Jon Kalman Stefansson

From the "Icelandic Dickens (Irish Examiner)," a writer who "shares the elemental grandeur of Cormac McCarthy" (Times Literary Supplement), comes this profound and playful masterwork of literature--winner of the Icelandic Literature Prize and longlisted for France's Prix Medicis Étrangere--that ponders the beauty and mystery of life and our deepest existential questions. In small places, life becomes bigger. Sometimes distance from the world's tumult can open our hearts and our dreams. In a village of four hundred souls, the infinite light of an Icelandic summer makes its inhabitants want to explore, and the eternal night of winter lights up the magic of the stars. The village becomes a microcosm of the age-old conflict between human desire and destiny, between the limits of reality and the wings of the imagination. With humor, poetry, and a tenderness for human weaknesses, Jon Kalman Stefánsson explores the question of why we live at all.

A Novel

Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night

Trilogie over liefde en vriendschap op IJsland.

Hemel en hel; Het verdriet van de engelen; het hart van de mens / druk 1

Jon Kalman Stefansson is the winner of the Icelandic Prize for Literature and has been nominated three times for the Nordic Council Prize for Literature. Heaven and Hell, is a perfectly formed, vivid and timeless story, lyrical in style, and as intense a reading experience as the forces of the Icelandic landscape themselves. Der Spiegel said it was "like an oyster--a glinting treasure in a rough shell." In a remote part of Iceland, a boy and his friend Barour join a boat to fish for cod. A winter storm surprises them out at sea and Barour, absorbed in "Paradise Lost", succumbs to the ferocious cold and dies. Distraught from the murky circumstances of Barour's death, the boy leaves the village, intending to return the book to its original owner. The extreme hardship and danger of the journey is of little consequence to him--he has already resolved to join his friend in death. But once in the town he immerses himself in the stories and lives of its inhabitants, and decides that he cannot be with his friend just yet.

Heaven and Hell

"Et maintenant, il est trop tard, répond Ari, pétri de remords. Anna esquisse un sourire, elle lui caresse à nouveau la main et lui dit, quelle sottise, il n’est jamais trop tard tant qu’on est en vie. Aussi longtemps que quelqu’un est vivant." Après plusieurs années d'absence, Ari rentre en Islande. Il est devenu éditeur et a récemment quitté sa femme. À Keflavík, la neige recouvre tout mais les souvenirs affleurent. Dans ce village de pêcheurs interdits d’océan, marqué par la présence d’une base militaire américaine, Ari retrouve de vieilles connaissances. Lâchetés, trahisons et amours du passé resurgissent alors que le père d’Ari se meurt. Poursuivant le diptyque commencé avec D’ailleurs, les poissons n’ont pas de pieds, Jón Kalman Stefánsson entremêle les destins singuliers des habitants de cette île immuable et mélancolique.

À la mesure de l'univers

After coming through the blizzard that almost cost them everything, Jens and the boy are far from home, in a fishing community at the edge of the world. Taken in by the village doctor, the boy once again has the sense of being brought back from the grave. But this is a strange place, with otherworldly inhabitants, including flame-haired Álfhei?ur, who makes him wonder whether it is possible to love two women at once; he had believed his heart was lost to Ragnhei?ur, the daughter of the wealthy merchant in the village to which he must now inexorably return. Set in the awe-inspiring wilderness of the extreme north, The Human Heart is a profound exploration of life, love, and desire, written with a sublime simplicity. In this conclusion to an audacious trilogy, Stefánsson brings a poet's eye and a philosopher's insight to a tale worthy of the sagasmiths of old.

The Heart of Man

Fish Have No Feet

A NEW YORK TIMES GLOBETROTTING PICK! Sometimes, in small places, life becomes bigger. SUMMER LIGHT AND THEN COMES THE NIGHT is a profound and playful masterwork from one of Iceland’s most beloved authors that explores the dreams and desires of ordinary people in a rural town. In a village of only four hundred inhabitants, life could seem unremarkable. Yet in this remote town, a new road to the city has change on everyone’s minds. There is the beautiful, elusive Elisabet who cuts a surprisingly svelte path at The Knitting Company. Neighbors Kristin and Kjartan who seem…normal, but for their explosive passion that bewilders even themselves (and ignites the spectacular revenge of Kjartan’s wife). And then the most successful businessman in town decides to ditch his Range Rover and glamorous wife in exchange for Latin books and stargazing. Unexpected, warm, and humorous, Stefansson explores the dreams and desires of these everyday people, and reveals the magic of life in all of its progress, its complacency, its ugliness and, ultimately, beauty. AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE ICELANDIC LITERATURE PRIZE

