The Great Weaver From Kashmir
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness
“Laxness brought the Icelandic novel out from the ‘sagas' shadow…to read Laxness is also to understand why he haunts Iceland—he writes the unearthly prose of a poet cased in the perfection of a shell of plot, wit, and clarity.” — The Guardian
“Finally, finally, an imposing work of fiction, which rises like a cliff from the flatness of Icelandic poetry and fiction of recent years!” —Kristján Albertsson, Vaka 1927
The Great Weaver from Kashmir is Laxness’ first major novel, the book that propelled Icelandic literature into the modern world. Shortly after World War One, Steinn Elliði, a young philosopher-poet dandy, leaves the physical and cultural confines of Iceland’s shores for mainland Europe, seeking to become “the most perfect man on earth.” His journey leads us through a wide range of moral, philosophical, religious, political, and social realms, from hedonism to socialism to aestheticism to Benedictine monasticism. Upon his return to Iceland, Steinn finds himself more conflicted than before, torn between love of the beauty and traditions of his homeland, longing and regret for his great adolescent love, Diljá, and his newfound monastic ideal, forcing him to make choices with fateful consequences.
Published when Laxness was only twenty-five years old, The Great Weaver from Kashmir’s radical experimentation caused a stir in Iceland, which would soon reverberate throughout Europe. The Great Weaver is much more than a first major work by a literary master—it is a groundbreaking modernist classic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Roughton's beautiful, poetic translation of Laxness's novel tunes readers in to the frustrated genius of its principal character, far better than that character's own lengthy philosophical discourses do. Shortly after World War I, Steinn, a young Icelandic poet-philosopher, heads abroad to make himself "the most perfect man on earth" and perceive "glory on the visage of things." Leaving behind his homeland and would-be sweetheart, Dilj , for Europe, Steinn proves a master of any doctrine he cares to take up, but fails to satisfy his longing for perfection. His "aesthetic soul" leads Steinn to embrace communism while abandoning his own mother, and later to join the order of the Benedictine monks at the expense of worldly intimacy. Much of Steinn's agony stems from the fact that his quest for perfection is solipsistic; even in his most pious phase, he shows utter disregard for people, including Dilj and his own family. Though he's destined to fall from the get-go, it's intriguing to see how Laxness's antihero dives into manifold ideologies, achieving essentially the same result each time.
