The Atom Station: Halldor Laxness

The Atom Station: Halldor Laxness

by Magnus Magnusson (Translator), Magnus Magnusson (Translator), Halldor Laxness (Author)

Synopsis

When the Americans make an offer to buy land in Iceland to build a NATO airbase after World War II, a storm of protest is provoked throughout the country. The airbase provides Laxness with the catalyst for his astonishing and powerful satire. 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. Marvelling at the customs and behaviour of the people around her, she emerges as the one obstinate reality in a world of unreality. 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. A witty and moving satire on politics and politicians, Communists and anti-Communists, phoney culture fiends, big business and all the pretensions of authority, Laxness' masterpiece of social commentary is as relevant today as when it was written in 1948.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Edition: 1
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Published: 04 Mar 2004

ISBN 10: 0099455153
ISBN 13: 9780099455158
Book Overview: 'Laxness has been hailed as Iceland's John Steinbeck, Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair combined. His is a significant voice in world literature' Magnus Magnusson

Media Reviews
[Laxness'] voice has a very funny peculiar, refreshing and intriguing mix of comic irony and metaphysical angst -- Marina Warner * Observer *
Laxness is a poet who writes to the edges of the pages, a visionary who allows us a plot. * Daily Telegraph *
An extraordinary book, brimming with little wisdoms, funny episodes, sharp phrases...and a determined optimism of spirit * The Times *
Laxness was a genius * New York Review of Books *
Magnus Magnusson's translation reads smoothly and skilfully renders Laxness's dry and quirky wit * Times Literary Supplement *
Author Bio
HALLDOR LAXNESS (1902-98) was born near Reykjavik, Iceland. His first novel was published when he was 17. The undisputed master of contemporary Icelandic fiction and one of the outstanding novelists of the twentieth century, his work was translated into more than 30 languages. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.