Jan Guillou

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Jan Oscar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou
Jan Guillou at the Göteborg Book Fair in 2005.
Born	17 January 1944 (1944-01-17) (age 65) Södertälje, Sweden
Occupation	author, journalist
Nationality	Swedish, French
Genres	spy fiction, historical fiction, political thriller

Jan Oscar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (Swedish pronunciation: [jɑːn ɡɪjuː]; born 17 January 1944) is a Swedish author and journalist. Among his many books, the most well-known are the spy fiction novels about Swedish spy Carl Hamilton and the historical fiction trilogy about Knight Templar Arn Magnusson.

Guillou rose to fame following his role in the exposure of a secret intelligence organization in 1973 (see Informationsbyrån). In connection to this he was convicted of espionage and sentenced to ten months prison. Today he is an influential independent commentator of current events, particularly the conflicts in the Middle East and miscellaneous domestic issues. In his columns in Sweden's leading tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet he tends to criticize the way the United States pursues its War on Terrorism, the Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, the Swedish Security Service and the powers vested in "experts" in for instance court trials.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 The IB affair 3 Books 3.1 Hamilton 3.2 Crusades trilogy 3.3 Ondskan 4 Television 5 Political views 6 Personal life 7 Awards and honours 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Jan Guillou was born in Södertälje, Stockholm County, Sweden.^[1] His French father, Charles Guillou, came to Sweden as the son of the janitor at the French embassy in Stockholm. His mother, Marianne (née Botolfsen) Guillou, is of Norwegian descent. Jan Guillou received both French and Swedish citizenship at his birth. When Guillou's grandfather was appointed as French Ambassador in Helsinki, Finland, his father decided to move with him and settled there.^[2] Jan Guillou grew up with his mother and her new husband in Saltsjöbaden and Näsby Park outside Stockholm.^[1] He studied at Vasa Real in Stockholm but was expelled from the school for physical abuse, theft and blackmail.^[1] He then studied for two years at the boarding school Solbacka in Södermanland from where he was also expelled.^[1] He finished his studentexamen (upper-secondary final examination) from the boarding school Viggbyholmsskolan, located in Viggbyholm, in 1964.^[1] Guillou has described his upbringing, with the physical abuse from his sadistic stepfather and the harsh treatment at the Solbacka school, in the semi-autobiographical novel Ondskan (1981).

Guillou started his career as a journalist for the adult magazine FIB aktuellt from 1966 to 1967. He later co-founded the Folket i Bild/Kulturfront magazine, for which he wrote between 1970 and 1977.

[edit] The IB affair

In 1973, Folket i Bild/Kulturfront published a series of articles written by Guillou and Peter Bratt that revealed a Swedish secret intelligence agency called Informationsbyrån ("The Information Bureau" or IB for short). The organization had gathered information on Swedish communists and other people deemed to be "security risks", engaged in break-ins against foreign embassies in Sweden as well as spying abroad. The revelations led to a major domestic political scandal, known as the "IB affair" (IB-affären). Guillou and Bratt were convicted of espionage and got a ten month prison sentence. In practice, he served five months in solitude. Guillou was first imprisoned at the Långholmen Prison in central Stockholm and later at the Österåker Prison in Österåker Municipality north of Stockholm.

[edit] Books

Guillou's first book, Om kriget kommer, was published in 1971.

[edit] Hamilton

In 1986 Guillou published a novel about the fictional Swedish military spy Carl Hamilton. He was originally drafted and trained to become an attack diver, then he was taken out for training in California to become a U.S. Navy SEAL. Notably, he has a leftist background and was dubbed Coq Rouge by one of his superiors, while he was temporarily in the security police (Säkerhetspolisen). The first Coq Rouge novel was followed by eleven more books.

Several characters in the books are based on actual persons. Jan Guillou himself is the basis of a character named Erik Ponti, which is also the name Guillou uses in the autobiographical novel Ondskan (literally: The Evil).

