![]() The act of translation inexorably alters the intention of the author - whether it improves or detracts from the original. ![]() Likewise, I don't read much translated fiction. Short fiction (and you can't really call these short stories as the majority of the book is more a collection of vignettes) often leaves me with a feeling of anti-climax, as though I haven't really GOT it. ![]() I'm not a huge fan of short fiction - I generally prefer something longer that I can immerse myself into. I'm not sure what drew me to this collection. Plotting a constellation of singular, glittering images that are rendered nonetheless complete, this magnificent compilation intersects the paths of its characters, who are at once isolated in their individual pursuits and yet connected in the vast realm of dreams. Despite the desolation of their surroundings, the characters encounter strange company: ghostly presences in the early hours, enviable neighbors, and fellow writers with remarkably similar ambitions. A Boston ornithologist speeds through the landscape in a four-by-four chasing Arctic Terns a schoolboy is relocated to the northernmost town of Siglufjördur to compete in a chess tournament and a husband packs his wife off to visit her aunt in Sweden. ![]() ![]() Along the lonely western shores of Iceland, among its vast mountain ranges and its barren lava fields, this sublime collection of short stories blends the desires and efforts of its numerous protagonists, nearly all intent on taking leave of their normal lives in order to pursue their dreams more seriously. ![]()
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