Halldór Laxness

Halldór Kiljan Laxness, the only Icelandic writer to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature, was born Halldór Gudjónsson on April 23, 1902, in Reykjavík.

He spent his first few years in Reykjavík, but when he was three his family moved to the farm Laxnes, the name of which Halldór would later appropriate. He showed a passion for writing at an early age, publishing his first newspaper article when he was fourteen, and his first novel, Barn náttúrunnar / Child of Nature (1919), at seventeen.

As a young man, Laxness traveled widely, and he spent time in a monastery in Luxemburg, briefly considering taking the oaths. While he ultimately decided against becoming a monk, he was baptized as a Catholic during his stay, in the process adopting the middle-name Kiljan – after the Irish saint Killian – and the surname Laxness. He was later to renounce his faith in favor of socialism, but later in life he disavowed any particular ideology or faith, although he expressed an affinity for Taoism. Laxness' spiritual experiences are reflected in some of his early works, such as the partly autobiographical Undir Helgahnúk / Under Holy Mountain (1924).

Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír / The Great Weaver from Kashmir (1927)was Laxness' first major novel, pioneering in its incorporation of expressionist influences, and often considered one of the first examples of modernism in Icelandic literature. The thirties were a very productive time – during the decade he completed three of his most famous works: Salka Valka / Salka Valka (1931-1932), the story of a determined young woman in a small fishing town; Sjálfstætt fólk / Independent People (1934-1935), which depicted the struggles of poor farmers in the first decades of the 20^thcentury; and Heimsljós /World Light (1937-1940), which describes the life of a destitute folk poet.

During the next decade or so he drew heavily on historical sources: Íslandsklukkan / Iceland's Bell (1943-1946) dealt with colonial times in Iceland and Gerpla / The Happy Warriors (1952) was a satirical deconstruction of the Icelandic sagas.

In 1955, Halldór Laxness was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, for having “in the field of prose, renewed the Icelandic language as an artistic means of expression” and for having “given the Icelandic writers courage to use their native tongue.” Laxness went on to publish novels, essays and plays well into the eighties. He died in 1998.

Throughout most of his life, Laxness sustained a remarkable volume of output, and his bibliography can be found here (assembled by Haraldur Sigurðsson, Sigríður Helgadóttir and Jökull Sævarsson, includes foreign editions).and at gljufrasteinn.is, which also contains many other resources on his life and career. Laxness' works, which include novels, poetry, plays, social criticism, short story collections, memoirs and travelogues, have been translated into forty-two languages at the time of writing.