Reykjavík Grapevine - maj 2019, Qupperneq 40

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Best of Reykjavík 2019
40
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2018 was a year of travel for Ice-
landic fiction, with the number
of titles published in translation
tripling from a mere decade ago.
Here are some favourites that we
have been passing around the
Grapevine offices this year.
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Winner of the 2018 Nordic Coun-
cil Literature Prize, ‘Hotel Silence’
is characterised by the bleak hu-
mour it applies to the tragedy of
human existence. In the novel,
Auður Ava interrogates the more
benevolent aspects of tradition-
al masculine values through
her protagonist: a solemn mid-
dle-aged handyman whose only
means of communicating love is
by installing kitchens, tiling bath-
rooms and being useful to his re-
lations and compatriots. When
those meagre tools prove insuf-
ficient after an emotional blow,
he sets off on a journey to an un-
specified location with the aim
of committing suicide in as quiet
and polite a manner as possible.
Woman at 1000
Degrees
Hallgrímur Helgason
Hallgrímur Helgason’s subject
matters are so varied that if it
wasn’t for his florid and exuber-
ant prose style it might be diffi-
cult to see his books as belong-
ing within the same oeuvre. In
this biographical work of fiction,
a vivacious and foul-mouthed
octogenarian narrates her life
from the islands of Breiðafjörður,
through Nazi-era Germany and
all the way to her current situa-
tion as a bedridden invalid liv-
ing in a garage in the Icelandic
suburbs. As she spends her time
catfishing gullible men in distant
lands with pictures of Icelandic
beauty queens, her only compan-
ion is a live hand grenade; her
final measure of maintaining
control over her fate.
Waitress in Fall
Kristín Ómarsdóttir
Although Kristín Ómarsdóttir
is still actively publishing new
work, this collection, gleaned
from her seven books of poetry
published between 1987 and 2017,
feels timely. It reveals the sleep-
ing giant of Icelandic literature;
a poetess with a voice that has
remained consistent and relevant
throughout her career. The col-
lection is selected and translated
by Vala Thorodds and is the first
appearance of Kristín’s poetry in
English. Gathered together, the
work herein presents overarching
themes of grotesque femininity,
surreal domesticity and voices
driven to repetition; forced to be
loud to be heard.
Stormwarning
Kristín Svava Tómasdóttir
This collection of poetry offers
a very different view of the Ice-
landic winter than that of the
magical north—a feeling of being
confined to your home and forced
to keep your own company while
waiting out the storm. The speak-
ers of the poems revel in their
melancholy and loneliness with
acute self-awareness, addressing
the humdrum of the everyday and
the pettiness of lives lead online.
Yet, the tone is light, ironic and
funny, as if the speakers can’t
keep from smirking at their own
theatrical miseries. The trans-
lation was recently nominated
for the PEN America Translation
Prize and is presented in a dual
language format.
CoDex 1962
Sjón
Each instalment of this mag-
num-opus-trilogy was written
near a decade apart, in between
the vast output of poetry and nov-
els that have made Sjón one of the
most widely recognised contem-
porary Icelandic authors. Leading
back to his early inspirations in
the postmodern complexities of
Burroughs and Bulgakov, this is
the book where Sjón pulls out all
the stops and shows the reader no
mercy, producing a work that is
as challenging as it is rewarding.
Gathered into one volume, these
three books present a disorient-
ing cocktail that is equal amounts
the wildness and exuberance of a
young writer making his name
with a clang, mixed in with the
quiet authority and confidence
of an award winning author with
nothing to prove.
Öræfi: The Wasteland
Ófeigur Sigurðsson
Öræfi’s success is carried on
the backs of the complexity and
layering of its prose as well as
its deliciously selfish narrative
structure. In between delighting
its readers with humour and ab-
surdity, the writing does its ut-
most to buck and kick and throw
them off track. In fact, letting go
of expectations and giving in to
the dizzying rhythm of the prose
is a key factor for enjoying the
book. To avoid frustration and
disappointment, readers must
allow their concentration to drift
along with the prose as it pulls in
subtexts from far and wide and
forges connections in the manner
of the subconscious.
SHOPPING GUIDE
Best In Translation
Top tomes from Iceland, now in that
new-fangled English language
Words: Björn Halldórsson
w w w. r e y k j av i k r a i n c o at s . c o m - i n f o @ r e y k j av i k r a i n c o at s . c o m - T E L : 5 7 1 1 1 7 7
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