She wanted him to see her. To alert him. There were no secrets. There were six webcams in their bedroom, another in the living room, three in the kitchen, even one in the bathroom. There was a security camera in the garden and all the other gardens on the street, not to mention four surveillance drones that cruised around the gravel paths, and satellite images on the internet. No longer could one screw behind a locked door, no longer could one shit in private. And why should they want to do that anyway? There was nothing shameful about shitting or screwing.
At an unspecified point in the future, under the watchful eyes of the surveillance state, authors and former spouses Aki and Lenita do everything they can to move on from one another. Meanwhile, life proceeds as usual. Books are published and either receive awards or don’t. Early in the year, the sun inches its way over the mountain and shines on the residents of Isafjordur, the scent of baked goods wafts out of The Old Bakery, and art students up from Reykjavik hole up in the abandoned shrimp factory. Then the electricity begins to flicker.
A novel about seeing everything and being observed everywhere, about man’s uncontrollable curiosity and his need to be noticed, about worthless literature and art, and—most importantly—about the likelihood of difference, about vanity, love, and betrayal. And last, but not least, about the future.
The Transfug Awards as the best Nordic novel in France 2017
REVIEWS
“Brief and intense but filled to the brim with ideas and threads that run deep into the heart our times.”
KRISTJAN GUDJONSSON, DV DAILY
“A well-plotted, thrilling, riveting novel, written in clear and sophisticated language with an interesting gallery of characters. … Stupidity may be set in the future, but it can also be read as a contemporary dystopia – a novel that itself deceives as it spotlights the deceptions of a surveillance society that the story’s characters and readers alike live with and willingly take part in.”
ASTA KRISTIN BENEDIKTSDOTTIR, HUGRAS.IS
“The more you read, the more vigorous becomes the sardonic narration … and here the writer demonstrates clearly his grasp of narrative technique and brisk rhetorical style, as he describes the bleak world that has replaced the one we know …”
EINAR FALUR INGOLFSSON, MORGUNBLADID
“Stupidity is a polemic about modern society and the pace and narcissism that to a great extent characterises it. What distinguishes Stupidity is that it handles these matters in a sensitive way and without passing judgement on society as such. The narrator’s voice clearly indicates that this need for attention is human and to an extent natural, and the reader is never told to change his ways or how he might behave differently. This adds several layers of interpretative possibilities to the text and brings to the narrative a complicated interplay between characters, society, narrator and readers.
Stupidity is a well-crafted, good and interesting book, and I thoroughly recommend it.”
HILDUR YR ISBERG, SIRKUSTJALDID
“I loved the madness of this book, its originality, rhythm, his imagination, his sense of humor!”
CRYSSILDA CANALBLOG, FRANCE
“… very entertaining.”
FRIDRIKA BENONYSDOTTIR, KILJAN/NATONAL TV
“Stupidity is a grand book. Despite being much shorter than its sister books, Kindness (2009) and Evil (2012), it touches ground near and far and deals fiercely with many of our modern controversies […] Eiríkur’s style is as always direct and concise. He has a unique talent for presenting intricate and complex ideas in a raw and yet clear manner […] In Stupidity Eiríkur creates, with exceeding innovation, a future which is in many ways almost identical to our own. In this future people try to find purpose, the main protagonists look for it in the world of art, in creation and recognition, while the dark history of western civilization and an uncertain future looms over everything. […] Because who can live in splendour while others suffer? How many cat videos on YouTube must an Icelander watch to forget the overloaded boats in the Mediterranean?“
SOLVEIG ASTA SIGURDARDOTTIR, TMM LITERARY MAGAZINE
“Heimska is a wonderful and extraordinary novel.”
ADDICT CULTURE, FRANCE
