This week our writers bring you the latest news from Sweden, the United States, and Iran. In Sweden, Nordic Noir finds a new form in a popular podcast, whilst mounting tension between the United States and Iran sparks debate over the politics of language and the sociopolitical responsibility of artists. Read on to find out more!
Eva Wissting, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Sweden
Take Nordic Noir and True Crime, mixed with the possibilities—and sometimes blurry legal framework—of new technologies for storytelling, and what you end up with is a podcast called Mordpodden (“The Murder Podcast”) that promises the listener to be able to “dig into creepy, true, and really thrilling murder cases.” Since most documents from Swedish trials are easily accessible, the popular podcast with over 250,000 weekly listeners, has no shortage of source material. There has, however, been complaints about lack of ethical considerations when relatives of murder victims have found themselves encountering the very witness statements and traumatic experiences they thought they had left behind.
Another complaint about Mordpodden concerns 80 counts of plagiarism. Lars Ohlson, author of Kakelugnsmordet (“The Tile Stove Murder”) from 2016, reported to the police the episode Tandläkarmordet (“The Dentist Murder”) from July 2017. According to Ohlson, the creators of the podcast have largely plagiarized his book, including reciting entire paragraphs and presenting his ideas as their own. Podcast creators Amanda Karlsson and Linnéa Bohlin deny the accusations and state that Ohlson’s book is mentioned along with two other sources. Ohlson, however, maintains that this is not enough and that the podcast episode copies the narrative structure of his book. Regardless of whether the podcast makers and Ohlson will ever reach a shared view on the case, the court is set to announce its verdict on January 31st, hopefully clarifying what podcasts can and cannot do when using books as sources.
Another legal case, also brought to the authorities’ attention in 2017, concerns the accusations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault by Jean-Claude Arnault, currently imprisoned for rape. Late last year, award-winning journalist Matilda Gustavsson’s debut non-fiction Klubben (“The Club”) was published and is now leading the book charts. The book is an extension of her November 2017 article in Dagens Nyheter, exposing facts about Arnault that up until then had been shoved under the rug. Apart from retelling the facts of the case already brought forward by previous articles, Gutsvsson also skillfully contextualizes the complicated issues at hand. The book thereby gives a deeper understanding of the structures that enabled Arnault’s actions, rather than simply pointing him out as the villain. It was Gustavsson’s article that set off a fragmentation of the Swedish Academy, caused by Arnault’s strong links to the institution—a fragmentation that the Academy still struggles to recover from.
Poupeh Missaghi, Editor-at-Large, reporting from United States and Iran
Politics of language and translation have been part of the latest tensions between the United States and Iran. Donald Trump tweeted in Persian on January 11, 2020 and has received 369.9k likes and some 86.6k retweets so far. That tweet and the ones following have caused different reactions from the Iranian people and government officials, as well as American media and politicians. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson replied to that first tweet on Twitter that Trump has dishonored the Persian language. Many users referred to Trump’s imposed sanctions, the travel ban, as well as his threat of attacking Iranian cultural sites to expose the dishonesty in his tweet for supporting the Iranian people. Trevor Noah from The Daily Show also had his own take on the recent events in Iran and the back and forth linguistic battle on Twitter. Some Twitter users even used sarcasm and made jokes about Trump’s tweet and the politics of language on Twitter. A user tweeted in Persian, “Trump speaks Persian, Zarif speaks English, and Khamenei speaks Arabic.”
In other news, following the downing of the Ukrainian plane by the Iranian regime and the death of its passengers and crew as well as the subsequent turmoil over the official handling of the situation, many Iranian theater and film figures have been resigning from their participation in the upcoming international Fajr festivals. The festivals are considered the most important annual events in the country for the theater and film industries and mark the occasion of the victory of the 1979 Revolution. The three theater groups that started the wave of resignations were, however, arrested and then a statement was published by them announcing they’ve reconsidered their decision in order to prove the country’s solidarity against its enemies. Pointing out their arrest and the language of the statement, many speculate that the decision and the statement have not been by choice but forced upon them. The committee for the Fajr Film Festival has, meanwhile, announced that the opening ceremony has been canceled in respect of the recent deaths; but artists believe the annulment is a result of the widespread resignations and tensions. Artists in other categories have also resigned from the visual arts, caricature, and music Fajr festivals. The events have once again fueled debates about artists’ sociopolitical responsibilities.
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Read more dispatches on the Asymptote blog:
- Weekly Dispatches from the Front Lines of World Literature (January 17, 2020)
- Weekly Dispatches from the Front Lines of World Literature (January 10, 2020)
- Weekly Dispatches from the Front Lines of World Literature (December 13, 2019)