The Great Weaver from Kashmir — Halldor Laxness

From Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness

“Laxness brought the Icelandic novel out from the ‘sagas' shadow…to read Laxness is also to understand why he haunts Iceland -- he writes the unearthly prose of a poet cased in the perfection of a shell of plot, wit, and clarity.”  -- The Guardian

“Finally, finally, an imposing work of fiction, which rises like a cliff from the flatness of Icelandic poetry and fiction of recent years!”  -- Kristján Albertsson, Vaka 1927

The Great Weaver from Kashmir is Laxness' first major novel, the book that propelled Icelandic literature into the modern world. Shortly after World War One, Steinn Elliði, a young philosopher-poet dandy, leaves the physical and cultural confines of Iceland's shores for mainland Europe, seeking to become “the most perfect man on earth.” His journey leads us through a wide range of moral, philosophical, religious, political, and social realms, from hedonism to socialism to aestheticism to Benedictine monasticism. Upon his return to Iceland, Steinn finds himself more conflicted than before, torn between love of the beauty and traditions of his homeland, longing and regret for his great adolescent love, Diljá, and his newfound monastic ideal, forcing him to make choices with fateful consequences.

Published when Laxness was only twenty-five years old, The Great Weaver from Kashmir's radical experimentation caused a stir in Iceland, which would soon reverberate throughout Europe. The Great Weaver is much more than a first major work by a literary master -- it is a groundbreaking modernist classic.