Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night

by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Philip Roughton (Translator)

From the “Icelandic Dickens (Irish Examiner),” a writer who “shares the elemental grandeur of Cormac McCarthy” (Times Literary Supplement), comes this profound and playful masterwork of literature—winner of the Icelandic Literature Prize and longlisted for France’s Prix Medicis Étrangere—that ponders the beauty and mystery of life and our deepest existential questions.

In small places, life becomes bigger.

Sometimes distance from the world’s tumult can open our hearts and our dreams. In a village of four hundred souls, the infinite light of an Icelandic summer makes its inhabitants want to explore, and the eternal night of winter lights up the magic of the stars.

The village becomes a microcosm of the age-old conflict between human desire and destiny, between the limits of reality and the wings of the imagination. With humor, poetry, and a tenderness for human weaknesses, Jon Kalman Stefánsson explores the question of why we live at all.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Contemporary, Novels, Literary Fiction, Scandinavian Literature, Roman

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Jón moved to Keflavík when he was 12 and returned to Reykjavík in 1986 with his highschool diploma. From 1975 – 1982 he spent a good deal of his time in West Iceland, where he did various jobs: worked in a slaughterhouse, in the fishing industry, doing masonry and for one summer as a police officer at Keflavík International Airport. Jón Kalman studied literature at the University of Iceland from 1986 until 1991 but did not finish his degree. He taught literature at two highschools for a period of time and wrote articles and criticism for Morgunblaðið newspaper for a number of years. Jón lived in Copenhagen from 1992 – 1995, reading, washing floors and counting buses. He worked as a librarian at the Mosfellsbær Library near Reykjavík until the year 2000. Since then he has been a full time writer.

His first published work, the poetry collection, Með byssuleyfi á eilífðina, came out in 1988. He has published two other collections of poetry and a number of novels. His novel Sumarljós, og svo kemur nóttin (Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night) won The Icelandic Literature Prize in 2005. Three of his books have also been nominated for The Nordic Council's Literature Prize.

He was the recipient of the Per Olov Enquists Prize for 2011, awarded at the book fair in Gautaborg in September 2011.

Reviews

[MartaMP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romanzo ambientato in un piccolo paese dei fiordi occidentali (Islanda) dove "gli abitanti vagano disorientati tra i labirintici sentieri dell'animo umano".
Scritto magistralmente, un libro di prosa ricco anche di poesia.

[piperitapitta · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Tu igitur nihil vidis?»

Ciò che conta.
400 anime in Islanda
Si sfiorano come le dita di una mano sulla pelle
Si intrecciano come un abbraccio.
Una ventata di freschezza
Aria di novità.
Un alito di vento
Una brezza mattutina,
Un malinconico cinguettio nella quiete del mattino.
Un batter d'ali
Lo zefiro di una notte stellata
La brina nel cielo
Il canto degli uccelli in primavera
La luce delle stelle in autunno.
Credi sia possibile contare tutti i pesci e le lacrime?
Un Maglificio
Una Cooperativa sociale
Una casa nera come la notte piena di stelle
Un cinema
Un ristorante.
Amore e fantasmi
Addii e amplessi improvvisi.
Baci appassionati
Abbracci
Lacrime e dolore.
Solitudine.
Colpi d'accetta
Fuga e perdono.
Ritorni.
A volte nei posti piccoli la vita diventa più grande
Ed è subito magia
Magia d'estate
Magia d'inverno
È luce d'estate, ed è subito notte.
Storie di vita e di luce, di morte e di buio.
Una storia che ha il fascino e lo stupore di un'aurora boreale.
Parole che sanno di poesia.
Poesia che ha il profumo delicato e crudele della vita.
Voglia di Islanda.
Voglia di Paradiso e Inferno.
Voglia di incontrare La Tristezza degli Angeli.

«In primavera abbiamo il canto degli uccelli
Ma dobbiamo rinunciare alla luce delle stelle,
in autunno è l'esatto contrario.
Cos'è meglio?
Il canto degli uccelli a volte sembra intessuto di pura gioia, di lieta aspettativa ma anche di malinconia, ti si annida nel petto, e invece non di rado ci sentiamo soli a guardare le stelle, il loro luccichio una speranza lontana.
Ma quella sera non erano in molti a pensare alla solitudine o agli astri, anche se il cielo aveva dispiegato il suo drappo di stelle e l'Astronomo girava per il paese, tutto imbacuccato e con il caffè nel thermos, si sedette su una roccia ghiacciata e scrisse una lettera in latino, intingendo di tanto in tanto la penna nello spazio nero tra le stelle»

Mi chiese
cosa avrei portato su un'isola deserta
Una barca e te
dissi
e la barca la bruciamo sulla spiaggia
poi me ne andai
lasciandola lì
per tenermi il sogno

Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Prosa e Poesia
Poesia e Prosa.
Poesia.

