Halldór Laxness

«Nada es tan inhumano como la vida humana».Después de dieciocho años de trabajo incansable, Bjartur consigue lo que tanto había ansiado: librarse de la servidumbre y tener al fin sus propias tierras

Parodie des grandes sagas classiques, La Saga des Fiers-à-bras est un chef-d’œuvre d’humeur noire, un roman du désenchantement empreint d’un pessimisme jovial, où Laxness élève les mésaventures de de

Delicioso divertimento literario que reúne todo un catálogo de personajes y de anécdotas cuyo denominador común es su relación con el protagonista: Alfgrimur es un muchacho que, abandonado por su madre al nacer, crece con su abuelo, Bjorn, un pescador que se niega a variar el precio del pescado ignorando la ley de la oferta y la demanda. En su casa, a las afueras de Reikiavik, conocera a una asombrosa coleccion de excentricos, desde capitanes de guardacostas hasta especialistas en fosas septicas. Laxness, haciendo recordar a Dickens, comienza su divertido collage de temperamentos, con este parrafo inolvidable: "Un sabio afirmo que, aparte de perder a su madre, para un niño no hay nada mas sano que perder a su padre. Aunque lejos de mi suscribir en su integridad estas palabras, lo cierto es que tambien seria el ultimo en rechazarlas de plano."

La publicación, por primera vez en España, de Gente independiente recupera una de las voces más personales de la literatura europea del siglo XX, el islandés Halldór Laxness. Con una construcción equilibrada y solida que atrapa y conmueve, la novela narra la vida del campesino Bjartur de la Casa Estival, un destino guiado por la conviccion de que un hombre independiente es aquel dueño de la tierra que trabaja, y de que solo la obstinacion y el orgullo de poseerla le permitiran superar las adversidades. Una escritura luminosa que conserva ecos de las sagas medievales islandesas y que nos transmite sin sentimentalismos el amor y la cercania del autor a sus personajes. Una obra cuyos ecos resuenan, como el lector podra comprobar, en novelas europeas y americanas muy posteriores.

A sort of Icelandic "Great Gatsby," this beloved gem of a coming-of-age novelis one of Nobel Prize-winning author Laxnesss most accessible. 12,500print. "The Fish Can Sing "is one of Nobel Prize winner Halldor Laxness''s most beloved novels, a poignant coming-of-age tale marked with his peculiar blend of light irony and dark humor. The orphan Alfgrimur has spent an idyllic childhood sheltered in the simple turf cottage of a generous and eccentric elderly couple. Alfgrimur dreams only of becoming a fisherman like his adoptive grandfather, until he meets Iceland''s biggest celebrity. The opera singer Gardar Holm''s international fame is a source of tremendous pride to tiny, insecure Iceland, though no one there has ever heard him sing. A mysterious man who mostly avoids his homeland and repeatedly fails to perform for his adoring countrymen, Gardar takes a particular interest in Alfgrimur''s budding musical talent and urges him to seek out the world beyond the one he knows and loves. But as Alfgrimur discovers that Gardar is not what he seems, he begins to confront the challenge of finding his own path without turning his back on where he came from.

Escrito depois de Gente Independente, eis uma das obras mais marcantes de Halldór Laxness.Prémio Nobel de LiteraturaA infância do jovem Álfgrímur, abandonado pela mãe na quinta de Brekkukot, nos arre

Prémio Nobel de LiteraturaGente Independente, romance de Halldór Laxness, Prémio Nobel de Literatura, tem lugar na Islândia, no início do século xx, numa sociedade de servidão e num país com uma natu

Publicado em 1957, dois anos após Halldór Laxness receber o prêmio Nobel de literatura, Os peixes também sabem cantar conduz o leitor até as paisagens islandesas e os pequenos detalhes da vida cotidi

An intimate, magical novel about one enduring church in a rural Icelandic valley - an ode to a quiet way of life now lost to time forever The resting place of legendary Viking warrior Egil Skallagrímssons skull, Mosfell Church is a lonely, country church, fated to be destroyed. But as the plans to destroy it take shape, stories, myth and folklore abound in one magical last attempt to leave Mosfell standing. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

