Einar Mar Gudmundsson‘s semi-autobiographical novel From Head to Toe, newly published in Danish by Lindhardt og Ringhof, has received a warm and thoughtful critical reception across the Danish press.
The novel follows Harald, an Icelandic poet who arrives in 1980s Copenhagen ostensibly to study literature, but instead immerses himself in the city’s literary underground, befriending figures such as Michael Strunge, Poul Borum, and F.P. Jac. The parallels with Guðmundsson’s own biography are deliberate and largely unobscured.
Critical consensus has been emphatic. Elisa Norgaard Mortensen of Kristeligt Dagblad calls Guðmundsson simply “Iceland’s greatest author,” awarding the novel five out of six hearts, while Anders Rod Thomsen of POV declares it “a must-read for everyone who remembers (and misses) the poetic rhythm of the 80s.” Søren Vinterberg in Politiken praises the author’s command of narrative, noting that Guðmundsson “knows exactly where he wants to go, and he gets there.” Information identified a subtler achievement: a sustained meditation on how literature is actually made, from the lived, the overheard, and the transformed. The Søndag review perhaps captured the book’s broader appeal most concisely, recommending it for its “quirky language and sideways glance” at Danish culture and the capital.
What distinguishes the novel from straightforward period memoir is its intellectual engagement with questions of form and identity. Gudmundsson uses the narrative to examine what it means to arrive from a small nation that spent five centuries under Danish rule, a theme that carries renewed relevance given the current geopolitical focus on the Kingdom of Denmark’s Arctic relationships.
The translation by Erik Skyum-Nielsen, a figure who also appears within the novel itself, has been widely praised as exceptional.
A Faroese translation of the book by Martin Næs and Þóra Þóroddsdóttir, has just been released by Sprotin.
