The Swedish morning paper Dagens Nyheter August the 2nd published an "exclusive
diary" by David Lagercrantz,
http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/david-lagercrantz-jag-greps-av-en-tvangstanke-1/ ,
covering his work with writing the new Millennium novel. This book is to be
realeased August 27th, in 27 countries simultaneously, and the English title
will be "The Girl in the Spider's Web. (Following the tradition to invent
English titles that show little resemblance to the Swedish original, which will
be "Det som inte dödar oss", meaning "What doesn't kill us". Stieg Larsson's
original "Men Who Hate Women" became "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".) This
new Millennium novel will have nothing to do with the famous fourth (rumoured
to be about half-finished) Stieg Larsson manuscript, due to the conflict
between the Larsson family and Stiegs partner Eva Gabrielsson. I wonder if we
will ever see that book? Stieg Larsson who was heavily involved in science
fiction (fanzine publisher, chairman of the Scandinavian SF Association, among
other things) showed a talent for inventing complex plots, using hi-tech
concepts. His heroine Lisbeth Salander is for instance a super hacker using the
most sophisticated software. This is something that will be elaborated in
Lagercrantz's novel. It is since earlier known (see eg
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/22/lisbeth-salander-is-back-first-plot-details-of-the-girl-in-the-spiders-web-released
) that Lisbeth will hack America's NSA (National Security Agency, the guys
eavesdropping on the whole world and private citizens without due court order
or probable cause). And it is known that Lisbeth will be attacked by cyber
gangsters who call themselves the Spiders (thus the title). Meanwhile Mikael
Blomkvist is contacted by a professor Balder who has made huge advances in
Artificial Intelligence. Lets see what can we learn about the coming novel
from the Lagercrantz diary! Excerpts are translated by Yours Truly:
2013, June 12:David Lagercrantz is for the first time asked about writing the
book.
2013, August 8:He talks with the publisher at Norstedts seriously about the
project. In the night he wakes up being reminded about "a deaf autistic boy who
one day suddenly drew a perfect street light. A thought comes to me after that
and another thought. Within minutes I have a plot".
2013, August 13:He is commissoned to write a synopsis.
2013, August 23:The synopsis is accepted.
2013, November 13:"I'm beginning to get the hang on Lisbeth in the action
scenes, and that's where she fits best. She is best when she attacks and fights
as an underdog." But he wonders who to get her to remember "all the dark
madness" from her childhood?
2013, November 16:"Stieg Larsson solved the problem by letting someone else,
first of all the laywer and the the guardian Holger Palmgren, tell about
Lisbeth's background, which of course is a classic trick ... the myth needs a
Dr Watson to be built".
2014, March 2:He sees "Batman Begins" and begin to think about the "mythology
behind Stieg Larsson's books" and then "see a completely sensational picture on
the net, which changes my whole story."
2014, September 24:His publisher says a track in his plot reminds of something
in another just published crime novel. He becomes frustrated and decides to
re-write the whole thing. Through Google be "becomes obsessed with a new
mathematical track."
2014, October 24:He comes in contact with professor mathematics Andreas
Strömbergsson of Uppsala University, specialising in number theory.
2014, October 28:He meets the professor, who likes the mathematics idea "but
thinks it is unrealistic towards the end". But the professor thinks he "has
another idea".
2014, October 30:The professor sends a long E-mail. "Most is way above my
level, but the basic thought gives my idea a sophisticated touch".
214, November 5:The manuscript is finished.
What we can learn is that the plot has to do with advanced mathematics,
propably in the form of number theory, which also has to do with cryptology
(used to protect secrets in computer communications). One should be aware of
that Lagrecrantz has earlier written a book about Alan Turing, who worked with
the Enigma encryption during World War II (the book The Fall of Man in
Wilmslow, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25279144-fall-of-man-in-wilmslow )
so the new book will certainly involve cryptology. This professor
Strömbergsson is interested in "number theory and automorphic forms... /and
has/ particular worked on problems related to geometry and dynamics on
symmetric spaces, L-functions, quantum chaos, lattices and sphere packing, and
spectral correspondences", Google tells us. That certainly makes things clear
as a day! The word "number theory" is perhaps easiest to understand. It is
about what number sets are - natural, fractional, irrational, imaginary etc
sets - , how they behave, how numbers are distributed (eg in the decimals of
Pi). "Automorphic forms" are "a generalization of the idea of periodic
functions in Euclidean space to general topological groups" (kudos, Wikipedia!)
which in an easier language could be described as subtle patterns in sets of
numbers. If I would dare a guess, I'd imagine that David Lagercrantz simply
lets Ms Salander be the first one to crack how to find the prime factors for
really big numbers! This is the basis of most modern encryption systems, the
holy grail for spies, eavesdroppers, big corporations and their economic
transactions - perhaps the foundation of our entire modern computerised
society! Hints about a drawing of a street light or a "sensational picture"
indicates that steganography is also involved. That is hiding information
within other information, eg manipulating pixels in a picture file to carry
information. And if you have cracked prime number factorisation you have the
whole world in your pocket, hidden where no one can see it.
In his diary David Lagercrantz also says he always worked on an off-line
computer and text were never E-mailed, but sent via a courier (in case a real
life Lisbeth Salander would try a hacker attack...). He seemed to have needed a
long time writing the manuscript, in the diary he is also talking about periods
of angst and obsessive thoughts. In February 2015 the first reactions come from
foreign publishers and translators of the book, upon which he "dances home
through the night and get stuck with an after-party in my local Italian joint
Pane Vino near Zinkensdamm. It was a long time since I became that
intoxicated." But finally, when it comes to mathematics, there are some people
including David Lagercrantz, who if things go as planned with the book, will
have really high numbers to joggle with. Very high numbers in dollars, pounds,
yen and kronor! What doesn't kill you will make you richer.
--Ahrvid
Ps. I met David Lagercrantz myself in November last year, reported here:
https://www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Stig-Larssonpriset. He wouldn't talk
about the plot, but said "he worked very hard with the plot. Stieg was very
good at it, he said, so he had to really be on his toes to try to match him ...
once the work begun it was a rather comfortable flow. ... /He/ doesn't need to
write the Millennium novel for the money - it was the challenge that attracted
him. He also said he tried to develop the characters, especially Lisbeth
Salander, and he has introduced some new ones. He doesn't have a contract for
a fifth book yet. Everything hangs on how the fourth book will be received."
--
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