The Coq Rouge novels

• Coq Rouge - berättelsen om en svensk spion (1986) (literally: Coq Rouge - the story of a Swedish spy)
• Den demokratiske terroristen (1987) (English translation: The Democratic Terrorist)
• I nationens intresse (1988) (English translation: In the interest of the nation)
• Fiendens fiende (1989; English translation Enemy's Enemy by Thomas Keeland published 1992)
• Den hedervärde mördaren (1990) (English translation: The honourable murderer)
• Vendetta (1991)
• Ingen mans land (1992) (English translation: No man's land)
• Den enda segern (1993) (English translation: The only victory)
• I hennes majestäts tjänst (1994) (English translation: In Her Majesty's service) Note that the feminine "hennes majestät" in this case refers to the queen of Britain.
• En medborgare höjd över varje misstanke (1995) (English translation: A citizen raised above every suspicion)
• Madame Terror (2006)
• Men inte om det gäller din dotter (2008) (English translation: But not if it concerns your daughter)

A partial draft of an eleventh novel, along with Guillou's account on why it could not be completed, was published as Hamlon in 1995. Guillou assured from then on that En medborgare höjd över varje misstanke was the last book and to make sure that Hamilton never returned, he "banished" him from Sweden through a life sentence, and since he only intended to write about Sweden, no other book would be possible. However, when he was working on Madame Terror, he realised that he needed Hamilton to fill in a specific role. After the border of no more Hamilton books was crossed, Hamilton made another major appearance in Men inte om det gäller din dotter, where he, among other things, manages to get cleared from his life sentence and thereby, Guillou could do more Hamilton books if he wants to.

Film and TV adaptations based on Hamilton

• Code Name Coq Rouge, portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård (1989)
• Förhöret, portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård (Television, 1989) (English translation: The interrogation)
• Enemy's Enemy, portrayed by Peter Haber (Television miniseries 1990)
• The Democratic Terrorist, portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård (1992)
• Vendetta, portrayed by Stefan Sauk (1995)
• Tribunal, portrayed by Stefan Sauk (Television, 1995)
• Hamilton, portrayed by Peter Stormare (1998, television miniseries 2001)

[edit] Crusades trilogy

Main article The Knight Templar (Crusades trilogy).

After finishing the Coq Rouge series, Guillou wrote a trilogy about Arn Magnusson, a fictional Swedish character from the Middle Ages who was forced to become a Knight Templar. The series is an account of the life of Arn Magnusson, a person who becomes witness as well as catalyst to many important historical events, both in his homeland of Sweden and in the crusader states of the middle-east. The trilogy, dubbed the Crusades trilogy, consists of the following books:

• The Road to Jerusalem, originally Vägen till Jerusalem (1998), forthcoming in 2009
• The Knight Templar, originally Tempelriddaren (1999), ISBN 0-7528-4650-7
• The Kingdom at the End of the Road, originally Riket vid vägens slut (2000)

Guillou also wrote a follow-up novel about Birger Jarl, founder of Stockholm, entitled the Heritage of Arn (Arvet efter Arn, 2001). In Guillou's universe, Birger Jarl is the grandson of Arn Magnusson.

[edit] Ondskan

Guillou has also written an autobiographical book about his school years, Ondskan (1981), which also became a film, Evil (2003). The movie was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003. Guillou, still listed as a terrorist by the USA, was unable to attend. He managed to get a visa, but it was linked to attend the Academy Award ceremony and he was unable to get a ticket. The director Mikael Håfström handed away his ticket to his spouse instead.^[3]

[edit] Television

Guillou has served as the host of several television programmes: Magazinet (1981–1984), Rekordmagazinet (last years together with Göran Skytte) and Grabbarna på Fagerhult (together with Pär Lorentzon and Leif G. W. Persson), all shown on Sveriges Television.

He co-authored the crime/drama television series Talismanen (TV4, 2003). In the series, Guillou and co-author Henning Mankell both plays the roles as themselves. Guillou also authored and narrated the history documentary series Arns rike (TV4, 2004) and Häxornas tid (TV4, 2005).

[edit] Political views

During the 1960s and early 1970s, Guillou was associated with the Maoist Clarté association.^[4] He was also a member of the Communist Party of Sweden (formerly known as the Communist League Marxists-Leninists), a minor Maoist party active mainly during the 1970s, for six months until he was expelled from the party for refusing to pay the monthly member fee while he was living abroad. Today he describes himself as "socialist" only.^[1]

Guillou is known for his strong support for the Palestinians and he has consistently criticized Israel in harsh terms. In 1976 he wrote: "Zionism is in its foundation racist because the state of Israel is built upon an apartheid system, exactly like South Africa".^[5] He has repeated the stance that Israel is an "apartheid state" many times since.^[6] In an interview published in Svenska Dagbladet on 13 March 1977, Guillou said: "I'm an optimist, I believe that Israel will cease to exist prior to Armageddon".

