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Konur (novel)
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Wikipedia article
'Konur' is a 2008 Icelandic novel by Steinar Bragi. It enjoyed considerable critical and commercial success, was nominated for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize, and has been widely translated.
Synopsis
The novel is set in Reykjavk during the boom that preceded the 200811 Icelandic financial crisis. The protagonist of the novel is Eva, an Icelander who spent most of her formative years in California, and works as an artist. Largely estranged from her family, recently abandoned by her long-term partner Hrafn (and emotionally scarred by the cot-death some years before of her daughter by him), and implicitly without a very successful career, Eva moves from New York to Reykjavk, taking up the offer of an Icelandic banker, Emil orsson, to house-sit his flat, in one of the new developments on Sbraut, opposite the sculpture Slfar.
After a series of somewhat strange encounters with neighbours which serve as opportunities to develop Eva's character and back-story, and to build narrative tension, Eva finds herself locked into the flat, a situation that persists for most of the novel. It emerges that the flat is full of hidden cameras and it is implied that Eva is in fact part of an art installation by a famous Serbo-Croatian artist, Joseph Novak. Eva is forced to follow instructions she receives by telephone to put her face into a face-shaped impression in the bedroom wall; while wearing this 'mask' she loses consciousness and generally finds herself unable to remember what happens to her.
The third-person narrative is recounted largely from the point of view of Eva while not wearing the mask, during which time she often drinks heavily or takes sedatives. Eva makes attempts to escape, but is unsuccessful. The narrative focuses on the psychological torment inflicted on Eva by her imprisonment and her efforts to understand what happens to her while wearing the mask. It is hinted that she is (or at least believes she is) variously sexually abused; paraded as a celebrity at parties for the elite of the banking and art worlds; reunited with Hrafn; and eventually celebrated herself as a successful artist.
Aspects of the story are continued in Steinar Bragi's 2009 'Himinninn yfir ingvllum: rjr sgur'.
Analyses
Eirkur rn Nordahl has read the novel in relation to the 200811 Icelandic financial crisis:
:: 'Konur' might be construed as a crisis-novel, where the newly-built house of nouveau riche plenty, owned by a financial viking, turns on the inhabitant, starts torturing her before literally (and symbolically) devouring her. It is in all ways a novel written about the times pre-crisis and it successfully demonstrates the seeds of the citys, and the countrys, self-destruction, through a kind of symbolic pre-cognition.Eirkur rn Nordahl, 'Literature in the Land of the Inherently Cute: The Search for Literary Crisis', in '[http://www.poesia.fi/booby-be-quiet/ Booby, be Quiet!]' (Helsinki: Poesia, 2011), pp. 103--24 (114-15 at p. 115) (first publ. in Polish translation in 'Kulturalne oblicza Islandii' (Krytyka Polityczna, 2010) and in 'The Reykjav Grapevine' (2011/4), 12--13, 24 http://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/Literature-In-The-Land-Of-The-Inherently-Cute).
In the assessment of Jrg Glauser, 'Konur' is 'one of the books most obviously pessimistic about culture that have appeared in iceland in recent years'.'Eines der krassesten kulturpessimistischen Bcher, das in den letzten Jahren in Island erschienen ist': Jrg Glauser, Island: Eine Literaturgeschichte (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2011), p. 153. He finds that the novel, 'a relentless story of the exploitation of the female body by contemporary art and media, draws an even deeper link between modern city architecture and the decay of the ethical foundations of society. In this text, contemporary architecture has reached an almost apocalyptic dimension and represents evil in itself'.'eine unerbittliche Geschichte ber die Ausbeutung des weiblichen Krpers durch die Gegenwartskunst und -medien, nimmt eine noch strkere Engfhrung zwischen moderner Stadtarchitektur und dem Zerfall der ethischen Grundlagen der Gesellschaft vor. In diesem Text hat die zeitgenssische Architektur eine geradezu apokalyptische Dimension erreicht und reprsentiert das Bse an sich': Jrg Glauser, Island: Eine Literaturgeschichte (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2011), p. 153. Other commentary too has focused on the novel's explorations of warped domestic spaces and the status of women.Karin Widegrd, [http://www.gp.se/kulturnoje/litteratur/1.453731-steinar-bragi-kvinnor Steinar Bragi | Kvinnor], 'Gteborgs-Posten' (24 September 2010).lfhildur Dagsdttir, Listin a pna konur, 'Tmarit Mls og menningar', 70.4 (2009), 109-113.
The novel has also been analysed by rn Orri lafsson in relation to horror fiction and Victorian Gothicism,rn Orri lafsson, 'Karlmaur Viktorutmabilsins snr aftur: Krufning hryllingsins Konum eftir Steinar Braga' (unpublished BA dissertation, University of Iceland, 2013), http://hdl.handle.net/1946/15041. and by Viar orsteinsson as an exploration of life under neoliberalism during the Icelandic banking boom.Vidar Thorsteinsson, '[http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1460469341 Diachronic Binding: The Novel Form and the Gendered Temporalities of Debt and Credit]' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Ohio State University, 2016).Viar orsteinsson, Fjrmlaving og mtun tmans 'Konum' eftir Steinar Braga, 'Riti', 15.3 (2015), 933.
Bibliographic details of the original and translations
* Steinar Bragi, 'Konur' (Reykjavk: Nhil, 2008), ; 9789979989615 (ib.); 9979657375; 9979989610
* Steinar Bragi, 'Konur', 2nd edn (Reykjavk: Ml og menning, 2009), ; 9979330244
* 'Love and Art: An Excerpt From 'Konur' by Steinar Bragi', trans. by Alda Kravec, 'Iceland Review' 47 (4) (2009), 38-39 (English)
* Steinar Bragi, 'Kvinnor', trans. by Inge Knutsson (Stockholm: Natur & Kultur, 2010), ; 9127121968 (Swedish)
* Steinar Bragi, 'Installation', trans. by Henr Kiljan Albansson (Paris: Mtaili, 2011), ; 2864247364 (French)
* Steinar Bragi, 'Kobiety', trans. by Jacek Godek (Warzawa: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej, 2011), ; 8361006990 (Polish)
* Steinar Bragi, 'Frauen', trans. by Kristof Magnusson (Mnchen: Kunstmann, 2011), (ib.); 388897724X
References
Sources
*[http://www.islit.is/en/promotion-and-translations/icelandic-literature/icelandic-titles/nr/379 Icelandic Literature Center review]
Category:2009 novels
Category:Icelandic novels
Category:Novels set in Iceland
Category:Icelandic-language novels
Category:Icelandic books
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