Laxness exhibition at National Library
Halldór Laxness (right) in the late 1970s. Photo: Ólafur K. Magnússon
2015 marks the 60th anniversary of world-famous Icelandic author Halldór Laxness winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.
To mark this special occasion, the National and University Library of Iceland has opened an exhibition of documents and artefacts once belonging to Laxness, Iceland’s only Nobel laureate.
Halldór Laxness was born in Reykjavik in 1902. He published his first novel Child of Nature: A Romance at the age of just seventeen. Laxness’ prolific literary career saw him produce a number of important novels, plays, poems, essays, and even translations.
The award ceremony speech introducing Laxness’ award mentions specifically the novels The Great Weaver from Kashmir, The Light of the World and Iceland’s Bell.
Perhaps the author’s best-known work, however, is Independent People, an epic novel in the social realism tradition, dealing with the life and times of sheep farmer Guðbjartur Jónsson and the destructive effects of his personal struggle for independence and self-reliance.
Laxness spent many years of his life abroad but moved permanently back to Iceland in 1945. He died in 1998.
The 1955 Nobel Prize for Literature went to the Icelander “for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland”.
You can see a video of the 1955 Nobel Prize ceremony here (in Swedish and Icelandic, Literature Prize from 06:35).
The National and University Library of Iceland in Reykjavik. Photo: Ómar Óskarsson