[Grazia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come trasmettere lo stato di esaltazione che mi ha provocato la lettura di questo romanzo?

Beh sì, ESALTAZIONE, non ci sono parole alternative!
Allora partiamo dalla copertina, NAIF, bellissima, una danza perpetua tra cielo e terra… Per proseguire col titolo, scritto con maiuscolo (“LUCE D’ESTATE”) alternato a minuscolo (“ed è subito notte”)… Ed è già attrazione forte.

Poi, la lettura.

Sono rimasta inchiodata come non mi capitava da tempo: tra prosa e poesia, tra LUCE ed ombra, tra sogno e realtà, tra apatia e passione, tra cupa disperazione e gioia infinita, tra tenerezza e violenza questo romanzo ti grida: “Vivi! La vita è adesso ed è così fragile!” (se mi ricordassi come fare, lo tradurrei in latino, eh…), perché “certe volte il domani sembra così lontano che quattromila anni non son niente al confronto, certe volte il domani non arriva mai”

Una scrittura sensuale, ipnotica, evocativa… talmente suggestiva da risultare pittorica…
Le donne poi, la rappresentazione di queste donne. Che raramente son belle (alcune richiamano le statue di Botero) ma son dotate di un fascino, di una attrattiva che viene a volte da un particolare (capelli come una nera coltre), da un gesto, da una movenza, da uno sguardo, e sì, anche da una corsa di jogging nei prati islandesi. Ma sicuramente la bellezza sta negli occhi di chi le guarda.

E in un collage ad incastri perfetti, anche se apparentemente casuali, la vita viene rappresentata tramite la descrizione di tante storie vissute dalle quattrocento anime di uno sperduto paesino islandese, e il senso di questa rappresentazione la si trova come risposta ad una domanda ancestrale: “Perché viviamo?"
Cinque stelle abbondanti quindi, con lode e bacio accademico!

[Nastja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Будни исландской деревни: мальчик находит повесившегося папу, женщина, уличив мужа в измене, убивает его собак, одинокий мужик теряет любовь всей своей жизни в автокатастрофе, другой одинокий мужик только с седьмого раза приучается не блевать в местном ресторане, почтальонша читает чужие письма, но зато какой свет кругом, какой свет.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE U.S. PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Beautiful, but complicated sentences:

[We're not going to tell you about the whole village; we won't be going from house to house. You would find that intolerable. But we'll definitely be telling you about the lust that binds together days and nights, about a happy lorry driver, about Elisabet's dark velvet dress and the man who arrived by bus; about Puriour, who is tall and full of esoteric desires, about a man who couldn't count the fish and a woman who breathed shyly; about a lonely farmer and a 4,000-year-old mummy. We're going to tell of everyday events, but also of those that are beyond our understanding —possibly because there are no explanations for them. People disappear, dreams change lives, folk nearly two hundred years old apparently decide to make their presence known instead of lying quietly in their place.]

There are two things I think you should know before reading the book: 1) it's almost 20 years old, so it deals with the world of the Aughties not today; 2) it is highly episodic, in fact it's a collection of linked short stories in my opinion not a novel. That seems to cause severe digital retraction from buy buttons, though, so pretend I didn't speak.

In a small place, Life is magnified because we are social animals; the issue is, what to do with that finer-grained view of Others this grants us...judge, blame? forgive, accept? deny, ignore?...and those variable and varying answers are this book. The Greek-chorus-ness of the village (see above), like that used with less success (in my opinion) in the well-received Lanny , gave me a sense of place that kept me reading past the author's clearly articulated disdain for Americans.

I think this delight should be on your TBR pile.

[Liina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book, one of the best and most unique ones I have read in a couple of years and a good reminder of why it is always a good idea to deviate from the very safe lukewarm water of Anglo-American literature.
Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night by the Icelandic author Jón Kalman Stefánsson consists of different short stories tied together by in-between short passages of a nameless narrator. The stories all take place in a small Icelandic village, in the late 1990s. Each story is about a different character and with a different plot but the characters reappear in all of the stories.

