Author: Halldór Laxness

ISBN: 1-4000-3441-8

            For the life of me I can’t remember what led me to it. I’m sure it started out innocently enough…a title sounded interesting…someone recommended a book…I can’t be entirely sure. But, two years later I found myself at cocktail party, babbling endlessly, in a marginally-coherent fashion, about Scandinavian literature. I’m well aware that enjoying Scandinavian fiction is the type of idiosyncrasy you would expect from a pretentious asshole. I’m willing to risk that stigma though because it has allowed me to discover some remarkable works that remain relatively obscure. Among them is Under the Glacier by Icelandic author Halldór Laxness, which has recently been republished in paperback by Vintage Books. With this book, Laxness, the 1955 Nobel Prize winner for literature gives us a provocative and smart novel with a keen sense of humor that is as alluring and substantial today as it was when it was first published in 1968.

            The book begins with the Bishop of Iceland employing a young, unnamed emissary to investigate strange allegations about a pastor in remote Snaefells glacier. (Yes, for all you Jules Verne freaks out there it’s the same place Dr. Otto Lidenbrock began his "Journey to the Center of the Earth.”) Among the allegations is that the pastor has been neglecting to bury the dead. When the emissary arrives, he quickly discovers a surreal world of unusual characters and bizarre events. The Church is in ruins and has been completely bordered up, there are rumors of people being turned into salmon and outlandish tales of the pastor’s wife who never eats, sleeps or baths. Oddity upon oddity greet the bewildered emissary as he struggles to unravel what is truly happening under the glacier. Unfolding as a report dossier, each of the emissary’s discoveries only seem to lead to new intrigue and mystery centered on an eccentric Australian millionaire who, along with a trio of un-bathed transcendentalists from Ojai, California, hopes to harness the glacier’s supernatural powers in order to resurrect the dead. The story climaxes with some interesting revelations that bring clarity and meaning to the wild tales and puts myths that are reminiscent of traditional Nordic folklore into a modern perspective.

Laxness’s story has a dreamlike mysticism that is very haunting and poignant. Despite the deliberate lack of description that is at times frustrating, it is both fabulously entertaining and illuminating. Using irony and absurdity the author challenges us to re-evaluate the basic tenets of Christianity, historical tradition and ourselves.

Also included in this edition is an insightful new introduction by renowned writer, essayist and critic Susan Sontag. Sontag died in 2004 leaving this as her final published piece.

Under the Glacier is a perfect read to take outside with you once the oppressive heat of summer has cooled into the brilliant autumn of Michigan. Go away for the weekend, enjoy the fall colors, guzzle hard cider by the jug and take a copy along. Who knows you too might just find yourself rambling drunkenly about this one.

The above review was contributed by: Anthony Squiers who  is a writer and professor of English and Creative Writing at Southwestern Michigan College. His writing has been featured in a number of print and online publications including Southwest Michigan Magazine and Recoil Magazine.