Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books.
Today is the story of April 23rd
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It is the 113th day of the year, leaving 252 days remaining in 2022.
He told stories of the Icelandic people in a creative and modern style, first influenced by Christianity, then by socialism, and later by Icelandic sagas and folklore. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955.
In his lifetime, he wrote more than 20 novels, eight plays, two books of poetry, and a number of short stories, travelogues, essays, and memoirs.
He was influenced by writers such as Upton Sinclair, Ernest Hemingway, and Bertolt Brecht.
Perhaps his best known books are those he wrote in the 1930s, detailing various lifestyles of the people of Iceland. The first two, Þú vínviður hreini, and Fuglinn í fjörunni, are about an independent young woman living in a poor fishing village. The third, Sjálfstætt fólk, is about the fortunes and misfortures of small farmers over the years.
Laxness then delved into the historical and mythological sagas of Iceland, including a heroic folk poet. Those novels, when translated into English, have titles such as The Bell of Iceland, The Happy Warriors, and Paradise Reclaimed. These books speak of the stubborness and love of learning that are the pride of Iceland natives throughout their centuries of living in a harsh Northern climate.
His books are currently being translated into English, which has renewed an interest in his writings.
Laxness, who also lived in Europe and in the United States in his early years, re-settled in Iceland in 1929. He died in Reykjavic in 1998.
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