Zbrodnia w utopii, czyli realizm fantazmatyczny w nordyckich kryminałach
Crime in Utopia, or phantasmatical realism in Nordic crime fiction

Author(s): Andrzej Juszczyk
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: crime fiction; utopia; Scandinavia; novel;phantasm;
Summary/Abstract: In the present article the point of departure is represented by the immense popularity of Nordic crime fiction, inter alia in Poland, which it has enjoyed for at least a few years. An attempt at explaining this phenomenon necessitates an examination of the peculiar features of this literature, among the most important of which seems to be faithful, even veristic representation of the local communities of Northern Europe. O wing to a more in‑depth analysis one may discern a certain phantasmaticality of the image of the North as the background of crime fiction plots – this phantasm is astonishingly constant and permanent, and also appealing to the Polish (and the European) reader. The permanence of this literary model is confirmed by various practices of the publishers, e.g. the fabrication of the Nordicness of authors who have nothing to do with northern Europe or the setting of books in the increasingly outer reaches of Europe (the Faroe Islands, the Shetlands, Iceland etc.). The article contains analyses of numerous literary examples of crime fiction in order to establish a standard model of Nordic crime fiction, and it also constitutes an attempt at answering the question about the origin of its current popularity.

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