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More copies of this ISBN:Independent Peopleby Halldor Laxness
Staff Pick
"Independent People is epic and thorough, covering the sweep of generations as well as detailed hours ticking by during sleepless nights, ambling walks around the plains. It is a novel of contrasts, especially in its nuanced exploration of character: isolation and family; socialist ideals and the guilt of betrayal; symbol and dream against the brutal truth of nature." Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:This magnificent novel — which secured for its author the 1955 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 medieval 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. Review:"Reader, rejoice! At last this funny, clever, sardonic and brilliant book is back in print. Independent People is one of my Top Ten Favorite Books of All Time." E. Annie Proulx Review:"[A] huge, skaldic treat filled with satire, humor, pathos, cold weather and sheep." Publishers Weekly Review:"I love this book. It is an unfolding wonder of artistic vision and skill — one of the best books of the twentieth century. I can't imagine any greater delight than coming to Independent People for the first time." Jane Smiley About the AuthorHalldór Laxness was born near Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1902. His first novel was published when he wsa seventeen. The undisputed master of contemporary Icelandic fiction, and one of the outstanding novelists of the century, he has written more than sixty books, including novels, short stories, essays, poems, plays, and memoirs. In 1955 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in 1998. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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