The narrative voice and the remoteness of the village give it a fairy-tale feeling, which is more emphasized by the fact that some magical things happen too. But what really makes it unforgettable is its unique mix of very subtle sarcasm and whimsical humour combined with sentences that are so truthful, and accurate that you feel like someone has slapped you in the face (in the best possible way). Sometimes the sentences are so bare and beautiful, it feels like it is something a child would say or write, without any filters, any learnt defence mechanisms. Someone with her heart open to the world.

There is a lot of desire, some sex, a lot of vulnerability, and quirkiness and it is all surrounded by the vast Icelandic landscape. It is a book that went straight to my heart unlike many books do those days. It felt so different from anything else and really was like an alarm bell waking me from a long slumber that has been filled with books that are more or less the same or similar. A re-read-worthy gem, a book that tries to be larger than life and succeeds.

[Matteo Fumagalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/6kFo7G2nh60

[Jodi]

DNF @ 50%

After a slow start—unsure if I’d want to continue—the book was getting a little better and I thought I might actually stick with it. But then, at 50%, something happened that made me WANT TO SCREAM!!! (but instead I cried).

Angry at her husband for sleeping with the neighbour, a wife slips outside to visit their litter of pups, born about three months ago, fathered by the neighbour’s dog. She picks up the first of the wiggling pups and brings it inside, sets it down… and then SHOOTS IT!!

😱What the #%@*?😰 The tears are falling even before I can close my e-Reader as I ask myself how many times is this going to happen??!😭

I turn on my computer, then decide to open the book with my laptop app because I need to know so I can write this. I check it quickly and see that, in a matter of just seconds… she shot ALL the pups! The mother dog (yeah, the family pet!!) sensed what was happening and tried to run into the barn to hide. But that crazy woman lured her out… and shot her too!😞

Did I mention this book was described as “playful”?? OMG, I’m so bloody ANGRY!!! Why would the author make the decision to write it this way? Why does this keep happening?! When is this friggin' insanity going to end?!? For goodness sake, kill each other if you must, but leave the innocent animals out of it!!!

I’m so upset.😢 I own four other books by this author. Unfortunately they're E-Books, or I'd have tossed them in the bin by now!😡

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer Light and Then Comes the Night (2020) is the latest translation by Philip Roughton of Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s novels.

Sumarljós og svo kemur nóttin was originally published in Icelandic in 2005, before the wonderful "Heaven and Hell" trilogy which brought the author to prominence in the English-speaking world and the subsequent duology starting with Fish Have No Feet (of which I only read the first novel and wasn’t as impressed as it seemed less distinctive in its subject matter)

This book won the Icelandic Literary Prize for Fiction and was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2007 (which was won by Drömfakulteten later translated as the brilliant The Faculty of Dreams).

It is set in the early 2000s, post 9/11 and towards the start of the economic boom (and later bust) and shift to a financial services based economy, but all that is rather distant for the people of the village in which the novel is set, a couple of hours drive north of the capital.

[Now, we'd almost written that what made our village unique was that it wasn't unique at all; but apparently that isn't true. There are surely other places where most of the houses are younger than ninety years old, villages that can't boast of any noted individuals, no-one who has distinguished himself in sports, politics, business. poetry, crime. We seem, however, to have one thing that other villages don't — there's no church here. And no churchyard, either.]

The novel consists of various episodic tales of the villagers, with narrative commentary between each chapter in square brackets. The narrator, essentially the collective voices of the locals reassures us at the outset:

[We're not going to tell you about the whole village; we won't be going from house to house. You would find that intolerable. But we'll definitely be telling you about the lust that binds together days and nights, about a happy lorry driver, about Elisabet's dark velvet dress and the man who arrived by bus; about Puriour, who is tall and full of esoteric desires, about a man who couldn't count the fish and a woman who breathed shyly; about a lonely farmer and a 4,000-year-old mummy. We're going to tell of everyday events, but also of those that are beyond our understanding —possibly because there are no explanations for them. People disappear, dreams change lives, folk nearly two hundred years old apparently decide to make their presence known instead of lying quietly in their place.]

Although in fact a reasonable proportion of the village's 400 inhabitants appear in the pages which features the life and love affairs (particularly the latter) of an ecletic collection of the local people, such as 'The Astronomer', previously a successful business man but who discovered he was dreaming in Latin, a tongue unknown to him, went to Reyjavik for a three-month course in the language, and came back a changed man, selling his SUV to fund first additions of Kepler's works.

