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Dauans vissi tmi
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Wikipedia article
'Dauans vissi tmi' ('Death's uncertain hour') is a 2004 novel by rinn Bertelsson, first published in Reykjavk by JPV tgfa. The title alludes to the seventeenth-century poem 'Um dauans vissa tma' ('On death's uncertain hour') by Hallgrmur Ptursson. It is a darkly comical crime novel, but also to a significant extent a 'Roman clef' about the business activities of Bjrglfur Gumundsson during the 1990s and early 2000s,N bk rins hj lgfringi. 'Frttablai', 5 September 2004, p. 46. http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=264818&pageId=3735704&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi.Illugi Jkulsson. Rssneska mafan kemur til slands]. 'DV', 15 November 2004, p. 25. http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=348906&pageId=5483502&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi. addressing a range of political, economic, and cultural questions of Iceland of its time, and has been characterised as 'eitt af brautryjandi verkum svii slenskra hrunbkmennta' ('one of the path-breaking works of Icelandic financial-crisis fiction'). It is the first in a series of books, the second being 'Valkyrjur' (Reykjavk: JPV, 2005).
Style
The novel is told in the third person through an omniscient narrator. Particularly in I, events are often related out of chronological order, with clear date markers in chapter headings. The reader is frequently in possession of more information about events than the protagonists themselves.
The work is rich in metatextual literary allusions. For example, the banker Haraldur Rriksson (himself a cipher for the real-life Bjrglfur Gumundsson), takes his patronym from the legendary viking founder of Kievan Rus'; the novel features a newspaper editor called Tmas Davsson, which name rinn himself used as a pen-name in his 1987 'Tunguml fuglanna';lfhildur Dagsdttir. Dauans vissi tmi. 'Bkmenntir.is', November 2014. http://bokmenntir.is/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-3409/5648_read-21237/ . and the bank robbers orgeir and ormur are based on the eponymous foster-brothers of the medieval Icelandic 'Fstbrra saga'.Hlynur Pll Plsson. Samtminn er lyginni lkastur. 'Frttablai', 4 December 2004, p. 92, http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=265058&pageId=3744725&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi. The book states that the troubling Russian connections of Haraldur Rriksson can be read about in the journal 'EuroCapital', in a transparent allusion to an article in 'Euromoney'.Peter Lee, `Landsbanki's New Masters Take Control', 'Euromoney', vol. 33 issue 403 (November 2002), pp. 34--47.
In the estimation of Hlynur Pll Plsson, the novel also stands out for its 'choice gallery of characters. A great many characters are introduced into the story without confusing the reader, because behind each stands characterisation and wry stories which make each one unique'.'En rsnan pylsuendanum er n efa kostulegt persnugalleri. Fjlmargar persnur eru kynntar til sgunnar n ess a rugla lesendur rminu v a baki eirra liggja mannlsingar og kmskar sgur sem gefa hverri og einni srstu': Hlynur Pll Plsson. Samtminn er lyginni lkastur. 'Frttablai', 4 December 2004, p. 92. http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=265058&pageId=3744725&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi.
Summary
The novel is divided into three sections:
* I Vegur ttans ('the road of fear') (pp. 1390, chs 1-20)
* II Vegur dauans ('the road of death') (pp. 91358, chs 21-82)
* III Vegur dyggarinnar ('the road of virtue') (359-71, chs 83-85)
I focuses on recounting the career of Haraldur Rriksson from 1986 to 2004. In a story paralleling the real-life Hafskip-affair, Haraldur attempts to establish a shipping company, Farskip, to compete with the dominant company, Gufuskipaflagi (a cipher for Eimskip), but is bankrupted by the dubious actions of his competitors. He takes up the invitation of a one-time employee, Magns Valgarsson, and an associate of his, Cameron Stout, to go into the alcopop business in post-communist St Petersburg. Rumours are reported that Haraldur defrauded his associates of their shares in the business just before it became enormously profitable and he successfully sells it to a major European brewery. This story parallels Bjrglfur Gumundsson's role in establishing Bravo Brewery and later selling it to Heineken. By 2004, through the privatisation of Iceland's banking system, Haraldur has been able to buy his old creditor, the jbankinn (a cipher for Landsbanki), and avenge past shame by buying the Gufuskipaflagi, via his holding company JOB Global Holdings (an allusion to the real-life Bjrglfur's Samson ehf.).
