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The Heart of Man (excerpt)
Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Born in Reykjavik in 1973, “Jón
Kalman Stefánsson's novels are
written from the same extreme
viewpoint where man is left to his
own devices, facing a world much
greater than himself; a world that
for him has neither cure, nor love,
but offers him only the changing seasons.
Hjarta Mansinns
(The Heart of Man)
which concludes the Icelandic trilogy
beginning with
Himnaríki og Helvíti (Heaven and Hell),
followed by
Harmur Englanna (The Sorrow of Angels),
centres around the ancient notion of the solitude of man, in
an Iceland made of fishermen and wind, and the tenuous
attachment to life. Because of this, man seeks friendship or
love, even though he realises that this is futile."
‒
la Repubblica
Translated from Icelandic by Philip Roughton.