Ultimately rather different in style from both the Heaven & Hell and Fish Have books, for example lacking the evocative language of the former, but still very worthwhile.

4 stars

Novels by the author (all translations by Philip Roughton and published by Machelose Press):

• Skurðir í rigningu (1996)
• Sumarið bakvið Brekkuna (1997)
• Birtan á fjöllunum (1999)
• Ýmislegt um risafurur og tímann (2001)
• Snarkið í stjörnunum (2003)

• Sumarljós og svo kemur nóttin (2005) / Summer Light and Then Comes the Night (2020)

• Himnaríki og helvíti (2007) / Heaven and Hell (2010)
• Harmur englanna (2009) / The Sorrow of Angels (2013)
• Hjarta mannsins (2011) / The Heart of Man (2015)

• Fiskarnir hafa enga fætur (2013) / Fish Have No Feet (2016)
• Eitthvað á stærð við alheiminn: ættarsaga (2015) / About the Size of the Universe (2018)

• Saga Ástu: Hvert fer maður ef það er engin leið út úr heiminum? (2017)

[Moira Macfarlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het is het zesde boek dat ik van Jón Kalman Stefánsson las, dit is zijn debuut en ook al vind ik dit het nèt niet halen bij zijn andere boeken, ik sloeg het toch opnieuw met een zucht dicht. Mooi weer.

[Thais · Rating 4 out of 5]

La poesia delle storie semplici.
Non c'è una vera e propria trama, né un personaggio principale, o meglio, il personaggio principale è un paese intero. Un paese che si racconta attraverso un "noi", e anche se scende nei dettagli delle vite di alcuni dei suoi abitanti resta sempre universale.
C'è un po' di tutto, in questo paesino sperduto in Islanda: un Astronomo che molla il suo lavoro fisso e la sua bellissima moglie per studiare le stelle e leggere libri in latino, c'è una donna bellissima che apre un ristorante, c'è una passione clandestina e una vendetta fredda come l'acciaio, ci sono le superstizioni, la solitudine, l'amore, la famiglia, i pettegolezzi, la tenerezza e il distacco. Ci sono le persone, gli animali, le case e il paesaggio islandese.
Un libro delicato e poetico, che infonde una grandissima calma. Non tutti gli eventi sono gioiosi, non tutte le storie finiscono bene, ma la sensazione è che ne valga comunque la pena.

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il coniuge rientra quando fuori è quasi buio e mi trova rintanata nell’angolo lettura con un libro chiuso tra le mani.
«Tutto bene? Che hai?».
«Ho finito Luce d’estate».
«Embè?», gira gli occhi al lato della libreria dedicata ai volumi intonsi. «Non mi sembra sia un problema irrisolvibile».
«Ma questo libro era bellissimo. E poi non mi piace com’è andato a finire…»
«Dai, hai letto decine di libri dicendo che erano bellissimi. E se fosse andato a finire diversamente ti saresti lamentata per il finale scontato. Di che parla questo libro?»
Ecco, e ora come faccio a spiegare al coniuge, la persona più concreta che abbia mai incontrato, di cosa parli Luce d’estate? «Di un paesetto senza una chiesa né un cimitero, immerso nella campagna islandese. Campagna dappertutto, tranne che a ovest, dove c’è il mare. Un posto con una luce pazzesca e dalla notte profonda, il cielo stellato e immenso. Meno di quattrocento anime, per lo più anziane, che fanno piccole cose: lavorano in una cooperativa, aprono un ristorante, portano la posta, guardano il cielo, si innamorano, si rabbuiano, vivono e sognano».
«Scusa ma non mi sembra un gran romanzo».
«Non è un romanzo, è poesia».
«E da quand’è che leggi poesia?».
«Dalla settimana scorsa, quando ho incontrato Stefánsson. Comunque, non è un libro di poesie, è un romanzo scritto come fosse una lunga poesia».
«Triste».
«Macché, ci sono stati dei momenti in un cui ho riso come una scema. E poi voglio andare in Islanda».
«Adesso? Io avrei fame; che dici, pensi di poter cenare?».

Dal mio blog:
https://librinvaligia.blogspot.it/201...

[Ivaska · Rating 5 out of 5]

there is only one word, that can describe my feelings and that,is wow. i do mean it. this book showed me so much from human psyche and behavior, and in the same time remained a dreamy, yet solemn narrative of villagers' life

recommended read

[Clara Mun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué libro tan hermoso 💚 💚 💚 💚 💚
Ternura, personajes entrañables, la belleza de un paisaje inmenso y rural.
Y un narrador colectivo exquisito.
Lo amé. Buscaré más obra de este autor, me alegra haber empezado el año con esta lectura.

