[
Seven Days’ Darkness]
,written in Danish but translated into Icelandic as
Sælir eru einfaldir, is a novel by the famous Icelandic novelist Gunnar Gunnarsson, first published in 1920. The novel’s gloomy narrative is set in Reykjavik during the historic Katla volcanic eruption of 1918. The story recounts the idealistic doctor Grimur Ellidagrimur’s gradual descent into madness during the Spanish flu epidemic, which decimated Iceland’s population at the same time. Although the novel’s dreary Arctic milieu was unfamiliar to the average international reader and its themes were tragic and nihilistic in tone, the book marked one of Gunnarsson’s greatest commercial and critical successes as a writer. Roberts Tapley translated the work from Danish into English…
1507 words
Citation: Brandsma, Elliott. "Sælir eru einfaldir". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 February 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41109, accessed 21 February 2025.]
