News
Two new books from Gyrðir Elíasson
Two new books by Gyrðir Elíasson were published this autumn, a short-story collection Milli trjánna (Between the Trees) and a book of poetry Nokkur almenn orð um kulnun sólar (A Few General Comments about the Cooling of the Sun). The publisher is Uppheimar Publishing House.
Milli trjánna is Elíasson's eighth set of short stories, his previous collection Steintré having won him a nomination for the prestigious Frank O'Connor literary prize in the spring of 2009. This new collection comprises 47 short stories, all of which are informed by the effortless and vivid style that adorns Elíasson's works. The themes in this collection are in tune with the writer's previous stories: here, as before, assorted horrors and phenomena materialise, loneliness, dreams, travels, childhood memories and premonitions, as well as the clever wit familiar to readers of his previous works.
Critical consensus is that in this work Elíasson is at his best. The Fréttablaðið reviewer, Bergsteinn Sigurðsson, said the book was “nothing less than artistic magic” and sensed in the writer a renewed passion for storytelling. “Milli trjánna is a work written by a writer who has attained a perfect grasp of his art, has plenty to say and delivers it with a creative joy that sparkles.” The Víðsjá reviewer, Þröstur Helgason, did not want to put the book down: “To sum up, I think that Elíasson is at his very best in this book. It is an absolute jewel.”
Nokkur almenn orð um kulnun sólar is Gyrðir Elíasson's thirteenth book of verse. In it he continues to simplify and pare his poetic language. Luminous and powerful writing, adorned with the discerning use of visual imagery that characterises Elíasson's work, mingles here with humour and a multiform nature lyricism, with passionate feelings, and with a fear which is closer to the surface than often before. The book also contains a sharp critique of society in its attitude to nature and its minutiae.
In his review for the radio programme Víðsjá, Þröstur Helgason said that it was the work he had been waiting for this autumn: “It has to be said that his book does not whitewash the facts, but is rather a black report on what has happened, now that our days of glory are over. There is not much warmth to savour, and a black sky lowers over the poet, [...] Yet, in spite of the cold and the darkness this is actually the book we have been waiting for this autumn. Here things are told as they are – perhaps that brings a kind of comfort, even relief.”