[Siria leggereliberi · Rating 5 out of 5]

È un libro che racconta la semplicità della vita, la sua banalità anche ma in cui tutti possiamo rivedere una parte di noi.

La scrittura di Stefánsson è sublime, delicata e poetica.

Ne vien fuori libro indimenticabile!

[Ibrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

رواية من آيسلندا مروية بضمير الجمع عن أحد القرى الهادئة في آيسلندا وعلاقة أفرادهم وقصصهم الحياتية. تتداخل بشكل جميل ويطغى على سرد الكاتب لغة أدبية نثرية جميلة ، والترجمة بديعة على يد سكينة إبراهيم.

[Zahraa زهراء · Rating 5 out of 5]

يمر الزمن، يمهد طريقه عبرنا، يتغلغل فينا، ولهذا نكبر في السن. في غضون مئة سنة سنكون مستقرين في باطن الارض، لاشيء سوى عظام وربما برغي تيتانيوم أقحمه طبيب الاسنان في لثتنا العلوية، ليثبت حشوة الاسنان في مكانها. الرجل لايدوم بقدر دوام معدن التيتانيوم، ويمكن أن تلخص حكايته كالتالي: مالديه في قلبه، ما لديه في عظامه، مالديه في دمه.

وجدت قطعة الجمال هذه بينما كنت اقلب بعشوائية عشرات الكتب الالكترونية
لقد سعدت أيما سعادة
انه يون كالمان ستيفنسون
مؤلف الثلاثية المفضلة أبدا (جنة وجحيم)
هذا يكفيني
لم يخيب ظني
ذات الاسلوب واللغة الشاعرية الحالمة

ضياء الصيف ،ثم يقبل الليل
Summer Light Then Comes The Night

الروح الايسلندية التي ملت من الهدوء في تخوم آخر الدنيا

لن نخبركم عن البلدة كاملة ،لن نذهب بكم من بيت الى بيت. ستجدون هذا لا يطاق، في الوقت نفسه نحن حتما سنخبركم عن الشهوة التي تربط النهار بالليل، عن سائق شاحنة سعيد، عن ثوب اليزابيث المخملي الاسود، والرجل الذي وصل بالحافلة ، عن ثوريذر الطويلة والمشحونة بالرغبات الباطنية، عن رجل لم يستطع عد السمك، وامرأة تنفست باستحياء، عن مزارع وحيد ومومياء عمرها أربعة آلاف سنة. سنخبركم عن الاحداث اليومية ،وايضا عن تلك التي تتخطى استيعابنا- لانه من المحتمل ليس هناك تفسير لها. سنحكي عن اناس يختفون، عن احلام تغير الحياة، وافراد مضت عليهم مئة سنة تقريبا يقررون، على ما يظهر، ان يعلنوا لنا عن حضورهم عوضا عن اضطجاعهم بهدوء في مراقدههم. وطبعا سنحدثكم عن الليل الذي يخيم علينا، ويستجلب قوته من أعماق الفضاء، عن ايام تاتي وتذهب، عن تغريد الطيور والنفس الاخير، هذا على الارجح قد يسفر عن عدد لا بأس به من القصص.

والعنصر الاهم الاهم :
العبثية

لماذا نعيش، أمن الآمن أن نجيب على مثل هذا السؤال؟ ربما لا، إذ هل لدينا أي مهام أخرى في الحياة إلى جانب تقبيل الشفاه ومايتبع ذلك؟


نلنا ذلك بمنتهى السهولة ،ومع ذلك لا نشعر أننا بخير ،إذ ما الذي يفترض بنا أن نفعله بهذه الأيام كلها، أن نفعله بالحياة نفسها ،صعب أن نكتشف لماذا نعيش .لكن على الاقل شاطئنا جميل ،متعرج وطوله أقصر قليلا من كيلومتر، مريح الوقوف هناك ومد النظر نحو شيء أعظم من أنفسنا. المحيط أبدي ،هذ ا ما يقال في مكان ما، وهو لسوء الحظ هراء مطلق ،فكل شيء يتغير .

