Salka Valka, Halldor Laxness
Salka Valka, Halldor Laxness
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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Salka Valka

Author: Halldor Laxness, Philip Roughton

Narrator: Stina Nielsen

Unabridged: 19 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/14/2022


Synopsis

A fresh translation of Nobel Prize–winning author Halldór Laxness's modernist masterpiece, Salka Valka.

A feminist coming of age tale, an elegy to the plight of the working class and the corrosive effects of social and economic inequality, and a poetic window into the arrival of modernity in a tiny industrial town, Salka Valka is a novel of epic proportions, living and breathing with its expansive cast of characters, filled with tenderness, humor, and remarkable pathos.

On a mid-winter night, an eleven-year-old Salvör and her unmarried mother Sigurlína disembark at the remote, run-down fishing village of Óseyri, where life is "lived in fish and consists of fish." The two women struggle to make their way amidst the domineering, salt-worn men of the town and their unsolicited attention, and, after Sigurlína's untimely death, Salvör pays for her funeral and walks home alone, precipitating her coming of age as a daring, strong-willed young woman who chops off her hair, earns her own wages, educates herself through political and philosophical texts, and, most significantly, becomes an advocate for the town's working class, ultimately organizing a local chapter of the seamen's union.

About Halldor Laxness

Halldor Laxness was born near Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1902. His first novel was published when he was seventeen. The undisputed master of contemporary Icelandic fiction, and one of the outstanding novelists of the century, he wrote more than sixty books, including novels, short stories, essays, poems, plays, and memoirs. In 1955 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Laxness died in Iceland in 1998.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Meike on March 03, 2024

Nobel Prize in Literature 1955 That this is considered a lesser work by Laxness shows the capabilities of the great national poet of Iceland - but it's also striking to notice that while his other writing often focuses on men, this is more or less a feminist coming-of-age tale about the resilience of......more

Goodreads review by Janelle on February 13, 2022

What an amazing novel! This is my first Halldor Laxness and I will definitely read more. In this book he describes poverty and workers struggle with a main character who is a strong and individual young woman. Salka Valka is 11yo when she arrives with her mother in a poor fishing village. Her mother......more

Goodreads review by None on March 19, 2025

The windswept fishing village of Óseyri, where the sea’s relentless grip amplifies the struggles of its inhabitants, is the setting for this stark, unrelenting examination of survival in a world where economic and social forces conspire to crush individuality. Sigurlína and her young daughter, Salvö......more

Goodreads review by Eric on July 31, 2022

Originally subtitled A Woman in Pants and A Political Love Story, Salka Valka is a stunning book about an extremely strong-willed girl-cum-young-woman named, of course, Salka Valka. So far it's probably my 3rd favorite Laxness, after IP and WL. I'm sorry. I've been thinking over this book for weeks,......more

Goodreads review by Kasa on April 21, 2022

Another excellent translation from the archipelago imprint. While it got bogged down at times and seemed a bit bloated in its politics, it proved fascinating. Not an easy read, but worthy.......more