The Great Weaver from Kashmir by Halldór Laxness: sleepless nights in the Valley of Roses. (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Baldwin, David S.
• Is Part Of: BJPsych advances. Volume 22:Number 5(2016)
• Page Start: 345
• Page End: 347
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: Psychiatry -- Periodicals; 616.89005
• DOI: 10.1192/apt.bp.114.014126
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2056-4678

Abstract

Summary: The novels of the Icelandic Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness depict individuals who are confronted by personal, familial and societal challenges in an isolated, sparsely populated and unpredictable but sublime and almost magical land. Novels which are currently available in English translation carefully illustrate the potentially damaging consequences of parentlessness, childhood abuse, physical illness, unexpected bereavement and marital desertion; the often corrosive effects of social and economic inequality; and the undermining of the lives and aspirations of women by patriarchal institutions. The Great Weaver from Kashmir is probably his least well-known novel but addresses many of these themes: most of its characters fall by the wayside and only a few thrive on adversity.