INDEPENDENT PEOPLE

by Halld¢r Laxness ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 22, 1997

The first paperback edition of a classic 1946 novel, which won its revered Icelandic author the 1955 Nobel Prize. Laxness offers a panorama of village life in this remote clime and an unforgettable characterization of its sullen, stubborn, disagreeable--and, for all that, heroic--protagonist Bjartur. A farmer and sheepherder who clings tenaciously to his hard-won independence and solitude, Bjartur is also an intemperate scold who delights in the misfortunes of others, outlives his two wives and several children, and finally manages a complicated truce with Asta, his first wife's proud daughter (by a another man), who will neither submit to his tyranny nor share his pessimism. Few characters in fiction are portrayed in anything like the kind of depth with which Laxness treats Bjartur, and few modern novels exhibit such masterly range and power. This is one of the great ones.

Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1997

ISBN: 0679767924

Page Count: 480

Publisher: Vintage

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1997

Categories: FICTION