Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.12.2004, Qupperneq 42

THE IMMIGRANT’S BUYER’S GUIDE TO ICELANDIC
LITERATURE
LITERATURE
Obviously I am likely to have
left something important out
and I apologize to those of my
acquaintances whom I may thus
involuntarily have offended. The
main problem of Icelandic literature
being, of course, that the writers
and reviewers have all, at some
point, in some way, been intimate
or consciously less than intimate
with one another. Those books
recommended for purchase are more
or less recommended for reading,
too, though the former is currently
considered more important by most
respectable households.
* Very well, you don’t know Taggart.
How to explain … the Scottish
equivalent of Matlock? Fantastic
television, that Icelanders eagerly
related to in the nineties, due to
similarity of landscape, weather and
peculiar English accent.
So, it is Christmas and contemporary literature is filling supermarket shelves. Thus, now is the time
to offer foreign readers a complete buyer’s guide to more or less contemporary Icelandic literature.
1. To take part in the
hottest debate between
the academic left and the
less academic right:
Buy Halldór, the first volume of
Halldór Laxness’ biography by
Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson
(AB, 2003). This way you can
kill two birds with one stone. Not
only do you get an insight into a
book that has provoked a fierce
and monumentally tedious debate
about the literary talents, academic
merit and probable plagiarism of
said Gissurarson, but at the same
time you can get an insight into the
childhood and youth of Iceland’s
only Nobel-prize winner to date.
And, thanks to said methods of
said Gissurarson, you will also get
a fabulous insight into Laxness’
stylistics.
2. To impress any
Icelander at all:
Buy any of Laxness’ works or the
alternative biography, Halldór
Guðmundsson’s Halldór Laxness
( JPV, 2004). Better yet, buy Perlur í
skáldskap Laxness (Vaka-Helgafell,
1998) – a collection of over one
thousand quotes from this Icelandic
master of the one-liner. Learn them
and find ways to make fun of them
– if only because breaking other
people’s taboos is fun.
3. To impress hipsters:
Buy Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl’s
Hugsjónadruslan – The ideological
4. To impress no one
who is anyone:
Buy any book by Ólafur Jóhann
Ólafsson. He is a no. 1 bestseller
in Iceland, gets some international
attention and at times brilliant
reviews, yet no member of the
Icelandic hipster and academic
community will admit to
appreciating him. Why this is so is
a mystery to the community itself.
According to one popular theory it is
because Ólafsson has his own money
and looks like a doctor.
5. To have fun:
Buy any of Arnaldur Indriðason’s
detective stories. Well, not any.
Mýrin is foolproof. The historical
backdrop is convincing, and the
story’s main character combines
the best of Taggart* with Icelandic
Stalinist-democratic architecture (if
I remember correctly the detective
lives in Breiðholt). The recent
detective story trend might be
declining soon, but this can still
could earn you some cultural credit
in most circles.
6. To find out the truth
about Iceland:
Ísland í aldanna rás ( JPV 2003). It
seems to say everything there is to
say about Twentieth Century Iceland
in 1200 pages of newspaper layout.
If nothing else, read page 1214 to
realize Iceland’s Weltanschauung
at the turn of our current century
which can be summarized thus: the
question of life was an economic one
and it has been solved. The book is
quite expensive, but as any Icelander
will tell you, not without feelings of
guilt and remorse, the solution to be
found to this as well as the before-
mentioned question of life is: More
overdraft.
7. To find out the
truth about Icelandic
megalomania:
Any biography. Any. Don’t read it,
just buy it. Or look at it. Look at
them. Note them on bestseller lists.
In Iceland most people are public
personas and most public personas
supposedly have a story to tell. They
are duly told.
8. To find the truly
devastating truth about
Icelandic kitchen-
workplace-bedroom
existence:
Anything from Guðbergur Bergsson,
who more or less detests everything.
„I would never join a club that
9. Oh, and for the
banana-republic truth
about Iceland:
Any of former Prime Minister’s
Davíð Oddsson’s short story
collections. Or see if his Christmas
hymn has been put on print.
National bestsellers. As in the case
of Jóhannsson, the intelligentsia
doesn’t fully appreciate or rejoice in
Oddsson’s talents, but in his case,
the underlying causes are less of a
mystery.
10. For the sake of
communal aesthetics and
humanity:
If a young poet walks up to you in
a bar and offers you his or her book
for a reasonable price, do buy. This is
a living tradition in Iceland: Young
writers start off poor and miserable,
testing their worth to the world
and themselves by writing about
their poverty and misery, and then
portraying this same poverty and
misery, harassing bar-goers. Few last
more than four tours a month, which
may then total in more or less four
books sold. With your purchase you
may not only keep a tradition alive,
or a young person’s spirit, but in
some cases possibly the young person
him- or herself.
11. For children, let us
not forget:
the Swedish author Astrid
Lindgren. Elsku Míó minn, or
Mio, my son – may be the best
novel ever written for Children.
Or perhaps Ronja Ræningjadóttir
– Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter,
Bróðir minn Ljónshjarta – The
Brothers Lionheart, and the books
about Pippi Longstocking (Lína
Langsokkur). True, they originate
in Sweden, but they are, as anyone
can validate, simply the best. They
will also go a long way to explain
the origins of the so-called „cute
generation“ – the non-conformist
playground-left-wing-vegetarian
musicians that may be the reason you
are here.
12. To make children:
Ást og appelsínur, by Þórdís
Björnsdóttir. Sensuality and
sexuality seldom find their place in
Icelandic literature without being
either grotesque or hysterical or
both. Of that which one cannot
speak, Björnsdóttir writes a poem.
Published by herself.
13. Finally, for the
sake of possibly great
literature that I may
or may not have read,
and may or may not
be written by friends of
mine:
Níu þjófalyklar by Hermann
Stefánsson (Bjartur), Sólskinsbörnin
by Steinar Bragi (Bjartur),
Kjötbærinn by Kristín Eiríksdóttir
(Bjartur), the books of Bragi
Ólafsson, as well as Niðurfall
by Haukur Ingvarsson (Mál og
menning).
slut, in the publisher’s own rough
translation (Mál og menning 2004).
As Laxness’ first novel, Norðdahl’s
first novel is about a young man
doing Europe and women. The
biggest difference being that
Norðdahl has a groin. For the same
purposes, buy anything offered
you from Nýhil, the Al-Quaida of
Icelandic publishers. Particularly
notable this season, is Valur Brynjar
Antonsson’s Ofurmennisdraumar
– Übermensch-fantasies.
would have me for a member,“
said Groucho Marx. „I am not a
Marxist,“ said Karl Marx. „I hate
you guys,“ quoth Eric Cartman. Of
course Bergsson cannot quote any
of these, as quoting someone would
already situate him on a team. If
the books seem too much, read his
newspaper articles. At times they are
even better.
by Haukur Már Helgason
42