In the Shadow of the Volcano: A Literary Journey into the Heart of Iceland
Iceland harbours a rich history and a unique literary tradition. In the Shadow of the Volcano takes you on a fascinating journey of discovery through this world of literature, which has always reflected the living conditions on that distant, myth-shrouded island of volcanoes. Starting with the ancient Edda poems and sagas that form the foundation of national identity, the book spans to the pulsating present.
The book does not claim to be a complete history of Icelandic literature. Instead, it undertakes, in the original sense of an essay, the attempt to illuminate the facets of Icelandic literature, as well as the history of Iceland and the people who have lived here, from the author's personal perspective.
The book is written in German.
German edition, Im Schattes des Vulkans: Eine literarische Reise ins Herz Islands, 512 pp., publication date March 2024.
Publisher: btb Verlag, Penguin Random House
The presentation by btb Verlag in German can be read here.
“In the book, Gudmundsson expertly and confidently delves into nothing less than the mystery of the book nation Iceland.” - “brilliant”
“I have read the biography with great interest and admiration. I am thoroughly convinced by Gudmundsson’s portrayal of Laxness”
“Gudmundsson interweaves the diverting story of Laxness‘ life with critical commentary on his work, in the manner of the best literary biographer. His tone is appealing: intimate and understanding but far from hagiographic, and not averse to critical irony”
Halldór Laxness – A Biography
Published in Icelandic in 2004, this 800 pp. biography won the Icelandic Literary Prize for that year as best work of non-fiction and was voted biography of the Year by Icelandic booksellers.
Halldór Laxness was the most renowned Icelandic writer of the 20th century, having won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. His life spanned nearly the entire century, from 1902-1998. He wrote a total of sixty books: novels, short stories, plays, essays, memoirs, travel journals, and poetry. He is most recognized for his broad epic novels, written during the years 1930-1960, but his career was extremely varied and his works cover a wide range of literary styles: from modernism to social novels, from parody to absurdist drama. In his best works, he is considered to have combined the spirit of classical literary forms such as the Icelandic sagas with qualities that are reminiscent of what was later called South American magical realism.
The main goal of Halldór Guðmundsson in this major biography of Laxness is to tell the story of a young man who leaves his island home to travel the world, driven onward by excessive ambition and self-confidence, as well as his vision of the great validity of life and the world of beauty, and who intends to compose stories for the world. The journey is both dramatic and eventful, but the young boy's dream is achieved, although the sacrifices are considerable.
Published in the UK (MacLehose Press), translation by Philip Roughton, Germany (btb Verlag), translation by Helmut Lugmayr, Denmark (Vandkunsten), translation by Kim Lembek and Rolf Stavnen, Sweden (Leopard förlag), translation by Inge Knutsson, and Norway (Tiden), translation by Silje Beite Løken and Ine Camilla Bjørnsten.
“A European cultural history from an Icelandic perspective”
“One of the best Icelandic biographies that has ever been written”
“[Laxness] creates a world that belongs in another dimension, like the landscape of his country, familiar, strange, seen as in a dream. It is an endearing and unforgettable voice, and we must tip our hats to Gudmundsson for setting it in context”
Land of Stories
My great-grandmother lived in Önundarfjördur in the West Fjords, married to a fisherman farmer. She bore eleven children and worked hard her entire life. Nevertheless, she seized every chance to read and sometimes ended up so engrossed in books that her children had to make sure she didn’t allow the household fire, essential to cooking and indoor warmth, to go out. The temple ruins of Icelanders, our Forum Romanum, are made up of stories. Wherever one travels in the country, even in the remotest of places, stories have played out, many of which ended up in our literature. There is little there to see in terms man-made constructions, but everything to see for those who are hungry for good stories and willing to put their imagination to work. This is a book about 29 very different places in Iceland and one in Canada, which all have their special connection to our literature and cultural tradition.
Photos: Dagur Gunnarsson
German edition, Island: Insel aus Geschichten, 264 pp, translated by Kristof Magnusson: Corso / Verlagshaus Römerweg, published april 2021, can be ordered here.
Icelandic edition, Sagnalandið: Forlagið, 300 pp, published July 2021. Can be ordered here.
English edition, Land of Stories, translated by Steingrímur Teague: Forlagið, 300 pp, published July 2021. Can be ordered here.
“Es ist relativ einfach, ein Buch von Halldór Guðmundsson zu besprechen. Man braucht nicht viele Worte, nennt einfach den Autorennamen und schreibt: Wie immer eine Empfehlung ”
Halldór Laxness: Sein Leben
A shorter introduction in German to the life and works of Laxness, originally published by Steidl Verlag in 2002, paperback in 2004. Updated and with many photographs in 2011. German in collaboration with Helmut Lugmayr, 240 pp.
Writer‘s Lives (Skáldalíf)
The Suðursveit Prodigy
and the Skriðuklaustur Poet – a Biography
Do they have anything at all in common, the cosmopolite Gunnar Gunnarsson and the homebody Thorbergur Thordarson? One wrote in Danish and saw his books translated into a host of foreign languages; the other’s books were a well-kept secret known only to the few who knew his native tongue. One probed the mystery of human existence; the other was a noted and mercurial humorist. But they were Icelandic farmers’ sons, virtually of age, and they had grand dreams for their future and that of their country. They devoted their fealty to foreign warlords – each according to his own political views – and that devotion turned to bitter disappointment. But they both made a decisive impact on the development of Icelandic literature.
This book is a unique portrait of these two authors in this parallel biography. It tells of their youth and upbringing, the difficult years of penury, their fateful love affairs, their longing for the country, their travels abroad, and their return home.
By juxtaposing the two men, using the brilliance of each to illuminate the other, Writer‘s Lives elicits a new and fresh view of both.
440 pp., published in Iceland in 2006.
Voted Biography of the year by the Icelandic booksellers.
“Highly interesting, a daring idea, a very important work written with great skill”
Wir sind alle Isländer: von Lust und Frust, in der Krise zu sein
Written in collaboration with Dagur Gunnarsson, with illustrations by Halldór Baldursson
180 pp., originally published in German by btb Verlag in 2009. Dutch translation from the German by Henriëtte van Weerdt-Shellekens, Wij zijn allemaal Ijslanders, published by Cossee publishers.
This book, written in 2009, tells the story of the financial collapse in Iceland during the international bank crisis in the fall of 2008. At the same time, it contains portraits of ten different Icelanders, from the foreign secretary to an anarchist activist, sketching how they handle the crisis.
Mamutschkas Lebensrezepte: Ich bin nicht verrückt, aber extravagant
160 pp. with photos, originally published in German by btb Verlag in 2010
Icelandic edition: Mamúska – Sagan um mína pólsku ömmu
220 pp., with additional material, published by Forlagið in 2015.
The book tells of a very special friendship of an old Polish lady, running a restaurant in Frankfurt, and an Icelandic publisher and author. They meet at her restaurant in Frankfurt, and in the end, she tells him – sometimes reluctantly - the incredible story of her childhood and youth in Lithuania in the years between the wars, spiced with her recipes and view of love, marriage, society, and many other things.
Loksins, loksins – Vefarinn mikli og upphaf íslenskra nútímabókmennta
250 pp., published in Iceland in 1987
A work of literary history, about the early writings of Laxness‘ in the context of contemporary European literature.