The Sorrow of Angels is the second novel in an epic and elemental trilogy by the winner of the Icelandic Prize for Literature Jón Kalman Stefánsson, and the follow up to Heaven and Hell (publishing in paperback 3/11/15.) The Sorrow of Angels continues to follow "the boy" who, after suffering a terrible loss at sea, stops at a small Icelandic village that will become his adopted home and his redemption. The book is a part of a trilogy, but as Susan Swarbrick wrote in The Herald Scotland, "If you haven't read Heaven And Hell, the first in Reykjavik-born author Jon Kalman Stefansson's captivating trilogy, that needn't be a deterrent from falling head over heels in love with The Sorrow Of Angels." It is three weeks since the boy came to town, carrying a book of poetry to return to the old sea captain-the poetry Bár?ur died for. Three weeks, but already Bár?ur's ghost has faded. Snow falls so heavily that it binds heaven and earth together. As the villagers gather in the inn to drink schnapps and coffee while the boy reads to them from Hamlet, Jens the postman stumbles in half-dead, having almost frozen to his horse. On his next journey to the fjords Jens is accompanied by the boy, and both must risk their lives for each other, and for an unusual item of mail. The Sorrow of Angels is a timeless and powerful story that evokes the struggle of man against the ferocious majesty of nature. Asked by The Independent what inspired him to write these three novels, Stefánsson named his first visit to the landscape of Iceland's West Fjords. "It was like a punch in the solar plexus . . . The mountains seemed to be saying, 'Why aren't you writing about us?" (Independent, 2013).

The Sorrow of Angels

It is three weeks since the boy came to town, carrying a book of poetry to return to the old sea captain-the poetry Bárour died for. Three weeks, but already Bárour's ghost has faded. Snow falls so heavily that it binds heaven and earth together. As the villagers gather in the inn to drink schnapps and coffee while the boy reads to them from Hamlet, Jens the postman stumbles in half-dead, having almost frozen to his horse. On his next journey to the fjords Jens is accompanied by the boy, and both must risk their lives for each other, and for an unusual item of mail. The Sorrow of Angels is a timeless and powerful story that evokes the struggle of man against the ferocious majesty of nature. Asked by The Independent what inspired him to write these three novels, Stefánsson named his first visit to the landscape of Iceland's West Fjords. "It was like a punch in the solar plexus . . . The mountains seemed to be saying, 'Why aren't you writing about us?"

Certains mots sont probablement aptes à changer le monde, ils ont le pouvoir de nous consoler et de sécher nos larmes. Certains mots sont des balles de fusil, d’autres des notes de violon. Certains sont capables de faire fondre la glace qui nous enserre le cœur et il est même possible de les dépêcher comme des cohortes de sauveteurs quand les jours sont contraires et que nous ne sommes peut-être ni vivants ni morts. Parfois les mots font que l’on meurt de froid. Cela arrive à Bárður, pêcheur à la morue parti en mer sans sa vareuse. Trop occupé à retenir les vers du Paradis perdu, du grand poète anglais Milton, il n’a pensé ni aux préparatifs de son équipage ni à se protéger du mauvais temps. Quand, de retour sur la terre ferme, ses camarades sortent du bateau le cadavre gelé de Bárður, son meilleur ami, qui n’est pas parvenu à le sauver, entame un périlleux voyage à travers l’île pour rendre à son propriétaire, un vieux capitaine devenu aveugle, ce livre dans lequel Bárður s’était fatalement plongé, et pour savoir s’il a encore la force et l’envie de continuer à vivre. Par la grâce d’une narration où chaque mot est à sa place, nous accompagnons dans son voyage initiatique un jeune pêcheur islandais qui pleure son meilleur ami : sa douleur devient la nôtre, puis son espoir aussi. Entre ciel et terre, d’une force hypnotique, nous offre une de ces lectures trop rares dont on ne sort pas indemne. Une révélation...

Jon Kalman Stefansson

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