Iceland's Bell

"Iceland's Bell" (orig. Icelandic: "Íslandsklukkan") is a historical novel by Nobel prize-winning Icelandic author Halldór Kiljan Laxness. It was published in three parts in the period between 1943 and 1946: "Iceland's Bell" (1943), "The Bright Jewel" (1944) and "Fire in Copenhagen" (1946). The novel takes place in the 18th century, mostly in Iceland and Denmark.

Plot summary

Part 1 - "Iceland's Bell"

The first part tells the story of Jón Hreggviðsson, a farmer, and his battle with the Icelandic authorities. Jón is sentenced to death for the murder of an executioner, an official of the King of Denmark, but manages to flee from Iceland to Denmark, where he hopes to get an interview with the King to persuade him to grant a pardon.

Part 2 - "The Bright Jewel"

Snæfríður Íslandssól (literally, "Beautiful as Snow, Sun of Iceland") is the main protagonist in the second part. She is in love with a collector of manuscripts named Arnas Arnaeus but is married to a drunkard.

Part 3 - "Fire in Copenhagen"

The third part is about Arnas Arnaeus the manuscript-collector and the fate of his collection in Copenhagen. In the end, Arnas does not marry the woman of his heart, Snæfríður, but instead a rich Danish woman who finances his life's work.

Trivia

* The character Arnas Arnæus is based on Árni Magnússon, an Icelandic scholar who collected and preserved a great deal of medieval manuscripts.
* Like many of Laxness's works, the story paints a tragic and ironic picture of the terrible state of the Icelandic populace in the 18th century
* The Icelandic painter Jóhannes Kjarval depicts the "cutting down the bell" scene from "Íslandsklukkan" in a painting of the same name that currently hangs in the [http://www.listasafnreykjavikur.is/Kjarvalsstadir/kjarvalsstadir.hvar.en.shtml Kjarvalsstaðir] , in Reykjavík.