ان تكون الكلمات في نظري جميلة حد التأثر ، حد احتشاد الدموع في عيني ،أمر مميز
ليس كل كتاب يحدث هذا الأثر

الترجمة بديعة ،أتمنى ان تترجم دار المنى باقي أعمال ستيفنسون

ممتنة لقراءتي أعمال ستيفنسون
وكم تغدو الحياة أجمل حين أقرأ له


*مراجعاتي للثلاثية الرائعةهنا

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We speak, we write, we tell about big things and small to try to understand, try to grasp something, even the essence itself, which is, however, constantly moving away, like a rainbow”.

What a beautiful treat to have found Icelandic author, Jón Kalman Stefánsson and to have read such a lyrical and poetic book as “Summer Light and then comes the Night”. Well deserved winner of the Icelandic Literature Prize in 2005.

This book reminds me of the magical realism genre as it combines reality with some poetic, fantastical kind of elements, resulting in an almost stream of consciousness style of writing, where really long sentences with multiple commas becomes the norm. I quite like reading this steady stream of thought that weaves off in many directions.

“Summer Light and then comes the Night” centres around a village in West Iceland somewhere north of Reykjavík. The actual village is not named although it has around 400 inhabitants with 500 in the broader district. It’s probably a typical Icelandic village although I can’t guarantee that the inhabitants are typical Icelanders. What I can vouch for is that the inhabitants that Stefánsson gives voice to in different chapters of the book and indeed village life, are representative of humans collectively and as individuals.

There’s a couple of stories that stood out for me.. the Director of the Knitting Company who began dreaming in Latin whose life underwent a complete metamorphosis. Jónas whose wall paintings were a sight to behold, misunderstood and subjected to being the village policeman, a job that was his antithesis. One of the village characters I loved the most was Jakob the lorry driver.. “few things in this world can equal driving a lorry”. The satisfaction that Jakob experienced behind the steering wheel of his lorry is something I yearn for.

This was a magical book to read. 5 stars from me.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het is zo makkelijk om verliefd te worden op de prachtige, poëtische schrijfstijl van Jón Kalman Stefánsson. Om te houden van de personages in zijn verhalen en de pijn van het afscheid te voelen als je het boek uit hebt.

Stefánsson vertelt ons, op humoristisch, soms pijnlijke wijze, over de mensen, wonend in een klein dorpje op IJsland. Hoe hun levens om elkaar heen draaien gelijk de planeten om de zon. Het dorpje is een mini-afspiegeling van de wereld met haar dromen om geluk te vinden, wanen voor duisternis en eenzaamheid en de steeds terugkerende levensvragen die al dan niet van belang zijn.

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impossibile per me commentare uno dei più bei libri, sicuramente il più poetico, letto quest’anno.
Care/i amiche/ci di GR avete fatto dei commenti talmente esaustivi ed invitanti, che posso solo ringraziare tutti per la segnalazione (Piper , Albus, Fede, Baba e tutti gli altri)
Dovrei riportare tutte le sottolineature fatte, compresa la postfazione della bravissima Cosmini ), ma sarebbe un lavoro molto molto lungo…
Qualcosa mi dice che mi prenderò anche il cartaceo ( e me lo rileggerò a breve) e non mi succede spesso ….
Ps
Valore aggiunto: la copertina stupenda , il cartaceo ci starebbe proprio….
Infatti non ho resistito….

[Eva Lavrikova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Krásna kniha, jednoducho krásna. Stefánsson píše tak, že mám chuť jeho vety a formulácie čítať znova a znova, vravieť si ich nahlas, vychutnávať si ich. Parádne vie vyladiť poetické opisy so zábavnými postrehmi, pozoruhodne vyvážiť veci v náznakoch a tie, ktoré treba povedať naplno, balansuje medzi vtipným a smutným, hlbokým a zábavným, dramatickým a pokojným. Táto kniha bola lahôdka, už teraz sa teším na ďalšiu.

[Ubik 2.0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Per quale motivo ho vissuto? Che questi racconti di vita e di morte nel nostro paese e nelle campagne intorno siano una sorta di risposta a quella domanda e al senso di incertezza che ne deriva?”

Non vorrei dilungarmi troppo, perché di fronte alle pagine di Stefansson le mie facoltà critiche e analitiche puntualmente tendono a sfaldarsi. La poesia e il fascino dei suoi romanzi creano infatti un incantesimo, impediscono di sezionare, classificare, individuare corrispondenze o analogie e sembrano perciò valutabili, per usare un luogo comune, molto più col cuore che col cervello prestandosi di conseguenza a percezioni alquanto soggettive.