Ever since the IB affair and the resulting prison sentence for espionage in 1973, Guillou has been a strong critic of the Swedish Security Service. According to Guillou, the Security Service has listed him as a terrorist, something which has led to some problems with security officials when visiting other countries.^[7]

In 1977 the book Irak–det nya Arabian ("Iraq–The New Arabia"), written by Guillou and his then wife Marina Stagh, was published. In the book, which deals with Iraq under the Baath Party, it's argued that "the European idea of Iraq as a particularly violent country is neither more or less a blend of political propaganda and racist fantasies" (pp. 91). According to the authors, "the Baath regime is clearly popular and among the most stable in the Arab World" (pp. 168–169). They state that "it will surprise us if the development doesn't go the way that, prior to the year 2000, Iraq will have surpassed European countries in living standards" (pp. 174). It's further claimed that "Iraq has fewer restrictions in the freedom of the press than a majority of world countries, and is on the way towards larger and not less press freedom" and Western demands for more generous press freedom in Iraq are dismissed as too "luxury-emphasized" (pp. 239). The conditions at the Abu Ghraib prison, which Guillou claims to have visited as the first Western journalist, are described as excellent and even "better than Swedish prisons" (pp. 249–250).^[8]

Immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Guillou caused controversy when walked out from the Göteborg Book Fair in the midst of the three minutes of silence that had been announced throughout Europe to honour the victims of the attacks. In an article in Aftonbladet, Guillou argued that the event was an act of hypocrisy, stating that "the U.S. is the great mass murderer of our time. The wars against Vietnam and its nearby countries alone claimed four million lives. Without any minute of silence in Sweden". He also criticised those who said that the attacks were "an attack on us all" by stating that the attacks were only "an attack on U.S. imperialism".^[9]

He harshly labeled the media's reaction to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, and the necessity of creating the airport havoc, considering that the suspects had been caught. He argued that the media was driven by sensationalist profit and the British government by a will to give an impression of success in the War on Terrorism. He also pointed out that no explosives had been found and implied that the Muslim community was being victimized.^[10]

In recent years, Guillou has repeatedly criticised some people and groups within the Swedish radical feminist movement.^[11] He rejects being called an "antifeminist".^[11]

Guillou has also attracted controversy over his views on homosexuality. He has said that "homosexuality is more of a vogue phenomenon than something you're born into. It's something that has come and gone through history"^[12] and that "homosexuality didn't exist in the 17th century".^[13]

[edit] Personal life

Guillou was married first to the author and translator Marina Stagh, with whom he has the children Dan (born 1970) and Ann-Linn (born 1972) Guillou. His daughter Ann-Linn, a journalist and feminist commentator, lives in a civil union with Sandra Andersson, daughter of film director Roy Andersson.^[11]

Today he is married to the book publisher Ann-Marie Skarp. He has an apartment in the Östermalm district of Stockholm, where he has lived for most of his adult life.^[14] He also has a country residence in Flybo, Östhammar Municipality, northern Roslagen, where he lives when he writes his books.^[1]

Guillou is an avid hunter and has several trophies in his apartment and country residence.^[1] He was introduced to hunting by his friend, the professor in criminology Leif G. W. Persson.^[15] He also has a passion for alcoholic beverages, especially wine and whisky.^[11]

He is a self-described atheist^[16] and many of his non-fiction works contains critique of prominently Christianity^{[citation needed]}. It should be noted though that atheism is fairly common in Sweden.^[17]

[edit] Awards and honours

• 1984 – Stora Journalistpriset ("Great Journalist Award"), for his writings in the Keith Cederholm-case
• 1984 – Aftonbladets TV-pris ("Aftonbladet TV Award"), in the category "Male Television Person of the Year"
• 1988 – Bästa svenska kriminalroman ("Best Swedish Crime Novel") from the Swedish Academy of Crime Writers, for I nationens intresse
• 1990 – Prix France Culture ("France Culture Award") from France Culture, for Ondskan (awarded as best novel translated into French)
• 1998 – Årets författare ("Author of the Year") from the Swedish Union of Local Government Officers
• 2000 – Årets bok ("Book of the Year") from Månadens Bok, for Riket vid vägens slut

Guillou was also chairman of the Swedish Publicists' Association (Publicistklubben) from 2000 to 2004.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Piratförlaget - Jan Guillou (Swedish), presentation at book publisher's website
• Jan Guillou's column in Aftonbladet (Swedish) (payservice)
• Group Yahoo fangroup
• The Salomonsson Agency