Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.04.2008, Blaðsíða 16

16 | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 04 2008 | Article
On Cars “I consider myself very lucky to have
witnessed both the rise and fall of the petrol fuel
age,” says author Einar Kárason behind the wheel
of his Chrysler PT Cruiser. “We have not witnessed
any real advances in this technology for 100 years,
and now it has become obsolete. But it is a won-
derful way to travel.”
His love of cars, American cars in particular,
was passed on from his father, a man who spent
his life on the road, driving big-rigs and taxis for a
living. A man who once refused to pick Einar up
from Keflavík Airport in his mother’s Fiat. “My fa-
ther never considered cars to be cars unless they
were American or perhaps German. Anything else
he considered to be shopping carts.”
On Writing Einar Kárason is a writer. Or rather, as
we agree to put it, he has not done an honest day’s
work in 25 years. His first published work was a
book of poetry in 1979. In 1983 his first book in the
Devil’s Island trilogy appeared and cemented his
place as one of the most prominent Icelandic writ-
ers of his generation. “I only have one rule when
I am writing. I write the first chapter last,” Einar
explains. “You have to know the whole story be-
fore you start.”
On Selfoss We are driving towards Selfoss where
we will stop for coffee before hitting the road
again. Our trip is an exercise in futility. There is
no destination; there is only the journey. And our
conversation. We discuss Werner Herzog’s films,
James Conrad’s books and what makes a beauti-
ful car. Also, Einar tells me he does not care for
horses.
On 13th Century Einar is writing a historical nov-
el that takes place in the 13th century. It is his sec-
ond book about that era. “The 13th century was a
lot like the 20th century. It was a time of change,
and a time of great prosperity. Iceland was very
rich with culture at the time. Of course, there was
a civil war raging through that whole century. “
On the Road Cars figure prominently in many of
Einar’s books. So does the road: “That book was
the result of our mutual admiration of Kerouac’s
On the Road,” says Einar about a travelogue he co-
wrote with author Ólafur Gunnarsson about a road
trip across the US in an old Cadillac. Two days af-
ter our trip to Selfoss, Einar is heading for Boston
to drive around New England for two weeks.
“I went on a Greyhound bus trip to Minneso-
ta in 1982 to do research. It was too exotic for me
to write about unless I experienced it, so I bought
a ticket with the advance for my first book. I lived
in a trailer park.”
On Crime Novels “When you write a novel, you
are ultimately playing with variations of things
you have seen or heard,” Einar says. Although
crime fiction has proved to be a lucrative field for
Icelandic writers, he has no intention of writing
a detective story. “To me, the difference between
writing a novel and writing a detective story is the
same as the difference between writing a poem
and writing a crossword puzzle. In both cases you
are working with metaphors and words, but it is a
completely different line of work.”
On Gljúfrasteinn We decide on a different route
on our way back. We will pass through Þingvellir
and make a stop at Gljúfrasteinn, the house of No-
bel Prize winning author Halldór Laxness, where
we marvel at the diminutive kitchen and gaze in
wonder at the thousands of books Laxness kept.
Einar admires the many different transla-
tions of Laxness’ works. I ask the caretaker how
many languages there are: “42.” I ask Einar how
many languages his books are available in. He
looks up and smiles a little. “I think I’m up to 12.”

On Fame Einar does a lot of readings from his
work. Once he was asked to read at his old sec-
ondary school. “I met one of my old teachers
there. He said: ‘30 years ago, who would have be-
lieved that one day you’d be asked to come back?’
That made me laugh.”
Einar Kárason has written ten novels, collections
of short stories, poetry screenplays, memoirs and
biographies. Translations of his works are avail-
able in English, German, French, Swedish, Danish,
Norwegian and other languages.
By Sveinn Birkir Björnsson
Scenes from the Road: Einar Kárason
“I went on a Greyhound
bus trip to Minnesota in
1982 to do research. It
was too exotic for me to
write about unless I ex-
perienced it, so I bought
a ticket with the advance
for my first book. I lived
in a trailer park.”
Einar Kárason outside Gljúfrasteinn. Behind him,
Chrysler PT Cruiser. Photo by GAS
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