of suppres non-existent, was life-raft the that pretending words, other in sion, takes place on the Baltic Sea, is meaningful – the sea is a border land, in its nature closer to the fluent boundary than fixed border 2007, p. 389), (Casey, between the pact former countries Warsaw quarter
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indicate still Porous Borders Porous may Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna . Cardiff: University of . Cardiff: London and New York: York: New and London [They] . Kjøbenhavn: Gyldendalske If external edges serve to terminate something, terminate to serve edges external If The Location of Culture. The Location of Culture. Indtryk fra Polen Scandinavian Crime Fiction less straight and away, went back to the car. (Mankell, 2012, p. 221) , unwanted and suppressed impulses, ‘internal edges’, gradu P. Arvas, eds. P. pp. 34-45. Press. Wales Routledge. Hegel & Søn). Boghandels Forlag (F. Neo-Romantic Mankell’s and Davidsen’s novels, originating from more or less Tendencies in the Swedish Police Procedural. In: A. Nestingen and Nestingen A. In: Procedural. Police Swedish the in Tendencies 2004. H.K., Bhabha, Brandes, G., 1888. es as two external poles, not necessarily occurring separately, often es as two external poles, not necessarily occurring separately, mingling in different proportions, on the continuum of contempo rary Scandinavian discourse – on both Eastern in Europe crime fic with the subject.tion and other cultural works involved Centre Science National the by subsidized been has publication The in Poland, no. DEC-2011/03/D/HS2/00785 References Millenium: New the of Cops Well-Adjusted The 2011. K., Bergman, conscious’ (Freud, 2012, p. 256). All of invite them, the however, con present and past both re-imagine to reader the and protagonist nections across Bringing the ‘transnational border. interconnection per of certainty disrupting of way ‘a are they frames’, adjacent into spective’ (Nestingen, 2008, pp. 231). the same time, two represent parallel, significantly different tives on the border and boundary between Scandinavia and East ern Europe. Mankell’s novel can be perceived as an emerging new and fixed is Davidsen’s while one, old the of reshaping or discourse approach two these view I tradition. long-established the in rooted As Casey observes, ‘ observes, Casey As internal edges complicate it from within. deeper structures that are themselves hidden from view’ (Casey, p. 2011, 384). As the boundary grows in importance in Riga ally emerge in Wallander’s awareness. Many remain in his ‘fore- quarter
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. København: . København: Porous Borders Porous fængslet og den og fængslet A A General Introduc Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna : Fakta : København
. . Lublin: Wydawnictwo 29(3), pp. 384–98.
, Potęga świata wyobrażeń czyliwyobrażeń świata Potęga . Kjøbenhavn: Gyldendalske , trans. An J. Schiøtt. London: Nattergalens død Nattergalens Drengen Drengen i kufferten Et stille umærkeligt drab Sverige och Baltikums frig Region in Three Swedish Films. Swedish Three in Region Regional Aesthetics: Locating Swedish Media , trans. G. Stanley Hall [1920]. Marston Gate: Marston [1920]. Hall Stanley G. trans. , , 32(138), pp. 1-4. The Russian Singer Patriarkens hændelige død hændelige Patriarkens Indtryk fra Rusland Jagten på en hovedperson en på Jagten The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary Structures The Anthropological ’s Press. Nilsson, T., 2006. Nilsson, T., Kritik . ’s Press. ’s Press. Psychoanalysis , 9(1), pp. 100-109. : Samtidshistoriska instituttet, CBEES, Centre for Baltic andBaltic for Centre CBEES, instituttet, Samtidshistoriska : and Planning D: Society and Space and Planning D: Society
