Kirjahaku

Med böcker som Skugga Baldur och Rågblont hår, grå ögon har isländske Sjón visat sig vara det komprimerade formatets mästare. I Sjónorama excellerar han i denna mästerlighet i en samling med nitton historier på mellan fyra och tjugo sidor. Det är berättelser som bär in i drömmarna och Sjóns surrealistiska världar. Det innebär såväl ekivoka möten med Gudrun Ensslin som valharpunister som slukas av vågorna men lämnar benen kvar ombord. Hyllningar till såväl konstnärliga som litterära föregångare där HC Andersen plötsligt kan möta Franz Kafka under en trappa i Prag Allt som oftast är platsen dock ett kargt Island: ett förtappat Reykjavik eller fisklägena där drömmen alltid är närvarande, för det är i dem du kan prata även med dem som gått förlorade till havs, men kom ihåg att aldrig dagdrömma.

Named one The 50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by Esquire Winner of the 2005 Nordic Council Literature Prize--the Nordic world's highest literary honor-- Sj n's The Blue Fox is part mystery, part fairy tale, and the perfect introduction to a mind-bending, world-class literary talent. Set against the stark backdrop of the Icelandic winter, an elusive, enigmatic fox leads a hunter on a transformative quest. At the edge of the hunter's territory, a naturalist struggles to build a life for his charge, a young woman with Down syndrome whom he had rescued from a shipwreck years before. By the end of Sj n's slender, spellbinding fable of a novel, none of their lives will be the same.

From the Mouth of the Whale is an Icelandic saga for the modern age. The year is 1635. Iceland is a world darkened by superstition, poverty, and cruelty. Men of science marvel over a unicorn's horn, poor folk worship the Virgin in secret, and both books and men are burned.Sj n introduces us to J nas P lmason, a poet and self-taught healer, banished to a barren island for heretical conduct, as he recalls his gift for curing "female maladies," his exorcism of a walking corpse on the remote Snj fj ll coast, the frenzied massacre of innocent Basque whalers at the hands of local villagers, and the deaths of three of his children. P lmason's story echoes across centuries and cultures, an epic tale that makes us see the world anew.

"Sublime . . . A work of coy humor and shape-shifting magic ." --The Wall Street JournalSj n's novels have been championed by a veritable pantheon of literary luminaries: Junot D az, David Mitchell, A. S. Byatt, Hari Kunzru, and Alberto Manguel, who calls The Whispering Muse "an extraordinary, powerful fable--a marvel." The Whispering Muse is Sj n's masterpiece so far. The year is 1949 and Valdimar Haraldsson, an eccentric Icelander with elevated ideas about the influence of fish consumption on Nordic civilization, has had the extraordinary good fortune to be invited to join a Danish merchant ship on its way to the Black Sea. Among the crew is the mythical hero Caeneus, disguised as the second mate. Every evening after dinner he entrances his fellow travelers with the tale of how he sailed with the fabled vessel the Argo on the Argonauts' quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. What unfolds is a slender, brilliant, always entertaining novel that evokes Borges and Calvino as it weaves together tales of myth and antiquity with the modern world in a literary voice so singular as to seem possessed.

The mind-bending miniature historical epic is Sj n's specialty, and Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was is no exception. But it is also Sj n's most realistic, accessible, and heartfelt work yet. It is the story of a young man on the fringes of a society that is itself at the fringes of the world--at what seems like history's most tumultuous, perhaps ultimate moment. M ni Steinn is queer in a society in which the idea of homosexuality is beyond the furthest extreme. His city, Reykjavik in 1918, is homogeneous and isolated and seems entirely defenseless against the Spanish flu, which has already torn through Europe, Asia, and North America and is now lapping up on Iceland's shores. And if the flu doesn't do it, there's always the threat that war will spread all the way north. And yet the outside world has also brought Icelanders cinema And there's nothing like a dark, silent room with a film from Europe flickering on the screen to help you escape from the overwhelming threats--and adventures--of the night, to transport you, to make you feel like everything is going to be all right. For M ni Steinn, the question is whether, at Reykjavik's darkest hour, he should retreat all the way into this imaginary world, or if he should engage with the society that has so soundly rejected him.

Spanning eras, continents, and genres, CoDex 1962--twenty years in the making--is Sj n's epic three-part masterpiece Over the course of four dazzling novels translated into dozens of languages, Sj n has earned a global reputation as one of the world's most interesting writers. But what the world has never been able to read is his great trilogy of novels, known collectively as CoDex 1962--now finally complete. Josef L we, the narrator, was born in 1962--the same year, the same moment even, as Sj n. Josef's story, however, stretches back decades in the form of Leo L we--a Jewish fugitive during World War II who has an affair with a maid in a German inn; together, they form a baby from a piece of clay. If the first volume is a love story, the second is a crime story: L we arrives in Iceland with the clay-baby inside a hatbox, only to be embroiled in a murder mystery--but by the end of the volume, his clay son has come to life. And in the final volume, set in present-day Reykjav k, Josef's story becomes science fiction as he crosses paths with the outlandish CEO of a biotech company (based closely on reality) who brings the story of genetics and genesis full circle. But the future, according to Sj n, is not so dark as it seems. In CoDex 1962, Sj n has woven ancient and modern material and folklore and cosmic myths into a singular masterpiece--encompassing genre fiction, theology, expressionist film, comic strips, fortean studies, genetics, and, of course, the rich tradition of Icelandic storytelling.

WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023A timely and provocative novel from the internationally celebrated novelist Sj n, about a mysterious Icelandic neo-Nazi and the enduring global allure of fascism. In England in 1962, an Icelandic man is found dead on a train. In his possession, policemen find a map on which a swastika has been drawn with a red pen. Who was he, and where was he going? Based on the life of one of the ringleaders of a little-known neo-Nazi group that operated in Reykjav k in the late fifties and early sixties, Red Milk explores what shapes a young man and the enduring, disturbing allure of Nazi ideology. In Red Milk, acclaimed author Sj n tells the story of Gunnar Kampen, the founder of Iceland's antisemitic nationalist party, who has ties to a burgeoning network of neo-Nazi groups across the globe. Told in a series of scenes and letters spanning Kampen's lifetime--from his childhood in Reykjav k during the Second World War, in a household strongly opposed to Hitler, through his education, his political radicalization, and his final clandestine mission to England--this taut and potent novel urges readers to confront the international legacy of twentieth-century fascism, and the often undetectable forces that drive some people to extremism.

WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023Winner of the Icelandic Literary Prize'An extraordinary and original writer' A.S. Byatt on Sjón Reykjavik, 1918. The eruptions of the Katla volcano darken the sky night and day. Yet despite the natural disaster, the shortage of coal and the Great War still raging in the outside world, life in the small capital goes on as always. Sixteen-year-old Máni Steinn lives for the movies. Awake, he lives on the fringes of society. Asleep, he dreams in pictures, the threads of his own life weaving through the tapestry of the films he loves. When the Spanish flu epidemic comes ashore, killing hundreds of townspeople and forcing thousands to their sick beds, the shadows that linger at the edges of existence grow darker and Máni is forced to re-evaluate both the society around him and his role in it. Evoking the moment when Iceland's saga culture met the new narrative form of the cinema and when the isolated island became swept up in global events, this is the story of a misfit transformed by his experiences in a world where life and death, reality and imagination, secrets and revelations jostle for dominance.

WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize 'Enchantingly poetic . . . spellbinding . . . magical . . . exceptional' Independent On a stark Icelandic mountainside, the imposing Reverend Baldur Skuggason hunts an elusive blue vixen for her near-mythical pelt. The treacherous journey across snow and ice will push his physical and mental endurance to the limit.In Baldur Skuggason's parish, a young woman with Down's Syndrome is buried. After being found shackled to the timbers of a shipwreck in 1868, she was rescued by the naturalist Fridrik B. Fridjonsson. Now he will open the package she always carried with her, hoping to solve the puzzle of her origins.As the ice begins to melt, the mystery surrounding the trio's connected fates is unravelled in this spellbinding fable, an exquisite tale of metamorphosis by one of Iceland's most acclaimed writers.'A magical novel' Björk'Describes its world with brilliant, precise, concrete colour and detail... Comic and lyrical.'AS Byatt, The Times

WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023Shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award'A terrific read...an extraordinarily accomplished novel' Independent'Kaleidoscopic and mesmerising, comic and poignant' TLSIn this magical evocation of a vanished age, a poet and self-taught healer is banished in 1635 to a barren island off Iceland - a place darkened by superstition, poverty and cruelty. With only a purple sandpiper for company, Jónas Pálmason retraces his path to exile, recalling his exorcism of a walking corpse, the massacre of innocent Basque whalers at the hands of local villagers and the deaths of three of his children. But amid the cacophony of Copenhagen he will find hope and, finally, recognition of his enlightened ideas.

WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023'Funny, strange, provoking and disturbing; darkness with a light touch.' TLSA master storyteller, Sjón weaves together Greek and Nordic myths with the legacies of the Second World War in this mesmerising novel, which reminds us that everything is capable of change.Valdimar Haraldsson is an eccentric Icelander with dubious ideas about the relationship between fish consumption and Nordic superiority. To his delight, in the spring of 1949, he is invited to join a Danish merchant ship on its voyage to the Black Sea. He is less delighted with the lack of fish on the menu. Worse, his fellow travellers show no interest in his 'Fish and Culture' lecture. They prefer the enthralling tales of the second mate, Caeneus, who every evening regales them with his adventures aboard the Argo, on Jason's legendary quest for the Golden Fleece.

