2023/098: From the Mouth of the Whale — Sjón (translated by Victoria Cribb)

2023/098: From the Mouth of the Whale — Sjón (translated by Victoria Cribb)

The antlers of a hart, coral, spread fingers, birch twigs, a loosely knotted fishing net, crystals, river deltas, ivy, mackerel clouds, women’s hair … diverse as these phenomena are and formed from opposing elements, nevertheless they all revolve around the invisible joints, their opposite forms touch even though they are far apart … and if I imitate their form, reaching my arms to the sky – moving them together and apart in turn, waving them to and fro – then Jónas Pálmason the Learned is no longer alone … I am the brother of all that divides, all that curls, all that intertwines, all that waves … [loc. 2256]

A short, dense, poetic novel, set mainly in Iceland in the 1630s. This is the tale of Jónas Pálmason, exorcist of ghosts and natural philosopher, ostracised and outcast, banished to an uninhabited island with his wife, sent to Denmark (where he explains to Ole Worm that the valuable 'unicorn horns' are actually narwhal teeth), returning to Iceland with a royal pardon, only to be exiled once more...( Read more... )