About the Size of the Universe

At the beginning of this story there is death, and yet it is a celebration of life - the lives of many generations of Ari's family - of the passion between a man and a woman, forbidden love, violence, sorrow, betrayal and depression. Happiness and misfortune are passed down from one generation to the next - the sorrow over what was and what might have been weighs heavily on the characters - and at the end of this chain, for now, stands Ari, on his way to his dying father, with a score still to be settled.The raw beauty of life is written into the dramatic Icelandic landscape, and into a society that has undergone great transformation within a century. In language both archaic and lyrical, and yet entirely contemporary, piercingly melancholic and yet refreshingly full of humour, Jon Kalman Stefansson proves himself to be one of the finest European writers of his generation.A companion volume to FISH HAVE NO FEET (longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017).Translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton

About Jón Kalman Stefánsson