First published in 1952, Halldór Laxness’s Wayward Heroes offers an unlikely representation of modern literature.
A reworking of medieval Icelandic sagas, the novel is set against the backdrop of the medieval Norse world, complete with Viking raids, battles enshrined in skaldic lays, saints’ cults, clashes between secular and spiritual authorities, journeys to faraway lands and abodes of trolls, and legitimate claimants versus pretenders to thrones. Laxness exploits such medieval tropes to criticize the global militarism and belligerent national posturing rampant in the postwar buildup to the Cold War.
He satirizes the spirit of the old sagas, especially through the novel’s main characters, the sworn brothers Þormóður Bessason and Þorgeir Hávarsson, warriors who blindly pursue ideals that lead to the imposition of power through violent means. The two see the world around them only through a veil of heroic illusion: kings are fit either to be praised in poetry or toppled from their thrones, other men only to kill or be killed, women only to be mythic fantasies.
Replete with irony, absurdity, and pathos, the novel more than anything takes on the character of tragedy, as the sworn brothers’s quest to live out their ideals inevitably leaves them empty-handed and ruined.
R E V I E W S
“Laxness is a beacon in twentieth-century literature, a writer of splendid originality, wit, and feeling.”
ALICE MUNRO
“A welcome, major contribution to modern Nordic literature in translation and a pleasure to read.”
KIRKUS REVIEWS STARRED REVIEW – listed as one of the best books of 2016
“The novel’s timeless themes – the egotistical cruelty inherent in so-called heroic ideals, the dangers of violent, unloving masculinity, and the willingness of Church and Establishment to make cynical use of such “wayward heroes”, are still worth reiterating… [in] Philip Roughton’s accomplished translation. ”
CAROLYNE LARRINGTON, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
“Laxness revises and renews the bloody sagas of Icelandic tradition, producing not just a spectacular historical novel but one of coal-dark humor and psychological depth.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Brilliant, bleak, uproariously funny, and still alarmingly prescient, Wayward Heroes belongs in the pantheon of the antiwar novel alongside such touchstones as Slaughterhouse-Five and Catch-22. …
Wayward Heroes, with its despotic kings, hypocrite Christians, and bloodthirsty mercenaries, is not merely a medieval epic “as much mock as genuine” but a trenchant critique of that timeless avaricious urge we have grown regrettably accustomed to calling “market forces.” The term, stupefyingly impersonal by design, forecloses the prospect of glory or honor, but in exchange preemptively absolves individuals and nations alike of responsibility for the crimes they knowingly commit. Laxness looked from the ancient literature of his homeland to the novelties and cataclysms of the modern world around him, only to discover how little had changed in a thousand years.”
JUSTIN TAYLOR, HARPER‘S MAGAZINE
“Published by Archipelago Books, the Nobel Laureate’s stab at a sardonic Saga for and of the Ages has all the ingredients of literary knighthood: friendship, exile, poverty, obsessive quests, and extravagant pathetic human ecology. Set about one thousand years ago, a critique of twentieth-century indecency underpins this brutal story of Vikings and saints in a book that plays with both the role and style of saga culture.
“Þorgeir Hávarsson and Þormóður Kolbrúnarskáld are an archetypal duo: warrior and poet, sworn brothers. They dream of glory and travel the world, a skaldic twist on Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Þorgeir is a hero of unrivaled courage, touted with sarcasm—instead of genius Iberian slapstick, he proves his manliness by slaughtering innocent civilians. In lieu of Sancho’s practicality, Þormóður is a hero’s attendant skald, destined to immortalize Þorgeir’s gallant deeds in verse—if he can curb his skirt-chasing tangents.”
K. B. THORS, HARWARD REVIEW
“Wayward Heroes, for all its tangled itinerary, endures in this long-awaited translation as a cautionary tale for all who flock around despots or who applaud the cries of die-hards.”
JOHN L. MURPHY, POP MATTERS
“Laxness was awarded the Nobel Prize “for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland”. After reading Wayward Heroes I have to say that I 100% agree with the phrase “vivid epic power” and I’ll definitely be looking for more of his work.”
BITS & BOOKS
“This is a book to savour and one that does feel epic, while at the same time feeling remarkably intimate. You are also left wondering whether you have just read a work of fiction, or something that really happened a long, long time ago in an unforgiving land far, far away. ”
ELAINE ALDRED, STRANGE ALLIANCES
