A Son of the Rock

Vintage, 2002, 304 p, plus ii p Translator’s Notes on pronunciation, vi p Introduction by Jane Smiley and iv p Notes. Translated from the Icelandic Paradísarheimt (Helgafell, Reykjavík, 1960) by Magnus Magnusson.

This novel by Icelander Laxness is told in an unusual register almost like a fable or as if it were being recited. But I suppose that’s not surprising given Iceland’s heritage of oral literature in the sagas.

Set in the time of King Kristian Wilhelmsson of Denmark it is the story of a man called Steinar who had a farm at Hlíðar in the district known as Steinahlíðar where stones regularly fell from the mountains and had to be removed from the farmland. Steinar was married and had a daughter and a son. One day a miraculous pony is born to a scrawny mare and it becomes the apple of his daughter’s eye. Nevertheless, he takes it off to where the king is holding a meeting on his only journey to Iceland as a gift to his monarch. The king promises to reward him in a suitable way. On his way home Steinar comes upon a Mormon preaching. This is an Icelandic convert, Bishop Þjóðrekur. From then on the two’s existences are entwined.

As conveyed by Laxness, Icelanders’ attitudes in those days seem very like Scotland’s. “Dancing was the devil’s work.” This sentence is leavened a little by the next, “It was not considered seemly for young unmarried people to tramp on one another’s toes except at most, perhaps, in order to have illegitimate children,” which would have definitely been disapproved of by Scots but the similarity between the two countries is reasserted by the observation that “All life had to serve some useful purpose and the glory of God.”

Just the same, “Love as we now call it had not yet been imported to Iceland.” Not that that was an insuperable barrier. “But nature got its way nonetheless.” Even if potential young partners studiously avoided looking at one another.

Steinar later makes a mahogany box which can only be opened by reciting a poem and resolves to take this to Denmark as another gift to the king but not before unwisely offering Björn of Leirur the use of his farm to pasture a horse. In Denmark he meets Þjóðrekur again and agrees to travel to the US to sample Mormon life for himself, making bricks and changing his name to Stone P Sandford.

On the farm he had left behind his family gets by as best they can until Björn of Leirur brings a whole troop of horses to graze on the land. At that time in Iceland it was apparently the tradition for a woman of the house to help a male visitor remove his clothes before bed. Steinar’s daughter performs the duty but falls asleep in his bed and finds a gold coin on the window sill in the morning. On later nights the coin is silver and, later still, copper. (A girl only receives a gold coin once, you see.) This is an attempt at light-heartedness by Laxness as the girl denies all knowledge of how it happened when the inevitable consequence ensues. The local sheriff is bemused by her adamant refusal to admit anything untoward as she says she was always asleep. Eventually the farm becomes unmanageable and the family, told by Þjóðrekur that Steinar is in Utah, decide to travel to the US. On the ship the girl (her name is never given) has another fantastical sexual interaction after observing that “human virtues do not all reside in the face.”

Since this is in effect a told story (probably better suited to be an audio book these days,) the usual nuances of characterisation are not to be expected. By and large the people on these pages are broadly brushed, their encounters tinged with magical realism. It is a reminder of past times, an exploration of faith and belief, an examination of Mormonism from a skewed angle. It is still a memorable experience.

Pedant’s corner:- “out with the official programme” (that ‘out with’ would be the Scottish word ‘outwith’, no doubt altered by a non-Scottish editor,) a missing comma before a piece of direct speech, aa missing start quotation mark when a chapter begins with a piece of direct speech, “furor” (furore,) “took of his hat” (took off.)