Out of the Blue: New Short Fiction from Iceland

Description

This extraordinary collection, the first anthology of Icelandic short fiction published in English translation, features work by twenty of Iceland's most popular and celebrated living authors--including Andri Snaer Magnason, Jon Kalman Stefansson, Kristin Omarsdottir, and Auour Jonsdottir--granddaughter of Halldor Laxness, who won the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. Celebrated in Europe and Scandinavia but less known in the English-speaking world, these writers traverse realms of darkness and light that will be familiar to readers who have fallen under the spell of Scandinavian fiction. While uniquely Icelandic in topography and tenor, with a touch of the island's supernatural charm, the stories traffic in the enduring and universal complexities of human nature. Here is a fictional universe where the ghosts of Vikings and spirits tread, volcanoes grumble underfoot, and writers trip the Northern Lights fantastic across the landscape of the Icelandic imagination. At long last, readers can enjoy award-winning stories now expertly rendered into English by the country's most renowned translators. In "Killer Whale" a father contemplates euthanasia for a terminally ill child, in "Self Portrait" a vacationing family in Spain crosses paths with migrants, in "Escape for Men" a woman searches for an ex-lover in the South of France, and in "The Most Precious Secret" the nature of artists and the art world is mercilessly revealed. Both the Viking myths of Iceland's forefathers and the cutting-edge modern world of the country today are brilliantly alive in these remarkable and original stories. This collection is an excursion to an island where almost two million travelers descend yearly on a population of 345 thousand natives. Iceland is the place Bjork calls home, the location where Game of Thrones was filmed--a place with open lava fields, glaciers, and iceberg lagoons among other natural wonders that is becoming one of the "hottest" tourist destinations on earth. Out of the Blue transports readers to Iceland's timeless and magical island of Vikings and geographical wonders, and it promises to be a seminal collection that will define Icelandic literature in translation for decades to come. Contributors: Auour Ava Olafsdottir, Kristin Eiriksdottir, orarinn Eldjarn, Gyroir Eliasson, Einar Orn Gunnarsson, Olafur Gunnarsson, Einar Mar Guomundsson, Auour Jonsdottir, Gerour Kristny, Andri Snaer Magnason, Oskar Magnusson, Bragi Olafsson, Kristin Omarsdottir, Oskar Arni Oskarsson, Magnus Sigurosson, Jon Kalman Stefansson, Agust Borgor Sverrisson, Guomundur Andri Thorsson, orunn Erlu-Valdimarsdottir, Runar Helgi Vignisson.