Un oggettivo punto fermo è rappresentato dall’Islanda, una terra che di persona non ho mai visto (e credo non vedrò mai) in grado di stimolare emozioni che Stefansson sa interpretare mescolando la particolarità del paesaggio con quella degli individui, soprattutto qui, un villaggio anonimo “di quattrocento anime più forse altre cinquecento nelle campagne vicine…” sui fiordi nord-occidentali del paese, rivolto verso il mare che lo separa dalla lontana Groenlandia.

Un elemento che sottilmente caratterizza “Luce d’estate” rispetto agli altri quattro romanzi di S. che ho letto è costituito dall’uso della prima persona plurale, un “noi narrante” che rafforza l’impressione di una comunità che parla all’unisono e ci introduce alla vita dei personaggi di un mondo appartato raccontando, non senza toni accattivanti, le loro emozioni, eccentricità, drammi ma anche speranze, poiché “illudere sé stessi è una delle prerogative dominanti dell’essere umano”

[Albus Eugene Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il silenzio è il mio oro.
«Ci sentiamo in colpa perché non leggiamo abbastanza, perché parliamo troppo poco con gli amici, perché trascorriamo troppo poco tempo con i figli, con i vecchi. Siamo sempre in movimento invece di fermarci ad ascoltare la pioggia, bere una tazza di caffè, scaldare un petto. E non scriviamo mai lettere.».
Silvia Cosimini scrive di Stefánsson nella sua postfazione: “Da sempre disinteressato alla letteratura di rapido consumo e dai contenuti adrenalinici, la sua scrittura ha lo stesso impatto di una coscienza collettiva, di uno scrigno in cui il passato non è un rimpianto nostalgico verso qualcosa che non esiste più, bensì un presente rivissuto, il modo per dare un senso e un valore agli eventi di una vita.”.

«Mi chiese
cosa avrei portato su un’isola deserta
Una barca e te
dissi
e la barca la bruciamo sulla spiaggia
poi me ne andai
lasciandola lì
per tenermi il sogno»

Jón Kalman dannatissimo Stefánsson …

«… per tutto il giorno non facciamo che blaterare di futilità, la lunghezza delle tende, l’ampiezza degli pneumatici, e poi moriamo.»

[Dolf Patijn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mooi, poëtisch boek met licht onderkoelde humor over een dorp op IJsland. Het is het debuut van Stefánsson en het eerste boek dat ik van hem gelezen heb. Het smaakt naar meer. Dit is het soort boek dat van mij nog veel langer had mogen doorgaan. Stefánsson schrijft vol mededogen over de personages die het boek bevolken en beschrijft een gesloten gemeenschap waarin men alles van elkaar weet maar waar men elkaar ook accepteert en waarin vreemd gedrag, wanneer het maar lang genoeg duurt, ook weer als normaal wordt gezien.

[AmeeZz°° · Rating 5 out of 5]

2022 Book 11

ضياء الصيف ثم يقبل الليل ل يون كالمان ستيفينسن

يتحدث الكتاب عن بلدة شبه معزولة عن العالم، حيث يروي الكاتب قصص أهالي هذه البلدة وأحداث حياتهم اليومية واحداً تلو الآخر.

أسلوبا الكتابة والترجمة جاذبان للغاية، وأكثر ما أحببت هو طريقة وصف البرد والثلوج حيث دائما ما يجعلك ستيفينسن تشعر وكأنك فعلاً تعيش وسط تلك الاجواء.

رواية رائعة تحمل مشاعر عميقة وقصص مثيرة للاهتمام.

[Lucia Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. There were so many atmospheric scenes and beautiful sentences in it. There were a few parts I liked less, but mostly it was just people and their lives, their stories. Oh and the ending…

—————————

Quotes:

Maybe we should all have gone to the capital to learn Latin and get new eyes; then our village would likely have lifted off the ground and floated into the sky. But we didn’t go anywhere, of course, you know how it is; we were stuck fast in the magnetic field of habit. And it was habit, in fact, the soporific routine of everyday life, that accustomed us so surprisingly quickly to the new eyes, the wrinkled clothes, the changed behaviour. People are always changing, anyway, finding new hobbies, dyeing their hair, cheating on their spouses, dying, it’s hopeless trying to keep track of it all, and besides, we’re busy enough trying to understand the buzz in our own heads.

