ABOUT THE BOOK

Gudmundur Andresson is incarcerated in the Blue Tower. With fine wit and rich bawdy he reflects on the calamity his talents, appetites and taste for satirical verse have brought upon him. As a poor but transparently clever boy, Gudmundur is sponsored by a kindly scholar but his desires for high office and a socially advantageous marriage are frustrated by the jealousy and rank-closing of powerful Icelandic families.

The birth of a child out of wedlock, counter to the Great Edict - the oppressive morality law imposed by Denmark, the occupying power - and the circulation of a scurrilous thesis seal his fate. Yet ultimately his subversive history is outweighed by his loyalty to his few friends and his intellectual integrity.

Thorarinn Eldjarn (born 1949) is a poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright and translator. His writing pays homage to the craftsmanship of classic Icelandic verse and prose - yet with wit and ironic insight that are supremely twentieth century. 'Disney Rhymes' (1978) satirized the life and work of Walt Disney using traditional ballad form, and became Iceland's best-selling book of poetry since the Second World War.

Eldjarn draws the subjects of his novels and short stories from all periods between the Settlement and the present day; he is particularly attached to the popular poets and scholars of centuries past, who, defying worldly, natural and supernatural forces, have created the Icelandic heritage that lives on today.