Wayward Heroes
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Drawing on historical events, including King Olaf’s reign in Norway and the burning of Chartres Cathedral, Laxness revises and renews the bloody sagas of Icelandic tradition, producing not just a spectacular historical novel but one of coal-dark humor and psychological depth.” – Publishers Weekly
First published in 1952, Halldór Laxness’s Wayward Heroes offers an unlikely representation of modern literature. A reworking of medieval Icelandic sagas, the novel is set against the backdrop of the medieval Norse world. Laxness satirizes the spirit of sagas, criticizing the global militarism and belligerent national posturing rampant in the postwar buildup to the Cold War.
He does that through the novel’s main characters, the sworn brothers Þormóður Bessason and Þorgeir Hávarsson, warriors who blindly pursue ideals that lead to the imposition of power through violent means. The two see the world around them only through a veil of heroic illusion: kings are fit either to be praised in poetry or toppled from their thrones, other men only to kill or be killed, women only to be mythic fantasies. Replete with irony, absurdity, and pathos, the novel more than anything takes on the character of tragedy, as the sworn brothers’ quest to live out their ideals inevitably leaves them empty-handed and ruined.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two sworn brothers wage a quixotic battle against their time and place in Nobel-winner Laxness's rich, impressive novel. The time is roughly 1,000 years ago, the place is Iceland, and the brothers are Porgeir H varsson, whose father is murdered in a neighborly spat, and Porm ur Bessason, a gifted young poet, or skald, bound to serve an older widow named Kolbr n. Raised on "tales of the prowess of champions of yore," Porgeir intends to become a hero himself. Soon after he meets Porm ur, who only wants to write lyrical narrative poems in praise of such men, the two go "freeloading" throughout the district of Vestfirdir, "calling particularly... on better-off farmers holding feasts," beating up Christian clerics, and avenging the death of Porgeir's father. But this boisterous idyll must end; Kolbr n intends to exercise her hold on Porm ur, despite his love for a wealthy farmer's daughter, while Porgeir joins a Viking band of mercenaries, going on campaigns in England and France. Drawing on historical events, including King Olaf's reign in Norway and the burning of Chartres Cathedral, Laxness revises and renews the bloody sagas of Icelandic tradition, producing not just a spectacular historical novel but one of coal-dark humor and psychological depth. The old-fashioned violence Porgeir and Porm ur admire is rendered in all its futility and cruelty, and readers will find that these honorable but deluded heroes become objects of pity.
