Judged “ incorrect or pornographic », Stieg Larsson's thriller like George RR Martin's fantastical saga are banned in classes and libraries of state establishments.
The news broke Thursday, November 22 at the end of the day. Milleniumthe trilogy by Stieg Larsson, one of Sweden's greatest contemporary authors, with August Strindberg and Astrid Lindgren, is on the list of 700 new books banned in Florida. The list was quietly released in mid-November by the Florida State Department of Education. From now on, high school students and teachers will no longer have the right to debate the investigations of reporter Mikael Blomkvist and computer punkette Lisbeth Salander. These books will also be removed from school libraries.
In Hollywood as in Europe, studios have adapted this saga for cinema five times without ever sharing this analysis. After Noomi Rapace and the late Franco-Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist in Millennium The Movie (2009), Daniel Craig happily took on the role of Mikael Blomkvist opposite Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in Millennium Men who didn't like women in 2011. Claire Foy and Sverrir Gudnasson filmed Millennium: What doesn't kill me in 2018. In France, Stieg Larsson's books are published by Actes Sud. The films are available on the Apple + platform.
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In Sweden, the news sends a chill. Questioned by the daily The evening paperHanna Nordell at the head of PEN Club Sweden (an association which promotes freedom of expression and creation) described this decision as “ obviously sad ». And to continue: »no one is surprised. Last year, 4 000 books have been banned from schools and libraries in the United States. This year, the final figure will reach 10,000 titles.«
The 700 new banned titles are described by Florida authorities as « incorrect or pornographic ». The request to add Stieg Larsson to the list came from Clay County, near Jacksonville in northeast Florida. Are now also prohibited Beloved by Toni Morrison, Normal People de Sally Rooney, Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut Game of Throne by George R. Martin, A Clockwork Orange d’Anthony Burgess, An American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis and a host of thrillers by Stephen King.
The list comes after House Bill 1069 took effect in July, requiring school districts to establish a mechanism for parents to object to anything they consider as pornographic or inappropriate. Since then, hundreds of titles have been removed from elementary, middle and high school libraries. In Florida, 33 of about 70 school districts have banned the books. American classics such as Brave New World d’Aldous Huxley, For Whom the Bell Tolls d’Ernest Hemingway et The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain are among those removed. Contemporary novels by bestselling authors such as Margaret Atwood are also removed.
PEN America found that Florida and Iowa had the highest number of book bans in America in 2023-2024: with more than 4,500 book bans in Florida and more than 3,600 in Iowa. Escambia County in Alabama (Florida) has been particularly proactive. He removed dictionaries and encyclopedias because of their content considered to describe a “ sexual behavior “. This county has banned more than 1,600 books, including biographies of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey and also the Journal by Anne Frank and Death on the Nile d’Agatha Christie.
