Against the Run of Play: Death of a Poet (2022)

2022

157 pages

Fiction

A tragicomic, subversive novel about poets, football and the fiction of everyday life.

It has been seven years since the poet Svanur Bergmundsson was released from prison, where he served a lengthy sentence for manslaughter. Meanwhile, Svanur’s sister, Loa, has moved into an elderly care facility and put her apartment in central Reykjavik on the market. However, she allows her brother to live there until it is sold. On a picturesque autumn day, a young couple arrives at Svanur’s door, wanting to view the apartment. Svanur is preparing to watch an international football match on TV, but up ahead is another match, in which he will personally participate. The visit of the young couple gets a different ball rolling, and at half time, the game changes again.

Against the Run of Play is Olafsson’s 9th novel.

Reviews

“You won’t be disappointed by Bragi Olafsson’s latest book. Unpredictable and compelling, his storytelling keeps you engaged until the very end. A must-read for his fans and anyone seeking a unique literary experience.”

NATIONAL TV

“If you love football, read this book. If you hate football, read this book. If you have bought or sold an apartment, read this book. If you have rented an apartment in an inhumane rental market with all kinds of mysterious roommates, read this book.”

ASGEIR H. INGOLFSSON, HEIMILDIN

“He succeeds (also) with the concise form that he continuously undermines while using it, creating a living room drama that in English would sometimes be called 'a well-made play', a work that truly goes against the run of the play, creating a small world in a narrow form that simultaneously calls out to the world in a broader context. Both should appeal to readers of this skillfully crafted novella.”

GAUTI KRISTMANNSSON, ICELANDIC NATINONAL BROADCASTING

“For once, you don’t want to reveal how a book by Bragi Olafsson ends, which doesn’t happen every day ... his fans will not be disappointed.”

THORGEIR TRYGGVASON, KILJAN/NATIONAL TV

“Characters from one Olafsson book often appear again as characters in another. His literary influences also seem to flow freely from one book to the next. The Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett influences, which are prominent in previous work like “The Pets,” remain, though they are perhaps less pronounced here than the surrealist and nouveau roman touchstones. … Olafsson does manage to take the reader on a compelling journey into the tragicomic world that erupts from man’s inability to adequately process shame and the inevitable narcissism that flows from that ineptitude.”

TYLER MALONE, LOS ANGELES TIMES (on NARRATOR)