Icelandic author surrenders completely to mercy of stories

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This article was published 18/10/2014 (4071 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lyricist, author, poet, playwright: Sigurjon Sigurðsson — better known as Sjòn — wears many hats. Over the last few decades, the 52-year-old Reykjavik native has come to be one of Iceland’s most prized literary treasures, no matter what genre he’s tackling.

Outside of Iceland, Sjòn is best-known as a regular lyrical collaborator with Bjork, that country’s biggest musical export. His work on the song I’ve Seen it All, a duet she sang with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke for the soundtrack for Lars Von Trier’s 2000 film Dancer in the Dark, earned him an Academy Award nomination.

But Sjòn’s literary output is equally impressive, having been translated into 30 languages worldwide, and has garnered him the most praise — he has won nearly every award available to writers in Iceland and Scandinavia.

On this side of the pond, imprint Farrar, Straus and Giroux recently published translations of three of Sjòn’s novels: 2003’s The Blue Fox, 2005’s The Whispering Muse and 2008’s From the Mouth of the Whale (which was shortlisted in 2013 for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award).

Folk tales, myths, his own history and Icelandic sagas figure prominently in influencing Sjòn’s literary output.

“These stories don’t only belong to the past, they’re being written as we speak,” says Sjòn from his Reykjavik home prior to his first proper Canadian book tour (which stops in Calgary and Winnipeg before taking him to Vancouver).

“Folk tales are simply stories people tell about happenings in the lives of ordinary people. They will always be there as long as there are humans to swap tales. I enjoy the fact that they’re a testimony to human beings as storytelling animals.”

Sjòn sees his own output as divided between collaborative and solitary works.

“On the one hand, there’s the world of collaborations — writing lyrics or librettos or plays or screenplays — and on the other hand, there are my novels and my poetry. With the latter, I’m in my own little world. With collaboration I bring my know-how and toolbox and try and be of use in different projects. Then I can bring new tools and experiences back with me to my writer’s desk for novels or poetry.”

Sjòn’s current work involves two collaborations — he is working on a libretto to be performed at a French festival in 2015, and he’s on a team developing a TV series in Iceland.

For the Winnipeg stop of his Canadian trek, Sjòn will focus on The Whispering Muse, the most recent of his novels to have been translated. And, he explains, travelling with books written years ago is a rewarding experience in its own right.

“(The books) find their place in different cultures, different social environments. Even The Blue Fox, which I wrote 11 years ago and have travelled with extensively, keeps surprising me as to where it fits in different cultures.”

For The Whispering Muse, Sjòn drew upon writing by his great-grandfather as well as with Greek myth — specifically the story of Jason and the Argonauts.

“I really like to see what happens when you bring different worlds into play,” he says.

“We live in a world of stories. Every one of us lives our own narratives, but we’re also surrounded by narratives. We watch TV and see the news, which is filled with short stories and epics. We read stories, we live our own stories. At the end of the day we go to bed and we dream — yet more stories.”

“Overall, the human being is at the complete mercy of stories.”

ben.macphee-sigurdson@freepress.mb.ca