Author(s): Halldór Gudmundsson

Literature | Iceland

During a lifetime that spanned nearly an entire century, Halldór Laxness wrote sixty book embracing a wide range of literary styles, and in 1955 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. Laxness left Iceland as a young man to travel the world for almost two decades driven by relentless ambition and a growing awareness of the role of his works in shaping Icelandic national consciousness. His writing took him to Sicily, to Hollywood, and he travelled widely in the Soviet Bloc. Laxness's writings wrestle with many of the greatest challenges of his century - not only the political movements of Communism and Fascism but also the problems of literary and national identity: he strove to ensure the survival of Icelandic writing, modernizing its saga form and updating ancient oral tropes. In this magisterial work, the biographer has been given unfettered access by the author's family. An intimate portrait of laxness emerges humorous and sarcastic, incisive and curious, modern and traditional. The result is a grand description of a fascinating personality in which the manifold conflicts of the twentieth century are mirrored.