Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.12.2018, Blaðsíða 24

When Ófeigur Sigurðsson’s third novel
‘Öræfi’—an experimental novel set in
Iceland’s desolate Öræfi region—first
went off to the printers, the author
himself didn’t spend much time pon-
dering the book’s fate. “I really didn’t
think anyone would ever publish it in
the first place,” he admits. “It was only
meant as a private joke for myself; too
eccentric and weird and just too boring
for anyone other than me to enjoy.”
The book tells the story of a young
Austrian toponymist who narrates
the perils and wonders he encounters
during an ill-fated solo-research expe-
dition onto Vatnajökull glacier. Much
to Ófeigur’s amazement, the novel be-
came the surprise hit of the Icelandic
literary season. Eagerly championed
by critics, it went on to win the 2015
Icelandic Literature Prize and become
a bestseller.
“My pessimism probably says more
about my own state of mind than the
book itself,” Ófeigur concedes. “I never
let anyone read for me until the very
last minute, so I just sit and stew in
negativity until that’s all I can see and
hear.”
Subtext or humour?
This fall, Ófeigur’s readership is set to
increase exponentially, as the book is
being published by US publisher Deep
Vellum in a new English translation by
Lytton Smith, who most recently took
on the translation of Guðbergur Bergs-
son’s ‘Tómas Jónsson: Bestseller’—the
original Icelandic experimental novel.
“Lytton had hundreds of questions
about my text,” Ófeigur says. “There
was a lot ambiguity for him to work
through, even just whether something
was a specific reference or only some
weird, insular Icelandic humour. We
talked a lot about subtexts—the things
I was pulling into the prose. I read his
translation shortly before it was pub-
lished and saw right away that he had
managed to capture the book’s mood
and atmosphere, as well as elusive
things like rhythm and humour.”
From sheep to death metal
While recounting his trip to Iceland
and his woes on Vatnajökull, Öræfi’s
narrator, Bernhardt Fingerberg, makes
plenty of side-expeditions. His narra-
tive consumes folklore, history and
seemingly random factoids like an
omnivorous glutton, following what-
ever threads it comes across—be it
the genealogical history of Icelandic
sheep-stock or the works of H.P. Love-
craft and their influence on the music
Culture
The Mountains
of Madness
Ófeigur Sigurðsson’s ‘Öræfi’ published in the US
Words: Björn Halldórsson Photos: Art Bicnick
Info
'Öræfi: The
Wasteland' is
available in
bookstores
now in English
translation
The literary mountaineer scans the horizon... of madness
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