As an unloved foster child on a farm in rural Iceland, Olaf Karason has only one consolation: the belief that one day he will be a great poet. The indifference and contempt of most of the people around him only reinforces his sense of destiny, for in Iceland poets are as likely to be scorned as they are to be revered. Over the ensuing years, Olaf comes to lead the paradigmatic poet's life of poverty, loneliness, ruinous love affairs and sexual scandal. But he will never attain anything like greatness.
As imagined by Nobel Prize winner Halldor Laxness in this magnificently humane novel, what might be cruel farce achieves pathos and genuine exaltation. For as Olaf's ambition drives him onward-and into the orbits of an unstable spiritualist, a shady entrepreneur, and several susceptible women-World Light demonstrates how the creative spirit can survive in even the most crushing environment and even the most unpromising human vessel.
As imagined by Nobel Prize winner Halldor Laxness in this magnificently humane novel, what might be cruel farce achieves pathos and genuine exaltation. For as Olaf's ambition drives him onward-and into the orbits of an unstable spiritualist, a shady entrepreneur, and several susceptible women-World Light demonstrates how the creative spirit can survive in even the most crushing environment and even the most unpromising human vessel.
Used availability for Halldór Laxness's World Light
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
October 2002 : Hardback
| Title: World Light Author(s): Halldor Kiljan Laxness, Halldor Laxness ISBN: 1-4177-0961-8 / 978-1-4177-0961-8 (USA edition) Publisher: San Val Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
February 1970 : Hardback
| Title: World Light Author(s): Halldor Laxness ISBN: 0-299-05191-9 / 978-0-299-05191-4 (USA edition) Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
1969 : Hardback
| Title: World Light. Author(s): HALLDOR. LAXNESS Publisher: The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Milwaukee and London Availability: Amazon More details... |
Paperback Editions
October 2002 : Paperback
| Title: World Light Author(s): Halldor Laxness ISBN: 0-375-72757-4 / 978-0-375-72757-3 (USA edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
1969 : Paperback
| Title: World Light Author(s): Halldor Laxness Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press Availability: Amazon More details... |
Other Editions
December 2007 : Kindle edition
| Title: World Light Author(s): Halldor Laxness Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
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