*BY THE WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE*Laxness at his best: a reminder of the mad hilarity of the Icelandic sensibility. An endearing and unforgettable voice Nicholas ShakespeareAbandoned as a baby, Alfgrimur is content to spend his days as a fisherman living in the turf cottage outside Reykjavik with the elderly couple he calls grandmother and grandfather. There he shares the mid-loft with a motley bunch of eccentrics and philosophers who find refuge in the simple respect for their fellow men that is the ethos at the Brekkukot. But the narrow horizons of Alfgrimurs idyllic childhood are challenged when he starts school and meets Icelands most famous singer, the mysterious Garoar Holm. Garoar encourages him to aim for the one true note, but how can he attain it without leaving behind the world that he loves?It is a novel (a world) that transmits something of the wonder of life Murray Bail

Ambientado en el siglo XVIII, La campana de Islandia es un relato concebido en forma de tríptico, que se desarrolla siguiendo las pautas de la mejor tradición épica de las sagas islandesas medievales. Islandia era por entonces una colonia danesa poblada en su mayor parte por campesinos y granjeros que vivian sumidos en la extrema pobreza. Uno de ellos, Jon Hreggvidsson, a causa de una temeridad tiene que enfrentarse con las autoridades islandesas, que obedecen directamente al monarca danes. El granjero es detenido pero se fuga con la intencion de viajar a Dinamarca a resolver el conflicto. Con La campana de Islandia, Laxness pretendio ensalzar el caracter genuino de su pais, de sus gentes, de su lengua y en general de una nacion que habia vivido durante siglos bajo el dominio danes y que se independizo totalmente durante la gestacion de la novela. Mas alla de lo exotica que la propuesta pueda parecer, esta obra es una muestra de alta literatura de uno de los mejores escritores nordicos del siglo XX.

Wildly original, morose, uproarious... It is also one of the funniest books ever writtenSusan SontagA naive young man is sent by the bishop of Iceland to investigate a small town that has reportedly lost its faith. The church is boarded up and the errant pastor lives with a woman who is not his wife. He has also allowed a corpse to be lodged in the glacier. So the rumours go.What he discovers is a community that regards itself as the centre of the world - earthly yet otherworldly, banal yet astonishing. Brimming with humour, mystery, and the supernatural this is a surprising and moving novel from the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SUSAN SONTAG

A new translation of Nobel Prize-winning author Halldór Laxnesss masterpieceLate one snowy midwinter night, in a remote Icelandic fishing village, a penniless woman arrives by boat. She comes with her daughter, the young but gutsy Salka Valka. The two must forge a life in this remote place, where everyone is at the mercy of a single wealthy merchant, and where everything revolves around fish. After her mothers tragic death, Salka grows into a fiercely independent-minded adult - cutting off her hair, educating herself and becoming an advocate for the towns working class. A coming-of-age story, a feminist tale, a lament for Icelands poor - this is the funny, tender, epic story of Salka Valka. Laxness is a poet who writes to the edges of the pages, a visionary who allows us a plotDaily TelegraphTRANSLATED BY PHILIP ROUGHTON

When the Americans make an offer to buy land in Iceland to build a NATO airbase after the Second World War, a storm of protest is provoked throughout the country. Narrated by a country girl from the north, the novel follows her experiences after she takes up employment as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. Her observations and experiences expose the bourgeois society of the south as rootless and shallow and in stark contrast to the age-old culture of the solid and less fanciful north.The Atom Station is the work of someone who has seen every cherished dream sold down the river, but who loves humanity too much to despair. His heroine refuses to be bullied or bought, a feminist before her time, full of curiosity and spiritGuardian

From the Nobel Prize winner comes a captivating novel about an idealistic Icelandic farmer who journeys to Mormon Utah and back in search of paradise. "Full of an earthy poetry...a style wonderfully wise and entirely Scandinavian in its combination of magic and reality." The New York Times Book Review With an introduction by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres.The quixotic hero of this long-lost classic is Steinar of Hlidar, a generous but very poor man who lives peacefully on a tiny farm in nineteenth-century Iceland with his wife and two adoring young children. But when he impulsively offers his childrens beloved pure-white pony to the visiting King of Denmark, he sets in motion a chain of disastrous events that leaves his family in ruins and himself at the other end of the earth, optimistically building a home for them among the devout polygamists in the Promised Land of Utah. By the time the broken family is reunited, Laxness has spun his trademark blend of compassion and comically brutal satire into a moving and spellbinding enchantment, composed equally of elements of fable and folkore and of the most humble truths.