Ritið : tímarit Hugvísindastofnunar - 01.01.2023, Page 93

MARTEINN KNARAN ÓMARSSON
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þensluverkjum, sjúkdómum og fátækt, og um leið tilvalinn vettvangur fyrir raðmorð. Í
skáldsögunni á sér einnig stað úrvinnsla á einu þekktasta raðmorðmáli sögunnar, kviðr-
istumorðunum í Lundúnum árið 1888, og er líka fjallað um þau í greininni og hvernig
höfundur vinnur úr málinu í frásögn sinni.
Lykilorð: afbrot, bókmenntaborgin, feðraveldi, glæpasögur, hrollvekjur, íslenskar bók-
menntir, Kaupmannahöfn, Kobbi kviðrista, Kóperníka, kvenfrelsi, raðmorð, raðmorðingi,
sjálfstæðisbarátta Íslands
A B S T R A C T
The Copenhagen Ripper – Serial murder, Icelandic society
and Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson´s Kóperníka (2021)
In this article, serial killers in literature and film are taken into consideration, and the Ice-
landic crime novel Kóperníka (2021) by Sölvi Björn Sigurðsson is discussed. The criminal
act of serial killing is introduced and reflected on in relation to Icelandic society and cul-
ture, with help from the writings of American sociologist Kevin D. Haggerty. Although
the serial killer is quite prominent in various products of Western popular culture the act
of serial murder is very rare in reality. There have been no examples of serial murder
in Iceland since modernity, and that is due, among other things, to the small size of the
nation as well as its social and cultural composition. Icelandic serial killers are never-
theless found in domestic literature, films, and TV episodes. However, it can be difficult
to transfer the figure to Icelandic society to meet the demands of realism. In his novel,
Sölvi Björn solves the problem by transporting readers back to 19th century–Copenhagen
when the Danish capital was itself the capital of Iceland and a place of rapid growth
with the accompanying pains of expansion, diseases, and poverty – an ideal scene for
serial killing. Sölvi Björn’s novel is also an adaptation of one of the most well-known
serial murder cases in history, the Ripper murders in London in 1888, and in the article,
this is also discussed.
Keywords: Copenhagen, crime, horror, battle of independence, Icelandic literature, Jack
the Ripper, Kóperníka, patriarchy, serial killer, serial murder, the city in literature, women’s
freedom
Marteinn Knaran ÓMarsson
Meistaranemi í almennri bókmenntafræði
mko7@hi.is