WINNER OF THE SWEDISH ACADEMY'S NORDIC PRIZE 2023'A book like a blade of light, searching out and illuminating the darkest corners of history . . . It's vivid, unputdownable, alive, and written with unerring artfulness and subtlety.' Neel MukherjeeGunnar Kampen grows up in Iceland during the Second World War in a household fiercely opposed to Hitler and Nazism. At nineteen he seems set for a conventional, dutiful life. And yet in the spring of 1958, he founds a covert, anti-Semitic nationalist party, a cause that will take him on a clandestine mission to England from which he never returns. Inspired by one of the ringleaders of a little-known neo-Nazi group that was formed in Iceland in the 1950s, Sjón's portrait of an ardent fascist is as thought-provoking as it is disturbing. As this taut and fascinating novel suggests, the seeds of extremism can be hard to detect - and the ideology of the far-right remains dangerously potent.

Året er 1918 og fra Reykjavík kan vulkanutbruddet fra Katla ses der det maler himmelen både natt og dag. Livet i hovedstaden går sin vante gang til tross for naturkatastrofe, kullmangel og den første verdenskrigen. Islendinger forbereder seg på å bli en fullverdig nasjon. Gutten Máni Steinn lever i kinofilmene. I søvne drømmer han om filmene i ulike variasjoner, der hendelsenes vev har rennetråder fra hans eget liv. I våken tilstand lever han i utkanten av samfunnet. Men så fester spanskesyken sitt grep om nasjonen og tusener av byboere ligger på sotteseng, flere hundre dør. Tilværelsens skygger blir mørkere. I Máni Steinns bryst går svarte vinger amok. Det trekker mellom verdenene i en tilværelse der liv og død, virkelighet og fantasi, hemmeligheter og avsløringer kjemper mot hverandre. Sjón (f. 1962) er bosatt på Island og debuterte allerede som 15-åring med sin første diktsamling utgitt på eget forlag. Forfatterskapet er belønnet med flere nasjonale og internasjonale priser, deriblant Nordisk Råds litteraturpris. I 2017 er han valgt som den tredje forfatteren i kunstprosjektet Future Library - Fremtidsbiblioteket.

Sedan debuten för 35 år sedan har Sjón varit synonym med den isländska litteraturen. Genom sina storslagna romaner, Oscarsnominering och mottagare av Nordiska rådets litteraturpris, medlem i The Sugarcubes och textförfattare till Björk, men framförallt som poet har han blivit en av landets främsta kulturpersonligheter. Med Stensamlarens sång introduceras nu den så inflytelserika och fascinerande poeten Sjón i ett brett urval av den lyhörde översättaren John Swedenmark och författaren själv. En poesi som hittar inspiration i såväl surrealismen som de isländska sagorna. Med outtröttlig språkglädje, fantasi och kolorerat bildspråk är det omöjligt att inte fängslas av Sjón.

I Rågblont hår, grå ögon skildrar Sjón på sitt karaktäristiska sätt en tid och ett skeende det sällan talas om i den isländska historien. Gunnar Kampen är en snäll och försynt blond pojke som växer upp med sina föräldrar och systrar i efterkrigstidens Island. Ett Island där tysksympatisörer bakom stängda dörrar fortfarande hyser sin nationalsocialistiska övertygelse. En övertygelse som genom bland annat den lokala cykelföreningen också gör avtryck på Gunnar.Gunnar växer upp och korresponderar med sin farbror i norskt fängelse, dömd för för- räderi, och ledare för nynazistiska rörelser runtom i världen. Målet är att grunda Islands nynazistiska parti som en del av Nordiska Rikspartiet. På väg till den första nazistiska världskongressen dör Gunnar dock 24 år gammal och lyckas aldrig nå sitt mål, men han kom ändå att vara med och forma en internationell rörelse. Med en för Sjón typisk språklig stringens och skärpa skildras i Gult hår, grå ögon inte bara en ung pojkes uppväxt och väg in i nynazismen, utan också hur nazismen fortsatte att ha sina sympatisörer upp till högsta politiska nivå i Efterkrigsisland och hur dåtidens retorik är den samma vi idag hör från högerpopulister.

Sjóns trilogi Codex 1962 är en hisnande färd genom 1900-talet berättad av Josef Löwe, född 1962, eller snarare en gång skapad av lera av juden Leo Löwe och hans tyska älskarinna och fraktad i en hattlåda till Island under flykten från Tyskland. Sjón väver samman folksagor med sci-fi, kärleksromaner och deckare till ett internationellt hyllat mästerverk i klass med Mästaren och Margarita. "Sjón briljerar igen i osannolikt epos ... En häpnadsväckande roman!" Aftonbladet AftonbladetInte enbart en litterär triumf utan en triumf för litteraturen." Kristianstadsbladet"Liknelserna är finurliga och bilderna oväntade ... Där framkommer framför allt en förbindelse mellan fantasi och trauma som är djupt rörande." Göteborgs-Posen"Ett kärleksbrev till berättelsen." SR Kulturnytt