Boyd Tonkin

Gale-force lyricism

Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s latest novel of storm-tossed fishermen and oceanic grandeur has the salt-scoured wisdom of ancient Nordic sagas

issue 27 August 2016

Centuries before their footballers learned giant-slaying ways, Icelanders knew how to startle the world with tall stories. In the moonscape that birthed Sagas and Eddas, little grew but epic tales. When this novel’s protagonist, the troubled poet-turned-publisher Ari, announces in an interview that he has given up authorship, his aunt Elin sends him a heartbroken letter.

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