I also introduces us to Haraldur's best friend, Rnar; two boys in a violent foster-home, orgeirr and rmur; a would-be priest turned detective, Vkingur; and two eastern European psychopaths, the Czech Petra Vlkova and the Russian Vasil Basmanov, who become a couple and begin working for St Petersburg's pre-eminent oligarch, Mikhail Moisejevitsj Levtan (founding, it later emerges, a security company-cum-protection racket called Opritsjnina Group).
II comprises the bulk of the novel, intertwining accounts of two murder investigations headed by Vkingur.
# orgeir has convinced ormur to join him in robbing a branch of the jbanki. Characteristically of these rather comical characters, the robbery goes badly, and orgeir kills a passerby and his dog with his sawn-off shotgun, and accidentally injures ormur in the process. The two flee to orgeir's house, but a neighbour recognises that orgeir may be one of the robbers and informs the police. orgeir takes ormur to hospital in Selfoss, where ormur receives treatment and pretends to have been on a several-week alcoholic bender and to remember nothing about the cause of his injury. Back at home, orgeir is ambushed by Vkingur and the Vkingasveitin, opens fire, and is killed. It emerges that had orgeir sold either his Cadillac or his shotgun, he could have gained legally more money that he even dreamed of winning through the bank robbery. By the end of the novel, it does not appear that the police have enough evidence to charge ormur.
# Shortly after the foster brothers' robbery, the body of Haraldur's best friend Rnar is discovered in Rnar's home. Rnar's dog has also been killed, and its head placed on Rnar's decapitated body, with the letter 'O' written in blood above Rnar's corpse. His head is missing. The police have little evidence to go on, but suspect Eastern European organised crime, linking the handling of Rnar's body with the Oprichnina. A nightwatchman at the jbanki headquarters later finds the head in Haraldur's private freezer there. Haraldur eventually explains that he found it placed in his car, presumably as a threat. The reader is privy to a meeting between Mikhail Moisejevitsj Levtan and Haraldur in which it becomes clear that Mikhail directed Petra and Vasil to kill Rnar in order to cow Haraldur into acceding to his wishes. Haraldur tips off the police that Petra and Vasil are the killers and that they are in Iceland. The reader also learns that Petra lost a lot of money when shares in a DNA research company VikingDNA (a cipher for deCODE genetics) collapsed and has decided to seek recompense from the director, Lrus Jhannsson (corresponding to Kri Stefnsson). Vkingur and the Vkingasveitin make a helicopter raid on the island where Petra and Vasil have met Lrus. The criminals are killed in a gunfight and the news successfully covered up.
III is a coda in which Haraldur's old business associate Magns Valgarsson, dying of cancer, confidentially confesses to Vkingur that he was the indirect cause of Rnar's death. Lacking the resources to prosecute Haraldur for defrauding him but still seeking some kind of justice, he had the idea of transferring his ownership of the shares in the old alcopop company to Mikhail Moisejevitsj Levtan, in the knowledge that Mikhail would not fail to do what was necessary to win for himself the billions owed to Magns. Mikhail had, however, gone further than Magns had reckoned on.
Reviews
* lfhildur Dagsdttir. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170410062316/http://bokmenntir.is/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-3409/5648_read-21237/ Dauans vissi tmi]. 'Bkmenntir.is' November 2014.
* Hlynur Pll Plsson. [http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=265058&pageId=3744725&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi Samtminn er lyginni lkastur]. 'Frttablai', 4 December 2004, p. 92.
* Steinunn Inga ttarsdttir. [http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=257943&pageId=3602339&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi Fjrug fstbrrasaga]. 'Morgunblai', 4 December 2004, p. 13.
* [http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=264818&pageId=3735704&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi N bk rins hj lgfringi]. 'Frttablai', 5 September 2004, p. 46.
* Illugi Jkulsson. [http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=348906&pageId=5483502&lang=is&q=Dau%F0ans%20%F3vissi%20t%EDmi Rssneska mafan kemur til slands]. 'DV', 15 November 2004, p. 25.
* gst Borgrs. Slarkfr reyfari. 'Kistan.is', November 2004.
References
Category:2004 novels
Category:Icelandic novels
Category:Novels set in Iceland
Category:Icelandic books
Category:Icelandic-language novels
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