og Ringhof. Boghandels Forlag (F. Hegel & Søn). (F. Boghandels Forlag ment Durand’s bert vittnesseminarier om storpolitik kring Östersjön 1989-1994 kring storpolitik vittnesseminarier om holm Studies. East European zrównowazonych. Rozmowa z drykowski). In M. Hendrykowska and M. Hendrykowski, eds. People havn: People People Changing a on Perspective E. Hedling, et al. eds. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden. pp. 21–41. rigtige bog ed. Falicka, K. In: Grzesiak. C. trans. Archetypologia według Gilberta Duranda pp. 31-57. Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej. to tion Books. pp. 248-261. Forgotten rative dré Deutsch. Maciejewski, W., 2001. Uczyć uczuć. Społeczenstwo Profesorem ludzi Witoldem Maciejewskim (rozmawiał Marek Hen Kaaberbøll, L. and Friis, A., 2011. 2010. A., Friis, and L. Kaaberbøll, Larsson, M., National 2010. A Representing Sexual Transactions: and Lundén, T. Davidsen, L., 1999. L., Davidsen, Davidsen, L., 2013. Durand, G., Antropologiczne 2002. struktury świata wyobrażeń Freud, S., 2012. Resistance and Suppression. In: Brandes, G., 1888. Frontera, La at Boundary versus Border 2011. E.S., Casey, Chambers, R., 2001. Narrative and the Review A Imaginary: of Gil Davidsen, L., 1991. Kaaberbøll, L. and A., Friis, 2008. quarter
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. pp. 77-88. Porous Borders Porous Journal of Scandi NUPI-rapport 99 NUPI-rapport ; Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna . Cambridge, MA: MIT Scandinavian Crime Fiction Sverige og i Norden sovjetisk Sign Systems Studies Systems Sign , trans. L. Thompson. London: . Oslo: Aschehoug. . Oslo: Scandinavian Crime Fiction . pp. 21-33. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Stanford Stanford:
. Iconicity. Iconicity. Neutrality and State-Building in Sweden Neutrality and State-Building Border Transits: Literature and Culture across across and Culture Literature Border Transits: . Poznań: Naukowe Wydawnictwo UAM. pp. Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia. Fiction, Film, Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia. . Seattle: University of Washington Press; Co Press; . Seattle: University of Washington Requiem for Communism The Dogs of Riga , 3(2), pp. 125-140, doi: 10.1386/jsca.3.2.140_1. Containerkvinnen nventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the nventing Eastern Europe: I . Amsterdam: Rodopi. Amsterdam: . Crossing the Baltic on the Scandinavian Screen. Screen. Scandinavian the on Baltic the Crossing navian Cinema and Social Change Press. penhagen: Museum Tusculanum Przemoc na ekranie na Przemoc Mind of theEnlightenment tion: A Case tion: A Study on 133-162. Salicath, eds. and Støren C.P. utenrikspolitikk. In: H.W. til Sovjetunionen og forholdet sikkerhetspolitikk Olso: Norsk utenrikspolitisk institutt. pp. 1-4. Scandinavian Crime Fiction Kurt Wallander Series. In: Kurt Wallander Wales Press. University of Cardiff: Press. 55-66. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Books. Vintage the Line The inverted commas are used here for the term ‘Eastern Europe’ (left out in the of rest the article) to indicate its constructedness and the fact reality. cultural and political geographical, mirror not does term the that (2013). (1994) and Mrozewicz see also Wolff In this respect, Other examples include Kaaberbøll and Friis (2008; 2010; and 2011), Notes 1 2 Småge, K., 1997. 2003. The Stjernfelt, Ontology F., of Espionage in Reality and Fic 1986. and Salicath, C.P., H.W. Støren, M., 2011. Dirty Harry Tapper, in the Swedish State. Welfare In: 1994. L., Wolff, Mrozewicz, A.E., 2013. Between the Two Shores of the Deep Blue Sea: Blue Deep the of Shores Two the Between 2013. A.E., Mrozewicz, 2008. A., Nestingen, eds., 2011. A. Arvas, Nestingen, and P. C., Scribner, 2003. Af Malmborg, M., 2001. Mankell, H. 2012. 2007. ed., A. Manzanas, Mankell’s Henning in Pessimism of Place The 2011. S., McCorristine, quarter
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Porous Borders Porous Volume 07 Anna Estera Mrozewicz Anna paigns of Swedish army in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 56). p. (Maciejewski, 2001, Småge (1997). This sentence is an implicit reference to a concrete political situation, 1985. January early as begins plot the when time the define us helping After a short ‘thaw’ period his of 1984, February in Yuri Union Soviet Andropov’s the of leader the rule, became Chernenko Konstantin Leonid late the of policies strict the to return a as viewed being politics era. Brezhnev (in Deluge Swedish so-called the regards observation Maciejewski’s Polish Potop Szwedzki), that is, a series of mid-17th-century cam 3 4 quarter
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