Far North

Independent People: An Epic
written by Halldor Laxness, translated by J.A. Thompson

This magnificent novel-which secured for its author the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature-is at last available to contemporary American readers. Although it is set in the early twentieth century, it recalls both Iceland's midieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.

Having spent eighteen years in humiliating servitude, Bjartur wants nothing more than to raise his flocks unbeholden to any man. But Bjartur's spirited daughter wants to live unbeholden to him. What ensues is a battle of wills that is by turns harsh and touching, elemental in its emotional intensity and intimate in its homely detail. Vast in scope and deeply rewarding, Independent People is a masterpiece.

"There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more; it is the book of your life... My favorite book by a living novelist is Independent People. "
--Brad Leithauser, from the Introduction

ZT7924    Independent People: An Epic                           $15.00

	contains 0 items
Proceed to Checkout
Continue shopping:   Product Catalog    Geographic Catalog
Back to top