———

We speak, we write, we tell about big things and small to try to understand, try to grasp something, even the essence itself, which is, however, constantly moving away, like a rainbow. Old stories say that man cannot behold the face of God, that doing so would destroy him; and without doubt, it’s the same for what we seek — the search itself is our purpose; the result will deprive us of it. And of course it’s the search that teaches us the words to use to describe the splendour of the stars, the silence of the fish, a smile and sadness, the end of the world and summer’s light. We do have a task, apart from kissing lips; do you know, by chance, how you say “I desire you” in Latin? And how you say it in Icelandic?

———

…and the Astronomer said, calmly, but at the same time so enthusiastically that we recalled the glory days of the Knitting Company: Immense is the expanse of the sky; it encompasses our beginning and our end. His voice was soft and dusky, like a velvet dress.
And that’s how it began.
Once a month for ten years or so, the Astronomer was sure to be found standing behind the podium on the stage of the Community Centre. Nine years, that’s how time flies, we wake sometimes to the melancholy call of the oystercatcher in the stillness of the morning, look outside and see that there’s frost in the sky.
But despite that October evening nine years ago encompassing the expanse of the universe and a dusky velvet dress, the audience shrank rapidly in numbers as the winter went on, by spring it would have been newsworthy if ten people showed up to listen to the ticking of the universal clock in the Astronomer’s talks, and it has stayed that way.

———

It’s been nearly ten years since Hannes was lowered into the darkness of the earth, ten years is not a long time, it’s one thought, a reaction, yet the world can make a giant leap in less time, the climate can change, new species of birds can settle in a certain country, an empire can come to an end. Yes, the world can be shaken, while we sit at the kitchen table.

[Ilaria_ws · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A volte nei posti piccoli la vita diventa più grande."

Non penso ci sia citazione che meglio di questa possa descrivere il contenuto di questo romanzo. Si tratta probabilmente di una delle opere più conosciute e apprezzate di Stefánsson e posso facilmente capire perchè.

Non è un vero e proprio romanzo, piuttosto un insieme di storie e di racconti tutti ambientati in un piccolo paesino sperduto nella campagna islandese. Le storie narrate hanno per protagonisti gli abitanti del villaggio, catturati in quelle che potrebbero sembrare le azioni più semplici ma che in realtà sono le più importanti.

Amore, amicizia, legami, dolore, sofferenza, lutto, depressione, solitudine. Sono tanti i temi toccati nei vari racconti e anche se spesso si tratta di temi importanti e dolorosi, vengono analizzati con una delicatezza e un'onestà che rendono la lettura molto commovente. La scrittura di Stefánsson è poetica, molto evocativa e può contare su descrizioni estremamente vivide che sembrano bucare le pagine.

Un piccolo microcosmo di storie che nella loro semplicità riescono a toccare le corde più profonde dell'animo umano e non si lasciano dimenticare. I personaggi descritti potremmo essere noi, noi con tutte le nostre incertezze, con le paure e le gioie di una vita ordinaria che nasconde però una bellezza straziante che spesso si trasforma in pura poesia.

[Maria Di Biase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Che lettura piacevole e, più di tutto, che titolo meraviglioso!
Luce d'estate, ed è subito notte: un accostamento di vocaboli davvero azzeccato, una contraddizione in termini capace di evocare immagini davvero suggestive.
Mi vengono in mente sere come quelle appena trascorse, con gli ultimi residui di un'estate che si trascina sulle gambe ancora dorate. Mi fa pensare a quella malinconia per le cose belle, nei momenti di pura e perfetta felicità, quando sei allegro e sei triste allo stesso momento perché sei consapevole che quella serenità, nell'attimo in cui la stai pensando, è già passata. Perché non riusciamo, anche imponendocelo, a vivere nel momento in cui siamo davvero: sempre troppo indietro, o troppo avanti, per un passato che ci inghiotte o per un futuro che ci sputa fuori.

continua qui: http://startfromscratchblog.blogspot....

[Ken Fredette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hated to leave this book at the end but it left me with an enormous feeling of having been there, when I've never been there. Each and every story I could relate too in some way, I think Jón Kalaman Stefánsson seem to be thinking of how can I get Ken to like this story. They never had a definite outcome until the final story. I think this book would be a perfect fit for a TV show. Don't expect it to be far from it. I really like it, and hope you read it too.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mosaic of a book, like an Icelandic Elizabeth Strout, character sketches and people stories, primitive and poetic, quirky, ironic and deadly serious. Stefansson writes with a lightness and an erudite mind. It’s a winning combination.


Semi spoiler.
But the ending. Dear God, the ending. Why. Three books in a row have been spoilt by the stupid necessity for this kind of ending. Totally pointless.