The Masterpiece and Other Stories (2011)

The Masterpiece and Other Stories (2011)

Olafur Gunnarsson’s readers will be surprised by the publication of this, his first collection of short stories, as until now Gunnarsson has been known mainly for his big novels such as Trolls’ Cathedral, Winter Journey, and The Ax and the Earth for which he received the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2004.

Gunnarsson presents here a varied repertoire of characters. The title story, The Masterpiece, is about a boy waiting impatiently to see his drawing in the school’s exhibition, while in The Nazi an Icelandic Nazi experiences more horror than he could have imagined. We also hear about an Icelander who fought in Vietnam, an old rock singer who unexpectedly gets an opportunity to appear on stage with a megastar, a pole-dancer who moves in with an Icelandic car mechanic in the Vogar district of Reykjavik, and many more colourful characters. Many will find it interesting to hear of the man who was forced to steal his own house in the year Iceland became a republic.